"Aap ko pata hai..mera naam Mangal Pandey kyu hai?""Nahi pata" Mai batata hu...
"Mere Pitaji ko koi santaan nahi thee... Phir unhone Mangal Deep Dhoop jala ker Shivji kee pooja karee...Uske khushboo se Shivji prasanna hue aur unhe mujh jaise veer santaan ke prapti hui." "
"Iseliye unhone mera naam Mangal rakha."
For those of you who are wondering what it is... These were my lines as Mangal Pandey in a play. I was enjoying my life watching Prison Break and Heroes but suddenly i got this chance to play Mangal Pandey in one of the Disguised Market Research for ITC - Mangal Deep Dhoop organised by our club Illumina.
The idea is to get a pre launch feedback on a product from cutomers without making them fill forms and getting responsed by involving them in a play kind of situation.
Our was a play based on Ramayana and Mangal Pandey story and since the target base was rural, the event was held in a narby village Pataudi where a huge Raamlila takes place every year. It was a different experience to say the least.
We reached the Mela ground first thing in the morning only to realise that the Mela starts from 2 in the afternoon. Not wasting any time we decided to get out act together.
Yes, we did what we have become so profficient at- We slept under the scanty shade of a tree with newspaper on our faces to prevent the sun from disturbing. Thats what MBA teaches you- to sleep in the most unimaginable circumstances.
After getting some sleep we decided to explore some surroundings and found some thing to fool around.
An amazing experience began as the crowd began to settle in the ground. Hundreds of people flocked to our stall. We were over whelmed by the response.
Children went crazy , people were intrigued to find a bunch of college dudes in their terrain. We were house full. An incident which i will never forget is when an elderly person tried to touch my feet and said " Apki vajah se hee hume azaadi mili hai".
Mangal Pandey was certainly a legend.
I returned home exhausted, exhilirated and emotional.
PS If you managed to click the link, i tell you a miraculous coincidence. Mangal Pandey has the same birth date as me, 19 July!
