Fantastic Friday With Friends

Whoa hooo…. had an awesome movie night out with my Condo lovelies… Just came back from Golden Village, Bedok, Singapore after watching Bala…..

What’s so awesome amazing about it, that here I’m writing about it at 2 AM …..बड़े बड़े शहरोंमें ऐसी छोटी छोटी  बाते  आम बात है भाईओं और बहनो…Well, well, it is a different experience if not special when you enter a movie theatre exactly after 15 years.

Yes, that’s right!  I watched a movie in a proper theatre after 15 years. The last movie we ( me and Sreedhar with little Yash sleeping in my lap) watched was Veer Zara at Prasads Multiplex, Hyderabad way back in  Nov 2004. I remember enjoying a good movie as Yash (who was 3 years old then) slept throughout only to wake up in between to have his formula milk. This was our first movie after Yash’s birth. We were too occupied with his well being to even think of an outing for us.

So with a good experience of Veer Zara, we decided to watch the next big thing in Bollywood ‘Lage Raho Munna Bhai”. Primarily, because Yash used to love songs and even dialogues of Munna Bhai MBBS. Even now Yash loves the Munna Bhai series songs. I remember settling down as the tittles ended. And, no sooner than Vidya Balan beamed “Good Morning Mumbai” over the microphone with her pearly white smile, our Yash decided to join Vidya with a scream loud enough to suppress her voice. We both tried to pacify Yash by doing all that we had learned over the last five years. As all our tricks failed to keep Yash happy, we decided to walk out of the Prasads after 15mins. While Sanjay Dutt imagined his future wife in a song sequence  …बोले तो बोले तो कैसी होगी यार, अपुन को जैसे मंगाता हैं वैसी होगी यार….

A few days later, we met Yash’s neurologist for a routine checkup and casually narrated the Movie incident. We were a bit taken aback by the doctor’s advice…She said It was good that we exited the theatre as it is not advisable to expose Yash to flashes of bright lights in a dark room with loud music. So, there ended our family movie outings!!

Not to be discouraged by this setback, we decided to bring the theatre  home. One of the bedrooms in our Hyderabad home was converted into a mini entertainment room with a complete set up of 100 inch home theatre projection system with 5.1 surround sound. That way, we were able to catch up all the movies only a few months later after the release. At the same time, enjoying the comfort of having Yash playing, sleeping in the next room as we could have an eye on him all the time.

We always got strange responses from people around us when we told them about our inability to watch a movie in a proper setup. The major reaction was that we were missing out on a very unique entertainment experience. But we never missed it and were happy with our little sporadic movie viewing with lots of breaks. Sometimes we have taken even a month to completely watch a movie. क्योंकि बड़े बड़े हसीन मंज़र हम यूँही छोड़ आये…. तो यह फिल्म क्या चीज़ हैं।

And also we never thought of having someone trustable watch over Yash so that we both could have a time out. Mainly, because we have lived in the hope that one fine day we all three would have a movie outing just like any other normal family. And fifteen years went by in the blink of an eye.

But, last year we thought, that we should both take turns and go join relatives or friends who have group movie dates. Not because we have abandoned the dream and hope of Yash joining us in any activity but to keep us afloat without getting completely burnt.  Sreedhar, without bothering to wait for any company just went on a movie-watching spree when we were in Pune last December. I couldn’t get any company while I was in Pune. And here I’m writing about it, just within a month after I mentioned once to my friends about my willingness to join them. That’s what friends are for and some things are best enjoyed with friends….Lucky to have such good friends❤️

With my girls

Now fifteen years later, when I did watch a movie in a theatre, I did not feel anything euphoric about it….Okay, it was good… I’m pretty sure that this feel-good factor is more due to my awesome girl gang. It was more fun chatting up over coffee at the Tampines Starbucks. And this coffee session will be remembered and cherished more than Bala’s hair problems…..

Kalyani Sreedhar Kakade

PS: I wrote this immediately after returning home but posting it now…This is neither to seek sympathy nor to brag about sacrifices….just sharing some of my thoughts and feelings…