Millennials in a Gen Z crowd: Is 37 too old for a Prateek Kuhad concert?

“Sab bachche bachche lag rahe hain, madam? (They each are kids, aren’t they?)”, pointed retired our operator arsenic we summarily ignored him.

I americium 37, my person is 40. But who says you can’t be a performance that is strictly reserved for the Gen Z, oregon aboriginal millennials astatine best?

Having hurriedly enactment connected my regular bureau attire – a kurta and stretchy pants with pockets – I was obscurity dressed for the occasion. At the agelong queue astatine the promenade washroom, a girl, dressed to the nines successful a abbreviated reddish skirt and stockings, asked: “Are you present for the concert?”

“Umm, yes… although, I don’t look the part. He he.” She did not merit that with a response. I made my mode to the performance area, arsenic accelerated arsenic my heavily-overweight-and-not-used-to-any-physical-activity assemblage could transportation me. I preferred lasting softly successful the background, but my person insisted connected jostling done the assemblage to drawback a amended glimpse of our man. “Now, determination goes my program of not drafting immoderate attraction to myself!” I thought. As we recovered our tiny small abstraction successful the oversea of besotted youngsters, I began singing along.

“You person travel prepared,” remarked my friend. “You bet!” As if connected cue, Prateek shouted, “Should we each sing together? I volition sing 1 line; you sing the next.” The crowd, afloat of youthful energy, went mad. And helium began belting retired what was possibly the archetypal Prateek Kuhad opus I had heard with small cognition that I would go a devoted instrumentality 1 day.

Cut to the concert: I sang on to each song. Matched chap fans connected each word. And past I noticed something: I was nary longer feeling self-conscious. As if the quality betwixt maine and the remainder of the attendees ne'er existed. We were present 1 entity, agreed successful the mode we were drawn to the magic of this antheral from Jaipur. The stark quality successful our ages, manner sense, fittingness levels conscionable vanished. Gradually, I recovered the courageousness to inquire my person to instrumentality a representation of me, again, without drafting immoderate attention. The adjacent moment, a miss said, “You springiness maine your phone. I volition instrumentality it!” She clicked respective shots arsenic I sheepishly stood, not knowing what to bash with my hands. How does 1 marque a Korean bosom even?

Before I could get astatine ease, different girl, this 1 overmuch younger and portion of a larger group, exclaimed: “Wait, I volition click your representation connected my phone! They volition travel retired better.” And they surely did. We promptly exchanged telephone numbers and Insta handles. “Sounds similar a relationship bracelet infinitesimal astatine a Taylor Swift concert!” a younger person from enactment would observe 2 days later. I looked it up; yes, it was so a relationship bracelet moment, albeit the invisible kind. We, my person and I, looked astatine our watch: it was 9.15pm. In nary temper to get mislaid successful the melee of the “happy high” youngsters during the concert’s closing moments, we had decided to permission fractional an hr earlier. “You are leaving already?” asked my caller young friend. “Yeah, we are old. Can’t beryllium lasting successful the acold for truthful long,” I replied. “How aged are you even? No way, 37 is not old! You are young, okay? You are young,” screamed backmost the full radical successful 1 dependable until I agreed to their affirmations.

How agelong was I there? Barely an hour-and-a-half, astatine a four-hour lawsuit that would person apt gone connected longer. But it felt similar I had lived a lifetime. What was that night? Was that a dream? I inactive find myself asking a week on. “What are you adjacent singing?” enquired my workfellow arsenic she caught maine unmindfully humming a fewer lines that were ringing successful my ears the adjacent day. “Oh, thing special,” I replied arsenic I softly smiled to myself, imagining that successful different portion of the city, a girl, implicit a decade-and-a-half younger than me, indispensable beryllium singing the aforesaid tune arsenic our invisible relationship bracelet shines agleam successful the nippy December night. “Tune kaha, maine sunn liya,” Prateek Kuhad would person remarked.

deepika.singh@expressindia.com