It all happened in one week. Anesta Iwan and I have been working on a proposal for A Traveling Pavilion. A Pavilion for peace, a pavilion of 27 steps, each step for a year Mandela spends in Robben Island prison. Who better to walk the first 27 steps than Sir Richard Branson? we think.
Richard as we like to refer him has been a long time supporter of Mandela, anti-apartheid movement. He has to be the first one to walk the 27 steps, sounds a bit like Neil Armstrong and the moon quest of the 60’s, or Musk and Mars in the 2030’s but for us, this event is to happen right here on Earth, at Market Street Fair in San Francisco.
So we tweet Richard Branson, it may have gone into a black hole but it may happen. The tweet makes us euphoric! @jack (Jack Dorsey) thank you for twitter.
[Image Source: Nish Kothari & Anesta Iwan]
With a strong sense of accomplishment, I head to NYC for work. I reward myself with tickets to the broadway blockbuster, “The Lion King”. I luck out, sit in the second row, and get a lifetime experience.
[Image Source: Nish Kothari]
Rafiki looks into my eyes as she starts the show. Minskoff theater reverberates:
“Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba [Here comes a lion, Father]
Sithi uhm ingonyama [Oh yes, it’s a lion]
Nants ingonyama bagithi baba
Sithi uhhmm ingonyama
Ingonyama
Siyo Nqoba [We’re going to conquer]
Ingonyama
Ingonyama nengw’ enamabala [A lion and a leopard come to this open place]”
And the audience goes wild in awe. With a kid like curiosity, I stare at Mufasa, Sarabi, and Zazu. I see the courage in the eyes of Simba, the loyalty of Nala, I see the Circle of Life in the next few. The creativity in acting, set design, puppetry, lighting, sound, music is breath-taking. The show engages me.
The cast and story are no longer about animals, it is about personality, balance in the eco-system, duty, honor, and family. Well done Julie Taymor, I want to touch you in person to see if such creativity resides among us is real. I head back to my apartment in Nolita after the show. I narrate every detail to friends and family, they can sense my excitement. I sign up for a meetup event to go and listen to Julie Taymor.
[Image Source: Nish Kothari]
I am awake all night thinking about the event. An unexpected work meet clashes with Julie Taymor’s event. Anesta asks me to deliver a hand written note to Julie.
[Image Source: Nish Kothari & Anesta Iwan]
The events and expectations of the day are soon taking over me. I am in a meeting at East 26th, by the high line. It is 6:15 PM, the event has already started. At 6:30, my meet concludes, I rush to the Metro. E to Times Square, B to Columbus Circle, and 1 to Lincoln Center. It is 7:45 PM, the auditorium is empty, my eyes look for Julie.
I step out, look for the spirit of Mufasa, and the voice of Rafiki. A woman resembling Julie looks back at me. Not exactly a “Dr. Livingstone, I presume moment”, but more like:
Hi, Julie, this is Nish.
Hi, Nish, do I know you?
No, but………………
[The conversation goes on for 5 mins, I deliver the handwritten note, I shake Julie Taymor’s hand]
A selfie would have ruined the moment. I decide to keep this moment etched not on icloud but in ibrain. I head to Alice Tully hall at Lincoln Center for coffee. I am humbled, thankful, happy.
I head back to San Francisco. We finish the last few items on our pavilion project and wait for the results, due in three weeks or so. The promise is to make this a production like The Lion King, with lights, camera, and action.
Tweet to Richard Branson, a 5 min conversation with Julie Taymor, a Traveling Pavilion submittal for Market Street Fair in San Francisco, all events in one week.
“I’m not going to spend two years on a film or four years on an opera if I don’t feel like I can put my own self into it. That doesn’t mean it has to be about myself.”
Julie Taymor
Agree with Julie, my resolution for The Traveling Pavilion and other Future Projects.
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