The sound of the gong- at midnight

The invitation was on phone and the occasion was the midnight dance at the new year eve.

we dutifully made arrangements for the travel, to Salem with a few like minded individuals, each finding excuses to escape to the special get -together.

We met up at 9 pm and the floor was carpet laid and we sat among children and parents, and a musician with his tabla.

The programme started with a troop of 4 happy children dancing to the tunes of a tamil movie, shaking and moving around, followed by other children and film songs and prayer songs.

i even managed to sing a few lines of " i married a female wrestler..... as massive as could be .."

Some party games got the sedentary elders moving too and by 11.15 pm we were ready for the dances. the lights were dimmed and the audio was turned up and bingo, there were all of us shaking to the tunes to our hearts delight, young and old alike sweating and twirling,as 12 neared we sat quiet and let the master of the event take us into meditation.

His words waving bye bye to the passing year, and welcoming the new one, leading to the silence at the midnight, we listened to the gong of the bell and let it sink into us ushering in the new year.