Continuing to part two..
Next up was composer A.R. Rahman. A musical genius who scored countless movies, gave us all a rest from all the seriousness of the talks and refreshed our minds with music. The Grammy and Oscar winning musician played a set on the keyboard with the viola, the drums, chimes and vocals all joining in. With his third song, he tells the guests that they may not understand what it was “but you can feel sublime beauty with the way it’s sung.”
However, I understood what the song was and it’s meaning too since I understand the language. It was Baba Bulleh Shah’s poetry.
Then, we had activist Dan Pallotta. When he thinks about dreams, he thinks about the time when he was eight years old and watched Neil Armstrong step onto the surface of the moon. He thinks about the drag queens of Los Angeles and Stonewall, who risked everything to come out when it was dangerous to do so. “I think what we fear most is that we will be denied the opportunity to fulfill our true potential,” Pallotta says. “Imagine living in a world where we simply recognize that deep, existential fear in one another — and love one another boldly because we know that to be human is to live with that fear. It’s time for us to dream in multiple dimensions, simultaneously.”
Shonda Rhimes (of Gray’s Anatomy, How To Get Away With Murder, Scandal) was next up and spoke about that one word that changed her life. This one word changed her life, and eventually saved her career. And that word was to say yes.
To close the session, Bill T. Jones performs on stage. He stood alone in the dark, with his arms moving in small waves. He then did 21 poses with silence as a backdrop and the whole room was quiet. It was only him and his deep breath with his body performing moves including a tai chi position, a ‘beefcake’ and an Art Deco figurine. As interesting as it may seem to everyone, this last performance was my least favourite.
Overall, I enjoyed the day as usually I watch these talks online from the comfort of my room, usually uploaded later than the official date.
MEHAK IFTIKHAR 