On Saturday! At a Holi event! I also got covered in Holi colors by a nice group that adopted me and my friend.

Last week, my friend sent me a flyer saying Hrithik would be at a Holi event in the suburbs. We both went “no, this can’t be real, the tickets are too cheap.” And then my friend researched it and by golly it was real! Ish. Hrithik is doing a series of Holi event appearances in the US, so we buy a ticket to the event and get 5 minutes of Hrithik talking. Fair enough! The tickets were still cheap, and it’s near an Ikea, so if Hrithik was a no show, we could go get swedish meatballs and the day wouldn’t be a total loss.

On Saturday we drove allllllll the way out to Schaumburg, and found our way to the event. Which was in a large parking lot surrounded by other parking lots for boring large blocky office buildings. Very depressing, but also sort of perfect for a Holi event!

The event was very well run in general. DJ playing the whole time, food tents around the edge of the lot, colors for sale (no bringing in your own colors! They even had folks searching bags), plenty of open space for dancing and colors throwing. And by golly, Hrithik showed up! On time!

The event was until 6 and he came out at 530, which is probably when he was a scheduled. Even though the MC kept saying “soon” starting at 4pm.  He arrived, did the in person expensive tickets meet and greet for a few hours, then came on stage bang on time.

Even so, the crowd was getting festive by 430. Which is when the organizers pulled the evil genius move of putting a series of children’s dance troupes on stage. Evil, because the poor kids got booed when they came out. But genius, because the crowd was inevitably won over by their cuteness.

Finally Hrithik came out, did some questions back and forth with the celebrity host (Sophie Chowdry, she feels like a decently well known person too), and was very good interacting with the crowd, doing photos and waving. But the question part was so awkward!!!

I don’t think I would do well being a celeb. Poor Hrithik had to smile, mention something local (Chicago pizza), remind us of his upcoming films over and over, and interact with fans while talking. He also had to sing duets with 2 contest winners and, at the very end, be photographed handing plaques to a dozen locals. One of them was for “services to real estate”. I’m assuming a plaque and photo with Hrithik was how the not for profit that hosted rewarded donors?

I had never heard of this not for profit but, according to their promotional videos, Sony Sood cut the ribbon at their opening. If Sonu is supporting them, they are probably a good charity, right?

Most important thing, I was wearing my Chaiyya Chaiyya shirt under my jacket the whole time. Even at a Hrithik event, SRK loyalty always!