When I see the downtown bridges usually I think of only sitting in a traffic jam or staring at the big buildings from the inside of my car. But on the the morning of October 4, 2002, I was not inside of a car but standing on one of the top risers on the opening of the newly built Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge. It was a cold morning and I was freezing but the excitement of the event kept me warm.

Over 260 children from the Boston, Dorchester, and Chelsea choruses joined in singing at the inauguration ceremony of the bridge. It was so special to be singing together with children from other towns that I had never met before. I was only one of two Indian American children. There were more than 1500 people watching us. Mr. Grant, a famous English conductor from Whales, England, conducted us. We had been training for over a month. It was finally our turn to sing. We sang all sorts of songs, fast, slow, happy and exciting, sad and boring. It was cold, but nothing could stop us from doing our best. We got to hear all sorts of people speak. We heard Governor Jane Swift, Mrs. Zakim and her children, and so many others speak.

All of this was very exciting but the most exciting part was to share the podium with a great Amercian star singer Bruce Springsteen. Every time I go by the downtown I feel so special that I was singing at one of the most historic moments in Boston. I was not there when the Boston Tea party happened or when the Paul Revere took his famous ride. But I was here when the Leonard P. Zakim Bridge was being inaugurated. It was one of my greatest experiences, which I will never forget.

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