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Scene in my balcony on Sunday morning
I am sitting with DH and our friend, L sipping on some lovely masala chaas made by DH and my friend N calls. "Hey - I have an extra pass for the Shakiras performance this evening! Are you coming?" And I was thinking - "Am I dreaming"??

I didnt do anything stupid like refusing her and there we were at the MMRDA grounds at 5.30 pm waiting for the gates to open while being awed by the serpentine queues. I have attended quite some concerts in Bombay and this was the biggest crowd I had seen.

We were in the ground by 6 PM and people were cramming in, slowly and steadily. Women (young and younger) and kids were a majority of the crowd. By 7.30 PM people were getting restless, with the long wait and the crowds. After a bit of booing and shouting to pass the time, we finally got a glimpse of her sillhoute behind the drapes. I wasnt much of a Shakira fan until I saw her live. She has this magnetic effect that grabs your attention. How else can we explain the fact that this woman single-handedly kept 20000 odd people glued to her for over 90 minutes?

I was familiar with just 3 of her songs, which happened to the crowd favourites too - Underneath my clothes, Whenever-wherever and (but ofcourse) Hips dont lie. Most of the other songs were in Spanish, as a part of promotion of her latest album Oral Fixation. The crowds (especially the women) went Ooooh and Aaaaaah when her second costume, a red flowing gown spread around like a huge tent and the frills were long enough to fly high in the sky. Her other costumes were gorgeous too, each designed to suit the kind of performance. She sang a couple of soulful numbers, including Illegal, for which she just sat on a stool in the center of the stage. No hip shaking, no fancy costumes there, just her powerful, gutsy voice that reverberated in the open air.

(Photo courtesy Times of India)

My other favourite part of her performance was the belly dance done to an Arabic tune, mainly the drums and her hips moving with precision to each drumbeat. Her Arabic costume just added that extra bit of sensuality to this super sensous number.

The highlight of the evening was ofcourse the grand finale - Hips dont lie which went on for a good seven minutes. In the end, a troup of Indian dancers joined her with some Indianised steps, which gave that special Indian tadka to the whole performance. The show ended with a million bits of coloured paper being shot into the air, lending the atmosphere a magical effect.

I only wish she was made to perform on a higher stage because we were on our toes for almost an hour trying to get a glimpse of her, even though we were in one of the front-most rows. Im sure the back rows couldnt even see her flaming curls, not to mention those hips. Overall show was stunning and magical, the crowds enjoyed every bit of what they saw and heard. I heard women leave the grounds saying - "How did she get those abs?", "Where can we learn this kinda dance in Mumbai?" to each other! And ofcourse also overheard were comparisons in performance between Shakira and the Indian cricket team!

Check this coverage by CNN-IBN on what people had to say about her performance.