Bal Mela

Dancing is one of my most favorite activities, and also something I’m not too bad at. So when the forms for Bal Mela were released, I instantly ticked to be a part of the running stage, unaware of what was ahead of me.

3 days before the event, I was informed that my job involved 4 hours of continuous dancing, as the number of schools and children had increased. Instantly I felt, I didn’t want to participate anymore. Despite of my love for dance, due to my extremely poor stamina and dislike for physical exertion I wasn’t willing to go ahead with my participation. To my relief, there was an escape. My family was traveling to Mumbai that weekend for a family function that I reallyyy wanted to attend. I figured I had the chance to back out from the event with the excuse of going to Mumbai.
I instantly picked up the phone to call up my dad regarding it, but in that moment, I just realized a few things. I put the phone down, and went into thinking about the ethical aspect of the decision I was about to make. I realized that I had given my word to somebody. And that someone depended on me for their event. Additionally, the underprivileged kids that I was doing this for, don’t get chances like these to enjoy all the time. I was responsible in that moment for the happiness of those littles kids and for the organizers. I figured that I couldn’t let someone else down because of my own enjoyment and biases.
And so I didn’t. I stayed back at home, woke up in the morning and danced for 4 hours for those kids and for myself.

The sweat and the body ache had become all worth it, as I was proud to take a decision like this by myself. I felt inner peace and happiness as I knew that I had done the more difficult, but the right thing.