An Open Letter to Bacardi NH7 Weekender

So everybody’s been going ga-ga over NH7 Weekender and you know you guys have been putting up a fab show. Moreover, I know you don’t need a random person like me to tell you all of this so let me come straight to the point.

The point is that I could not make it to NH7 and I'm not happy about it.

I do not need fancy words to say this, but all that I want to say is that I love music. Listening to music was one of those things that I was not forbidden from doing as a child. One of those other things that I could not however do is to go to a music concert. Why I am using the term forbidden is because I live with a physical challenge and a lot of restrictions implicitly come with that term. No, I am not cribbing about my situation but am just stating the fact.

As most of us are aware, our democratic government is not very sensitive towards the needs and rights of those living with a physical challenge. And with the given infrastructure, there are a very few places that we can visit independently. For me, going to music concerts and stage performances has never even been an option because of the long distances that are required to be covered and the absence of other basic facilities. I was really, really depressed because I could not go for the Enrique concert that recently happened in my city.

And honestly, I do not expect any music show organisers to create an infrastructure or have any facilities that would accommodate a physically challenged because it’s only a matter of four to five hours. I could give them the benefit of doubt by saying that may be they could not ‘afford’ to do so only for one amongst the fifty thousand or one lac people who would come for the show.  (I hope you can smell the sarcasm here)

Pune-  as far as I know, has hardly seen any of these weekend music festivals and NH7 was something we all needed. Since NH7 is a three day festival, I thought I could go there at least for one show and spend a couple of hours if not more than that. I was really disappointed when I learnt that there was no golf cart available at the venue. I do not entirely blame you for this, because when most places in the country are inaccessible then I cannot really expect a music festival to be considerate.

So while my friends were posting about the awesome time they're having at the event, I was brooding about not being able to make it. For a music festival of your stature, this is the least that can be expected of you and I really wished there was a golf cart so that people like me could have access to at least two stages out of the five. If the festival could be pet friendly, I am sure it could also accommodate other human beings like me. 

I don’t care if I am making a fool out of myself by writing this to you, but I genuinely wanted to do this. If not the next NH7, I would certainly want to be a part of at least one NH7 concert in the next five years!

Cheers!