Even as i write the title of this post, I am smiling. What joy to be alive in the age of the flash mob!
I recall the term 'flash floods' growing up and though i never experienced one, they sounded like an emergency - life threatening and to be avoided at all costs. I recall signs like, 'Do not linger on this bridge - flash floods could occur at short notice.' and the like. I always wondered how quickly a body of water could gather so much momentum, that without warning a person could be swept away, compromising everything, including his life. It seemed bizzare, but i never wanted to put the signs and warnings to test.
Then i saw the flash mob - and i understood.
I have never watched one live, but i have watched them alive. And they are something i dont mind being swept up by - and i do understand the speed of the swirling motions and emotions that it is possible to get caught up in. Searches on Youtube will throw up dozens of flashmobs all of a sudden. They seem to be the youth 'movement' of this day. And they are wonderful! They are a beautiful expression of our youth, their confidence, their grace, their love, pizzazz and passions. The songs may be well-known and popular - but the movements are all their own. Most flash mobs are choreographed with simplicity for the masses. They replace with impunity the complicated steps of Bollywood - aping those are so passe. I can imagine a spurt, not of Bollywood dance classes, but instead, Flash-mob Dance Classes. 'Mummy Mummy, I want to learn the steps of the Flash-mob on Senorita in Park Street, Kolkatta!' 'Yes darling, I will find out where they have a class for that.' Because whatever is popular sells - and the flash-mobs are definitely being watched and emulated - be it in our chairs or our drawing rooms, as we watch and enjoy them second hand.
And the next time you watch a flash mob, just look at the faces. There is such joy and abandon and revelry in the actions. It is ultimate freedom. The pepper on the top comes from the cheekiness of doing something in a public place that stops traffic, turns heads and sets cameras whirring. Yes, it is over-age, under the radar, above board, below the noses of the authorities, dead centre, and on the right side of society.
Nowadays the flashmobs that are on Youtube come with full credits - that scroll over the screen at the end of the performance. Read the names - Kalra, Goyal, Khanna, Gupta, Dhanuka, Mishra, Kar, Agarwal, Jaiswal, Modi, Singh, Patel, Patherya, Gomes, Jain, Khan...and be amazed. The street is the equalizer and the flash mob the catalyst. Flash Dance India! Your volume's turned way up!
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The song is from zindagi na milegi dobara – one of the hit movies of 2011
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