Yesterday I got a call from a friend Rajeev Dhawan (he heads an agency called What’s in a Name Creatives, along with Harini Prabhu) asking me if I could give him a small byte for a film they were producing for a client.

I tried to explain to him that it was a Sunday and that I had to be at Indira Priyadarshini Auditorium by 1.45 but he was very sweet and convinced me to drop by at LaMakaan for a few minutes on my way to the Dramanon S.K.I.T.S. Competition Prelims.

There was a camera there in a small room. I was miked up…and the line I had to deliver to camera was…I am 57 running 74. I did that with the required expression and gave them a couple of variations and left.

I reached the Auditorium well in time and sat down to witness 22 twelve minute skits and perform in one. Most of the participants were young and so was the audience. And naturally I was concerned about whether we…three senior citizens of theatre…would be able to connect with the audience with our skit.

That’s when the irony struck me. Here I was coming from a shoot where I had to lie about being 57 and feeling/living like a 74 year old…whereas my afternoon was all about being 57 sure, but acting a chirpy 24. I wrote the thought off as yet another irony and sat back to watch the skits.

And the skits were good…at least some of them were. There were groups that performed in the thoroughly outdated overacting style and groups that preferred to pass of profanity as theatre…and there were groups that approached the skit with the intensity of a full blown one-act play…and there was us.

Three old men…just three chairs…no special lights, no music, no effects…just a good script and some reasonably good performances…

And the audience bridged the obvious generation gap with waves of roars…of laughter that seldom took a break…of applause that just couldn’t be reined in…

The high was immediate and the smiles on our faces kept getting recharged even after our show by unknown youngsters coming up to us and congratulating us for what we had shown them and for what we had done…and when some of them came up to us and said we were inspirational, we were satisfied…not gloating, just satisfied.

Because that was the essence of why we had wanted to take part in the SKITS Competition from day one…last year. We are old, yes…we wanted to tell all the kids…but we are as much of theatre buffs as you are…and perhaps have more fun performing than you ever will…and we want to show you how the love for theatre can be an ageless obsession.

We were not fighting for the prize money…nor for any recognition…we were just interested in participating…perhaps even in a non-competitive mode.

But last night I realized that the idea of being 57 and living like a 24 year old (at least in some aspects) gave me a very unexpected perk…the right to sulk!

And that is the right I am exercising today…here and now.

Because at the end of the afternoon and evening yesterday, after a marathon 22 skits in English, Hindi and a bit of Tamil…8 skits had to be shortlisted to take part in the finals of the competition to be held on the 7th of this month.

And in spite of knowing that we got the loudest applause, that we delivered one of the finest performances, that ours was a genuinely original script (some of the others were obvious adaptations)…in spite of every reason to be up there in the top 8…we were not!

So I am officially sulking.

Aaah the pleasures of youth. No need to act all mature and dignified…No problems if you throw a temper tantrum…No problem if you curse the judges, the audience, the organizers, the system…Oh yes, the experience can be cathartic…

but as the popular warning says…don’t try this at home!!!