Off-screen

Day 3.5   Cinema

I park my bike and walk into a queue.As usual I count the number of people standing in front of me. That was to check my probability of getting entry into a place where I forget everything;People,places and photographs..

 

                                                   *********

19 years back I was tightly clasping my Mother's hand when I walked into a similar place. I was scared of the darkness in that place. And then huge figures appeared on the giant white screen; deafening sound;people I've never seen in life.My Mother tried to make me understand what was going on. I remember I was still apprehensive. That was my first cinema. 

           

                                                            **********

I buy the ticket and climb the stairs. There's a feeble sound of music playing from within the hall.5 more minutes before the lights goes off. I search my pockets for a matchbox. Yes,there's one. I light a match and try to explain to myself why I chose to buy that ticket. I fail. I find no reasons.

 

                                                           ***********

I see the pages of calendars fluttering in my mind. A bit shaky. I can't recollect all the pages. But I do remember the time when I started to enjoy my visits to the theatre. The reason I reckon were the moving figures and some actors whom I had silently started adoring.Years went by. An era of Malayalam films.Then came the first Tamil film.Hollywood followed. One day our television breaks down.The screen becomes frequent.

                                                          ************

The fire still's burning in my hand. I look around. A tad more than the usual number for this particular time. What reasons would they have to buy their tickets ? Their love for darkness ? Or just for the sake of getting lost in a different world? 

                                                         

                                                         *************

Cinema starts to take me away from my world. From myself. And then more cinema follows; from almost all parts of the world. Different languages, cultures, man killing man and man eating man, despair,hope,politics,history,pain,agony,revenge,trials and tribulations cruelty,death,life,tears and laughter,princes and autocrats,God and no-God,poverty,anarchy,love,lust,sex,longing....

I love cinema. It just takes me away;takes me away into a different world of myself, of my whims and fancies.A part of mine lives the cinema I watch. I laugh, I cry, I think,I learn. I learn that human beings across the landscapes are the same. Their songs are the same.Their losses are the same.They too sing and dance and fall in love and lose.They too fail and live. They too are scared; of losing and dying. I wait for the homecoming of my love to kiss her again and I also take 3 bullets on to my chest in an obscure jungle. I sow and reap in large swathes of earth and I rend and build edifices which stands tall. 2 hours later I walk back to light and yearn for more darkness..  

                                     

                                                           **************

I walk into the hall and I'm directed to my seat.The lights goes off. A long beam shoots from a sqaure orifice from the far end of the hall and hits the screen. I wake up into a dream. Cinema....