When Kavitha was at junior school her favourite pop group was the ‘Back street boys’. She collected every single thing she could about the band short of putting up posters on her bedroom wall. Then one day they came to town to perform their first concert. I had never been to a pop concert before that.
I wanted to go and see Cliff Richard once but by the time I got around to looking for tickets there was only one left and I didn’t have the courage in those days to do it on my own. So now I ummed and aahed about taking her to see the show. The concert was late in the evening and travelling back on the tube late at night in those days on our own was not a good idea. That evening Kavitha’s friend also came to visit after school and I spoke to her mum about it. Her response was ‘if you don’t take them, You will have two very disappointed girls on your hands’.
It was exam time for the GCSE and A level students and so when I rang to enquire there were still tickets left. This was almost 20 years ago. By the time we got there the supporting acts were just coming off the stage. The girls had a marvellous time and so did I.
That night Kavitha thanked me for the first time in her life as I tucked her into bed. I can still remember her happy face from that day. I have taken her to see numerous concerts, dance shows like the Riverdance, ballets, musicals and to the theatre and so have instilled a love of the theatre and the arts in her. She now regularly goes to see shows and will do the same when little Ollie is old enough.
I, on the other hand haven’t been to many shows since and the last one I saw was the opera ‘Madam Butterfly’ and that too a few years ago. So today I’m writing this sitting in the Royal Opera House waiting for the curtains to go up to watch the Bolshoi version of ‘Swan Lake’ and I cannot wait.
