Early Morning Memories

The memories that stay with us and the ones we create…

A Performance to Remember

Have you ever performed on stage or given a speech?

It was a joyous evening; the people of the colony had gathered in their stylish, elegant clothing to celebrate a yearly event. There was music, there was variety of food items and various on-stage performances were organised. Everyone was having a good time and I was enjoying as well with children of my age. But I was not prepared for what was to come.

I was a participant in a fancy dress competition and for some reason I cannot remember I decided to be a clown. All I had to do was walk on to the stage when my turn came, introduce my character, tell what all I can do and walk out. Simple, right? But it was not for me, only if I could have realised that earlier.

The moment I stepped on the stage after the previous participant, I realised I was all alone on the stage. I was in the focus of the stage lights and in the focus of the many eyes present in the audience. I stood before the stage mic and went completely numb and silent. From being in a state of confusion slowly my mind had reached a state of complete emptiness, there was no fear, no anxiety, no embarrassment anymore, and most importantly there were not even the lines that I had practised so hard, so many times to be speak in that very moment; there was nothing at all. I remember having the time to closely have a look at a mic for the first time in my life. It had black grille in front.

There was a moment, when everything was silent since I wasn’t speaking and so weren’t the people who waiting for me to speak, and the sound of my breathing enhanced by the mic spread through the air. I don’t think I spoke anything for the next 10-15 minutes even after being escorted out of the stage.

I am really glad it happened when I was small and hence it was quite comfortably overlooked by the audience as a stage fright of a small boy. At that time my mind was free of any thought of making and maintaining an impression among people, hence the incident didn’t hamper my enjoyment of the evening in any manner.

It was not the last time I got on the stage, I have been part of group dance performances, theatre performances, in my school it was brought into habit of students to recite poems and give seminars to rest of the class.

Although, I do admit I am not entirely sure if I am put out there on the stage again all alone in front of hundreds of people, I would be completely be able to ignore the clown in me who had stayed silent for entire 5 minutes on the stage that day.