Ormayil oru shishiram…

When we were kids the most joyous day of our lives would be a visit to the native place or a trip to the movies…Unlike now when I could catch any movie in CD or DVD or watch in countless channels or browse through YouTube, watching a movie wasn’t that easy those years... It was an event...a big celebration in itself…

A visit to the Kalpana Theater for the matinee followed by dinner at Chinnu’s restaurant…that was definition of a great day those days... The theater was demolished last year and a mall stands there now… The place would be spoofed at by current standards, but then it was as exciting as the moon might have been for Neil Armstrong… I vaguely remember several earthen pots stuck to the roof at the theater entrance to create a weird retro feel and I used to gaze at it as if in a trance during the long wait in the queue …As a kid, this theater defined a lot of memorable movies too …In harihar Nagar (when cousins came to town)…Bombay (on my birthday)...Mohra (first rebellious secret solo theater visit)…….and the list goes on…Infact the place was memorable even for parents and it’s a legend in family circle’s, the movie they had gone for their wedding anniversary (15th I think)…..”Panchapaandavanmaaru”...;-D

Those days in the early 90’s most kids of my generation would wait in excitement for the Sunday movie in Doordarshan... We would immaculately plan and finish our homework’s or any endangering tasks assigned by parents which could result in a veto vote over our “right” to watch the movie…Though it may sound silly now, it used to be indeed a tense day for us because there were lot of stakeholders involved …

Usually on Sunday morning, me and bro would eagerly look forward to the newspaper that would be lying on the verandah when were back from the church...And we in our excitement would just throw ourselves out of the scooter before it even ceased to halt and go for the critical page in the paper…”TV and Radio”.

Well unlike now, where before deciding on a movie we analyze and over analyze a movie, the director…actor…actress…genre...and whether we have seen it already, such thoughts never mattered to us…All we needed to know was the name of the movie!!…and that was enough to build up the anticipation... And after that the next few hours would be allowing ourselves to float in imagination about the heroics we might be able to glimpse during that wonderful three hours…After a hurried breakfast and as we cycle to the church for Sunday class our thoughts are still pre occupied with it... A stream of thoughts that wonders what Mohanlal or Mammootty has in store for us...and a nagging fear of whether in the evening we would actually be able to ‘do it’!!

Once we are back home…we are usually extra nice on Sunday afternoons…The homeworks have been finished on Saturday evening itself…there are no house keeping activities which we have forgotten to do…And we make sure that we don’t come up with any topic which might give a fleeting indication that exams were around the corner at school..(Though they were teachers in the same school never crossed our mind)…

And then at approx 4:50 pm, either one of us would make the first move…In flashback we would be sitting at our study tables since 3:00 pm to build the illusion that “we have been studying for so long and now we need the break”….And tenaciously we would walk to the door near the sit-out. With one leg in the drawing room (where the TV is) and the other leg and head leaning forward to the sit out (where dad is usually reading the newspaper) and though the whole scene is not exactly same as a regular pennukaanal chadangu (where the bride timidly looks at the groom) and yet somewhat, one of us will say..

“Appa…cinema thodangaaru aayi*”

There is palpable tension in the face of who is standing just behind the person asking Dad…And then it’s a pause…a long long pause in anticipation of the most beautiful words we dream at that point of time….

But we have to wait for that...

“hmm….homework ellaam theerthoo**”

“cheythu…”

“Babyooo?”

“avanum theerthu”

You could see a vehement YES!! written all over the face every time the negotiations seem to move forward…

“hmm…”

Now the time is 4:55 pm

Appa still looks unconvinced and uninterested…. I look at the clock in desperation which seems to move faster than ever before…and I give a mild cough to release the tension in air and to bring focus to the crisis we were facing.

“hmm…Amma epazhum adukkalayil aano***”

“athe…pakshe avude ella panniyum kazhinju”

I knew that was coming…I had to convince that practically there was no job left in the whole world and the only thing we could possibly to do in rest our lives was to catch that movie at 5:00 pm..

“hmmm…”

4:58 pm…

You could hear from the distance that Doordarshan theme promo running at televisions in the neighborhood…Oh my God!! Time is running out…So far into the talks and yet so little progressed. And even if the deal went through there was ofcoz threats of natural disasters like the power failure…guests dropping by…or the DD engineer dozing off resulting in that perpetual beep sound with an amazing array of rectangular blocks for viewers to amuse themselves with!!

“Appa….cinema thondaangaar aayi”

And finally………

“hmm…ammanyum vilikku….” (call mom too...)

And a silent hurrah from me and bro, we would switch on the TV, squat at our favourite viewing spots…Amma brings in the tea and Milk Bikis biscuits which we gorge on as the credits of the movie is shown….Dad is finally done with reading the same newspaper 10 times and keeps it away to come and sit with us…And the only thing that would possibly distract me or bro in the next three hours was if we had to ever run to the loo…and ofcoz that would be controlled and synchronized to the ad breaks…


Listening to Ormayil Oru Shishiram


*"Dad..Movie is about to begin"
**"Done with your homework"
***"Is mom still in the kitchen"