'Calls' To The Dark Knight

I watched ‘The Dark Knight’ last year and waited for ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ as I heard of some news about Mr. Nolan creating the end of the trilogy. Trailing by Trailers, I waited with abated breath for ‘The Rise’. The only reason was: ‘In Nolan I believed’. Moreover, I was captivated with the soundtrack by Hans Zimmer and almost listened to it more than five times a day to get the feel of the end of the legend.

But as it goes with my life, something circus like thing happened on the day when the film rose to the theatres and I made a nasty run just to be in time. Story Time:

19^th July 2012 (The Day before ‘The Rise’)

I wanted to make sure that I watch the movie in English as soon as I let myself out of my office. I thronged almost 4 multiplexes near to my office with one of my friends Nitin but in vain. Everywhere the movie was to be released in Hindi and I never wished to see the legend speaking some vernacular. I asked Nitin to book tickets online. We succeeded and got the best seats – third from the last row to watch the spectacle. Time: 6:20 pm.

20^th July 2012 (The Day of ‘The Rise’)

5:15 pm.

I called Nitin and he said that he was stuck somewhere and I needed to go alone. I didn’t know the ways to the multiplex and I knew I needed someone as crazy as me for ‘The Rise’. There were gangs of friends around me not getting the tickets while I had one extra ticket with me – The Golden Ticket.

5 Minutes later…

I started making random calls to lots of people around in panic just to accompany me to the end of the trilogy and read along what happened:

Call 1: My Colleague – I approached my colleague and begged her to watch the movie with me. I failed. She had her own reasons and couldn’t be ignored though.

Suddenly, I started figuring out people in my phone book and their degrees of availability at the time.

Call2: My Ex-Room mate:  He had been living in his home since 9 months by now and had been ready for every party or gathering we planned for, even at the shortest notice. But the little mouse already had his cheese booked this time and that too late in the night.

Call3: My Old School friend: I knew she was engaged. But let me try and call her and ask whether she would be company. These were my thoughts when I banged her number. I knew she was all oblivious about the trilogy but she was a good friend though. She too had her own reasons of office and life.

My hairs were on fire now. I just started making some random calls again.

Call4: My Random Friend: We had just met out of coincidence. She wanted some ideas over some event and we had a discussion. I dialed her. She was in a hospital. Her father was going to be under the knife for some treatment. I was sorry. She was sorry. And then my patience spilled up.

25 Minutes Later…

5:45 pm.

I was now running nuts. I didn’t know the place and I was made to watch the movie alone. Holy Shit. My colleague shouted at me and asked me to start my ride to 15 km across the city to reach the theatre in time. It was excruciating to know that nobody wanted the golden ticket.

Call5: My Junior: I called one of my juniors and as the phone rang I made my mind to hit him hard in the face if he denied. No prizes for guessing here. He said he was stuck with his bike somewhere in the middle of the city and I am going to hit him in the face when I meet him.

Call6: My Facebook Friend: I called one of my ‘facebook’ friends. I met her online. She was far away from my age group but still managed to say ‘No’. I thought I could convince her but they say family and children make you more responsible than an empty bag with some books and dreams in it.

Call7: My Recent Friend: Now, this was the weirdest call of my life. I had never called her. We met recently.  And to the top of it, she lived around 30 km away from the theatre and it was exactly 30 minutes before ‘The Rise’. And to the least of my surprises in my life, she denied.

Call8: I now called to one of my best friends. I was positive. The other minute shattered my hopes. I heard a ‘beep’. She ‘rejected’ my call.

5:55 pm

It was now my colleague’s turn to go nuts when she saw me behaving like an answering machine and requesting others for the golden ticket. She just banged the head guard onto my hands and asked me to leave. Now, I never had the Batman bike that can cross the Gotham city in minutes. Still I rode at a speed of around 70 kmph and guess what. I crossed two more bridges i.e. around 3 more kms in extra to the place where I was supposed to reach.

6:15 pm

5 more minutes…

I was standing at the traffic signal and asked some one where the theatre was. He explained me and I rode the horse like my bum on fire. I reached the theatre at 6:25 pm. I hated it to start late. And to my surprise the show was 20 minutes late. I made my way to the screen and saw a great looking girl with one of her friends. I hoped she was sitting right to me. And every time you hope that you find a pop corn monger kid or a coke sipping aunt piercing your ears…! I bought some popcorn and made myself comfortable on the couch. I heard a voice hitting the left of my ear. She was around 43 requesting me to shift a row behind for her son to accommodate. I was happy to do that as that brought me to the second last row of the theatre.

3 Minutes Later…

The movie started and I heard a girl screaming. She was the one whom I saw in the room outside the screen, sitting next to me. I screamed too…! She asked me whether I was alone and I replied, “It’s a funny story and maybe I would weave a blog out of it…!”

P.S. Something about ‘The Rise’:

The story is about fear and hope, rise and revolt. The best scene in the movie was the one when the protagonist climbed out of the mercenary without the rope.

Joker, we shall all keep missing you all the time…!

Amit Purohit

The Lone Soldier

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The Parallel Lines

Recently I had a chance to spend most of my day’s time with some of the most energetic minds and souls of the country at some engineering college. My life was uncertain like a ship without the rudder left alone amidst sea storms in the middle of an ocean at the whim of the waves. But the energy showed by the people around me kept me driving.

After re-orienting my life to some other goal, I came across lots of people of my age making money, travelling around the world and getting everything I deemed of.  I at my own switched off the supply of money to my life and halved it with lots of uncertainty as an additive interest. There were moments which pierced me deep and hard; made me think to push the reverse button of my life. I revolted. It had been a couple of times I had been treading the same path and watching the power struggle between satisfaction and delight.

I think I have blown enough of my trumpet and thrown some personal metaphors around. Story Time…

The Parallel Lines: : Satisfaction and Delight:

I was passing through a road that was under construction. There was a group of workers pushing hard for their daily wages. They were in an abject state of poverty and working in a highly unsafe environment. I ordered tea and sat on the ‘tapri table’ near to them. Suddenly I heard a child’s cry, who was sleeping in a ‘make-shift’ arranged swing near the road roller. His mother threw the basket containing aggregates and cuddled him, but in vain.

10 Minutes later…

I saw one of the male workers rushing to the nearest ice-cream parlor and buying a chocolate bar worth Rs.10/- The child was over the moon. It was ‘Delight’ for him and his parents saw the scene dipped in ‘Satisfaction’. A ten rupee note bought delight and satisfaction and made the parallel lines intersect.

However these things are least evident or applicable in so called ‘corporate’ life we live in. Most of my friends working in some of the leading MNCs crib about money, job location, job profile, job culture and even loneliness.  I used to crib about my job profile and now I crib over money and uncertainty. Parallel Lines.

 But there are some moments when and where these parallel lines intersect. Rare though. Some of them are: a boy reciting his deceased father’s poetry, an old priest offering his first prayers, a young girl making some street child write ABC, a young boy giving his first salary to his mother and lots more around you, with you…!

Lastly, one of my life’s moments when the parallel lines meet is the time when I write something, share and ‘You’ smile at the end after reading it. We live in a weird and wonderful world. Isn’t it?

It’s about to rain. Now listening to a track from 21^st Century Breakdown by GreenDay:

Hey Gloria, are you standing close to the edge?

Look out to the setting sun, the brink of your vision...

Eternal youth is a landscape of a lie

The cracks of my skin can prove, as the years will testify...

Amit Purohit 

The Lone Soldier

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