Wednesday, October 23, 2013

The Kid


It was in the 80s, ... the late 80s...

The boarder town of Samdrup Jongkhar housed the first movie theatre of Bhutan, the "Bhutan Talkies".
Then I was a kid and die-hard-fan of the Indian Cinema. A movie used to be screened for a week and then change every Friday. My gang always went to the movies on Saturday, as it was a half day and the next day was a Sunday. Sunday was special, we spent all day talking and enacting the movie.
I don't remember what my Dad did to earn a living, but, money was hard to come by. Every penny meant a lot to us. For most Saturdays, my Mom gave me the Indian 50 paisa coin  for buying the ticket. But at times, my mother didn't have the money to spare for my movies and, my heart broke into a million pieces. I was too small to understand ECONOMICS and, all I could do was to cry a lot and wet the pillow.
The movie theatre was just a stone throws distance from my house and could hear bit and pieces of the movie screening, this added greatly to my misery.
Not watching the movie on Saturday had an impact in the friends circle too, you can't contribute in the discussion and participate in re-enactment of the movie on Sunday, you just remain on the bench. I have been on the bench a couple of times and it was a very painful experience.
I know my Mom did her best to always give the money for buying the ticket and when she failed, I saw the helplessness in her eyes and her heart might have had broken many times more than mine. 



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