On March 6th, the day of the first India concert (described below by Tony), I used my video camera to give an impression of our preparations for that night.

Took me a while (for example todays flight to Hyderabad!) to put together, hope you enjoy. AW

This morning Erwin and I promised each other to get up early and go to the park to do some Yoga and exercises (i am more into Taichi). We managed to get up at 7, beating our jetlags and we strolled to the park. In the park we came across this group of people doing exercises. They invited us warmheartedly and we accepted the offer willingly. But by then the exercises were done and we were sitting down crosslegged on the cold morning grass.  A young lady arrived sat down on a little raiser and started leading us into a meditation. Half English, half hindi.

Thank god we could understand the English part. It was great to sit there, sinking into an unexpected meditation. Surrounded not only by the people who joined this meditation but also many other Indians doing there morning excercises. ranging from traditional Yoga, regular sit-ups, jogging with a loud radio in their hand, people doing some kind of laughing meditation, some people just having breakfast. Everybody emerged in there own morning rituals. It was hard to keep my eyes shut and keep my concentration on my Heart Charkra. I was too curious to see all that around me and too excited to be part of this all. Then the meditation changed into a service, a reflection, all in Hindi. We sat there for at least another 30 minutes just listening to her sweet voice. Not understanding a word. It turned out to be her Holiness Didi. One of the many enlighted people in India. And wether I believe in that or not, I was touched by her presence and by the whole situation. Believing is not even that relevant. Experiencing is the only thing counting at that moment. It was beautiful although I was shivering in the morning breeze and my legs were REALLY starting to cramp up. Not being used or sit like that for an hour. But I was delighted and I smiled all day (something that for the people that know me is really hard to believe).

I smiled and rejoiced even more at night. When we had our first official concert in Delhi. An open air concert at the IIC right next to the park. During the quiet moments of the concert we could hear the parc and it’s birds, the city, cars, sirens. All adding up to a great concert where we finally took ‘the Bluebird of Delhi’ home. This composition from Billy stayhorn never sounded so right at home and so inspired as this night.

For me this was an historical concert, a memorable night and day. A moment I will remember forever.

Tony