Till a few days ago, she was just another citizen of Mumbai, successful, busy, happy, yet not known much beyond her immediate circle – friends, relatives, colleagues. Now suddenly Shonan Kothari is making waves across the world, being featured on prestigious websites like New York Times and Wall Street Journal, as well as in newspapers and TV channels across the India and the world.

Though being catapulted into the media limelight may appear to have been the result of five minutes of fun and frolic at one of Mumbai’s most well known landmarks, it actually took about three weeks of detailed planning and immense hard work to turn the young corporate executive’s dream into a reality.

Palanpur Online meets up with Shonan to find out what motivated her to organise India’s first non-commercial flash mob, her reaction to the experience and what further surprises she might have up her sleeve.

How and when did you first get the idea?
Doing a flashmob in Mumbai was an idea that had been at the back of my mind for a long time, ever since I witnessed a small one happening during a visit to London about two years ago. It’s been on my ‘to-do’ lists ever since, but it was only in the first week of November that I actively began considering the possibility of doing one in Mumbai. And then 27 days later it actually happened!

Why now? people ask, and I must say that there was no particular reason for choosing these dates. I just wanted to create an experience that would make everyone feel happy and nice!

After seeing the London flashmob (actually it was a very small one, only five people), I became a keen fan of this global art movement, and had read lots about the experience and the event. But till Mumbai happened, I had never got the chance to be part of one.

What were the steps you took to make it happen?
Once I made up my mind to give it a try, I decided there should be at least 200 people. Without that number I would not go ahead, because, I felt, the effort would not be worth it unless it had a grand impact.

I initially sent out an email to about 20 of my friends who I thought might be interested, and asked them to set the chain in motion to bring on more people. In no time it had snowballed into over 300 volunteers – people spoke to their friends, their siblings, their parents, even their grandparents! And one of the volunteers was enthusiastic enough to stop anyone she met at Willingdon Gym and ask them to join!

I was not too concerned about keeping it secret, but at the same time did not want to over publicise it. So we didn’t put it on FB for example. Not out of concern that someone may take over the idea (after all I was not in it for publicity or being unique), but just to keep things manageable.

Then there was venue selection, and we set about shortlisting possible sites and exploring what was feasible. It was a lot of work, and we were a small number, but if you care deeply enough about a thing, it’s always possible to make it happen. For me the motivation was fun – I was doing it partly for my own pleasure and partly for the city.

How did you zero in on CST?
CST was always my dream location. There were other backup options that we had also been exploring, but CST was No 1. It’s so symbolic of Mumbai – most people pass by the imposing building regularly, and have even been inside it quite often. It’s a towering symbol of the city, one of its iconic landmarks.

And then the railway guys were really helpful. I went there without any contacts, just like that, and they gave me a patient hearing. Then one of them decided to back me, only insisting there should be no commercial angle. Once they came on board they were really helpful. They stopped trains for a while, they allowed us to play the music through the loudspeaker and so on.

Tell us about your ‘support’ networks....
Family and friends (quite a few of them Palanpuris) and their extended contacts. Most of the money was contributed by family, and others pitched in by working for free or at very nominal rates. There were some suggestions about sponsorship, but I did not want this to be commercial.

Once we were assured of the numbers, we got down to the details – venue selection, choreography, practise venue and so on. Here too the support we received was tremendous. For example, B A Desai, the head of Priyadarshini Park immediately allowed us to use the Yoga Hall of the park for practice sessions and even granted permission for it to remain open two hours after closing time – often we were there till after 11 pm.

A choreographer who had helped out at my cousin’s weddings came on board and took charge of that aspect, others helped out with the music and video and in no time we were ready to go.

Did you have any prior experience in co-ordinating such an event?
No, I have never co-ordinated an event of this scale and in such a short time. I have been involved in organising events in school and college, but this one just sort of happened.

Were you expecting it to become such a high profile success? And how did it feel now?
I must admit that I never expected such a response to the event, it was way beyond my expectations. I had wanted to do something that makes me feel good, something nice that people can enjoy. And it was such a huge success.

I am really happy at the outcome. After all I had no personal agenda. It was nothing more than a fun thing, that’s what motivated me and all the others. We worked for two weeks every evening before and after work – getting up early going to bed late – to make it happen. It was an exhausting, but also immensely satisfying 27 days.

I do hope that what we have done sparks off similar movements across the country.

Finally, what next?
Have some other similar fun ideas, but can’t share the details right now.

Click here to view more photos

 Click here to view the Video

Click here to view larger photographs