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Closet Groupie

I had opportunity to emcee a sitar recital recently. The artist was very young and extremely talented. Not being a full-blown celebrity yet, his audience was not hanging from the rafters. The setting was so intimate, it could have been a soirée at someone's house. Being backstage was a fascinating experience specially to see how the different the stage personality was from that of the one in the greenroom. I got to see a few groupies as well.

They have been following him around his tour. The blond in jeans and kurti had come with him from New York. Maybe she would follow him wherever he was headed next. The combination of prodigious talent combined with a somewhat devastating charm must make this young man quite irresistible to girls of a certain age.

The sitar and the tabla cases have been all over the world along with their owners and are covered with a colorful assortment of air cargo stickers. For a few hours I was transported to a world completely unlike the one I inhabit everyday. It is where beautiful music is created until midnight and met with a lot of adulation, ovation and applause. The magic is then wrapped up to be made in another city, often a different country.

While many are content with just a glimpse into the fascinating world of professional musicians, some must crave to immerse themselves in the ambience. I wondered if there was not a hint of a groupie in everyone who has a relatively mundane life even if they don't act on it.

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