There is a very famous song of Green Day that goes: “Wake me up when September ends”… Well this song has all the more relevance when seen in context of the picturesque city of Dehradun… Because there is a unique buzz in the city, the air of doon feels different & you can’t ignore a sort of charismatic aura that engulfs every street here… As cometh the dawn of October, marks the arrival of a grand festival-
NO its not the festival of lights- Deepavali
NO its not the festival of sweets- Id either,
Infact it’s the festival of traditions- VIRASAT!!!

For nearly two weeks the whole city is mesmerized by some majestic performances by artists from all over India. And year 2006 marked another landmark achievement in its history as this cultural festival surpassed all boundaries and included pulsating displays from abroad too…

From an electrifying opening ceremony on 5th October in B.R.Ambedkar Stadium made all the more memorable by Ballet performance by Pt. Narendra Sharma, it set the trend for the whole event. The very next day on display was a world class Opera by Christine Matovich, USA.

But it was the 7th everyone was eagerly waiting for as the Ghazal maestro “Jagjit Singh” himself took center stage on the backdrop of a huge swarm of doonites hoping for sensational stuff from the magician… & Ah what an atmosphere it was… The man whose initials are same as that of mine (JS) started with “Kagaz ki kashti…” with a thunderous applause from the crowd & from there on he was simply unstoppable… For absolutely riveting ghazals poured from his gifted mouth one after another in a spellbinding display… & after more than two hours of heavenly abode, no one could quite comprehend that this show will ever end… such was the “Axe effect”…
Well having initials JS really helps…

In between those two weeks followed Quawwali by Warsi brothers, Kumaoni Holi, Mushaira & play reading by Dr. Mohan Agashe but all this went backstage to the most rocking night in the history of Virasat since it started from a modest beginning nearly 15 years ago… it was the night of 12th Oct… it was the night of the “Sufi King”…

Kailash Kher needs no introduction in the world of music… And if there was a show which could not only match the aroma of the JS night & even surpass it by quite some margin… it was the KK night… With “Manglam Manglam…”, he sat the stage on fire… & what followed was an ear piercing roar from the over enthusiastic Kailasha fans… Next up was “Teri Diwani”… & now the audience had gone crazy… the euphoria was just too amazing to contemplate. & with “Tauba Tauba…” , doubts in the mind of organizers(if any) about success of the show must have evaporated by now… King Kailasha ended his scintillating show with his most precious jewel… his opening hit… “Allah Ke Bande…” also promising that “Jo bhi ho Kal phir aaunaga…”!!!

But, though highly ironical, it’s a proven fact that everything on earth is in a state of constant equilibria… And for once if anyone had thought that Virasat was a smooth sailing all along… A fairy tale with everything perfect than it was unfortunately not the case…

What started with divine intervention with the accident of Wadali brothers that subsequently led to cancellation of their event… then this was only an indication of things to come… Since after the KK night… when the show reached its peak… it took a downward slope from there on… First ‘ Tumhari Amrita’, a play by Shabana Azmi was scrapped off… Then, the much awaited play by Anupam Kher- ‘Sab Kuch Ho Sakta Hai’ was shown the exit door… All these due to undisclosed reasons… & lame excuses like non-availability of dates of stars???

And last but not the least the cancellation of the enthralling Flute recital by the legendary Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia… which was to mark the closing ceremony of Virasat!!! All this was an absolute disgrace to an otherwise splendid & exquisite cultural event…

But all in all when the pros & cons of virasat would be weighed together, the result would be more positive than negative… more fantabolous then despairing… & the huge audience of doon would once again welcome “The Incredibles” next year for yet another rocking cultural festival…

But for the time being we all doonites now…

Bid Adieu Virasat…