day at the movies

Today was the day for the dreaded holiday shopping. Blecchhh. I didn't want to wait much longer because I'd have to mail everything back to the states, and I have no idea how long it would take to get there. I'd actually intended to start (and finish) shopping yesterday, but because some more American Yahoos were in town, I ended up going to the track with them instead (the track visit was grimy and uneventful. I lost many a rupee on many a horse. Not one winner, dagnabbit. I heard that the night before, the leading horse -- the heavy favorite -- pulled up right before crossing the finish line and the patrons flipped out and threw flowerpots through windows and such. Which begs the question...why couldn't I have been there THAT day??).

So back to today...After walking to the big shopping area, Brigade Road (or rather, after ATTEMPTING to walk to the big shopping area -- I ended up getting totally lost along the way and had to take an auto-rickshaw ride to reach my destination, which I didn't mind because I hadn't ridden in one of those yet), I scouted out some cool Indian-type crafts for sale. But intending to come back after scouting out more shops, I didn't buy anything except for a bunch of cool little wooden toys for my little niece.

Armed with the knowledge of what was available at Brigade Road, I then went to The Forum, the local upscale mall. And I figured that since I was going to go to the mall, I might as well see a movie. The multiplex there was very large by local standards. Nine or ten screens, I think. A few English language flicks (Casino Royale is currently the big draw), a few foreign flicks and a bunch of Kannada flicks (Indian films in the Kannada language. No, I hadn't heard of it either). I was hoping to check out one of the English language ones since, you know, they were in English. But they were all sold out. Hell, nearly every movie for the next four hours was sold out. Those Indians do enjoy their cinema.

So I ended up buying a ticket for the one film starting in the next three hours that wasn't sold out: C-O Footpath, a Kannada film. I had to reassure the pesky ticket booth guy and the pesky ticket taker guy that yes, I knew it wasn't in English. I figured I'd be able to follow what was going on. And I did.

It was about a rebellious dirty urchin boy from a poor unschooled village who wanted to go to school. But school was just too darned expensive. He befriended some actual students and had secret study lessons with them. This made him very excited. I knew this because he would run around smiling, waving his arms in the air with reckless abandon. The rebellious boy would teach the other dirty urchin children from his village what he learned and then they would all get excited and dance wildly. Near the "end," the rebellious boy somehow finagled a school uniform and snuck into a classroom to attend school for real. But he was found out and a stern man litterally dragged him out of the classroom (kicking and screaming) and threw him out onto the dirt road. A heartbreaking moment -- what would the rebellious dirty urchin boy do next??

Well, I never found out because as he was sobbing in the dirt, "intermission" appeared on the screen. It was an hour and twenty minutes in and I figured I could guess the rest of the story. Boy picks himself out of dirt. Boy feels sorry for himself. Boy gets encouraged by mother and other dirty urchin children. Boy rises up and goes to school. Boy gets excited and waves his arms in the air. Everyone dances wildly.