My Duet with Celine Dion

'And you're heeeeeeeeeeeeeeere in my heart and...my heart will go oooooooooooooooon and oooooooon......How's it Georgetta?'

'nice....but you need to put more...'feel' into it.'

Georgetten's my cousin. My first Photoshop teacher. My music helper.My guinea pig when i buy a new flavour of Tang.My Yellow Rose.

Oops! before i go on being sickly sweet ,let's get back to the story. I was in Class 11 and i was gonna perform for the Charity Day Event at Chaldean Centre.Of course you know what i was going to sing.Georgetten had come home to help me out-give me tips,correct me,make the whole thing sound better and all that.

'Why do u make dat sound? did u bite a chilly?' i asked kuttan(my brother)

I was trying hard to do this thing perfectly,and this idiot was sitting next to me making these stupid sounds.

'Di, i was trying to give the 'feel' sound. Georgetten and amma laughed.

Kuntham. Why can't i get this 'feel' thing? I was trying really a lot to make that come.But the 'feel' never did.

And no one's taking me seriously. Hmph! I'll show them when i actually sing the damn song on the stage.

*****

The hall upstairs in Chaldean Centre is huge. So is the stage. I was wearing my 'Juliet' costume to get the 'feel' which i was missing all day.My mom was sitting with all her 'women's youth' friends from where she could get a perfect view of me. She was already telling them about what i was going to sing.

I walked up the huge stage and i could see people backstage staring at my dress. Ofcourse. This is Thrissur.What is this 'big kutty' doing wearing a 'dress'?

'Next we have Reshma Raju Emmatty singing the 'Titanic song' 'said the compere and I switched on the mic in my hand.There were lots of people by now. I could see Amma clearly.And Georgetten was right down the stage putting the Karaoke CD in for me. I was supposed to give him a nod to let him know that I was ready. And i did.

The intro music started.I tapped my feet to the rhythm, cleared my throat away from the mic, took a deep breath and started singing.

I amazed myself. I was awesome! Take that ,ppl! I could hear the 'feel' in my voice.It was here! And every little slur was perrrrfect. It was like i was singing just like Celine Dion! Wait a minute- am i sounding exactly like her?

Rewind.

Georgettten and I had got two CDs - one with the original track for me to listen to and learn and the other one from Kalyan recordings with the Karaoke .

Play.

Did Georgetten just put in the original Cd???

I tried lowering my sound a bit...to check . And i found my fears were true. Georgetten had put the original song and i was singing along with Celine! no wonder i sound great. What will people think when they find out???

Gulp!

but my gulp never affected the song. Why would Celine stop for me?

From then on, it was a battle between me and Celine. I tried to be louder and still keep in sync so that people wouldnt find out about this mix.

But when the track reached to the 3rd stanza, Celine beat me. I had problems with the high pitched last stanza and when we reached that portion, Celine and i parted ways. She went on smooth and strong ;I cracked. And people knew.

Every one gave sarcastic smiles when i got down the stage. And cold stares and murmurs. I could see that they were all talking about me- how i tried to do something i possibly couldnt. How i tried to 'cheat' the crowd and got red handed...I could see Amma still not believing Rosy aunty's accusitions about me trying to be 'oversmart.'...

Going to school was a relief next morning. Atleast I would get busy with other things than think about the dreadful time last night. It was languge hour. You could just sit around and chat in that hour if you didnt make too much noise.

we were all doing our usual stuff when Antony Varghese came down and sat next to me.

'Did you guys know, i saw an amazing performance last night,' he started.

I was crossing my fingers.

'It was at the Chaldean Centre. Big hall.'

I'm done for it.

'This girl walked on the stage wearing a big gown sort of dress'

well, the rest is history. Every one in school knew about my 'duet with Celine' too. Ever since that incident, i somehow dislike listening to that song.

And for some strange reason, for that year's Ootty trip, Georgetten made me a CD with that particular song in 5 different versions.