What pissed me off during a movie in Mumbai

It was a busy quarter of the year in office because of a few professional commitments, and I was desperately waiting for a small break. I don’t watch movies frequently, so I was waiting for a nice movie to release so that I could take a breather. The movie, Raazi was about to release, and when it did, I booked four tickets for my family.

We planned to go for a movie and then dinner. Since I do not feel the need to keep a car in Mumbai, I decided to look for cheap Car Rentals so that we can have a great time together with family. After searching for an hour, I booked a Swift Dzire to go for a long drive on a Saturday evening. We went to the theater, fetched burgers from McDonalds first, gulped them down, and then went ahead to reach the movie hall.

Finally, the movie started!

But no, destiny had some other plans for my weekend!

Two kids began shouting, screeching, and yelling in the movie hall. I expected, and so did other people, that one of the parents of the kids would pick up their kids and take them outside to pacify them. But no, they did not budge from their seats, and left them playing in the cinema hall. They gave them their mobile phones, and the kids knew the button to turn on the flash lights of the phones. Imagine the disturbance that the naughty kids caused for everyone else in the room with the flashlights blazing in the pitch dark movie hall.

When the other kids saw them having a good time, they also started crying their eyes out for mobile phones. Their parents also, instead of soothing them, gave them their cell phones. Now my most-awaited movie is running on the huge screen, but no one among the audience could concentrate on the it because of five flash lights were glowing in five different directions. The cherry on the top of the cake was the shrieking voices of kids arguing and playing. At least someone got up from the seat and called the assistant and asked him to let the parents know about the agony of others sitting right there. Even then the parents did not calm down their kids, they just took away the mobile phones from them.

What the parents were supposed to do

The kids went on and on with their pranks, which pissed me off. Completely. I was not frustrated because of the kids, but the parents. Kids will always make noise; they do not know the etiquettes, but their parents do. The parents are adults, of course, and they are consciously spoiling the supposed quality time of at least five hundred people who have paid a fortune to watch a good movie, which was anyhow turned into a worthless experience. Such parents should leave their kids with a guardian or watch movies at home, but please refrain from disturbing hundreds of other people just because they cannot handle their children.

How I Spend My Boring Weekends in Delhi

No one in this world can have happening weekends every time; one has to have a pet place to go when there is nothing to do. One such place for me is a tea stall near my house where I meet my regular friends. None of has to have a reason to be there at Santosh chai-wallah. My group of childhood buddies comprising Rohit, Naina, and Kashish and I would arrive at the place around 7 pm to have a sip of tea or just sit there for a while. As we were growing up, we would gather at this humble place every evening after school and tuitions to gossip about our daily lives. After killing an hour from the allotted time, we would go home to have dinner and complete our homework.

Times after college

All of us have finished our college except Naina, and we still try to meet at Santosh’s stall even though the regular tea seller does not operate the place. Sometimes, it feels heartbreaking to see that everyone is getting busy and busier in their lives. We cannot always make time to meet at seven or even nine at our adda. We have to honor our commitments in office even though we cannot do so for our childhood promises. We still try to meet at least on weekends if we cannot make it during weekdays unless we have a plan to go out of the city.

Over time, the chai place at Santosh's has become more like a nostalgic place. Some weekends become so dull at times in Delhi that I cannot understand what to do to kill time. In my childhood, I would rarely go to our adda alone, but I like to go there on my own now because all my friends are busy. The colleagues from office are not a very good company to have during weekends since I spend a good deal of time with them during weekdays. 

The books are my companion

I take a book along to the chai-wallah whenever I cannot find anything to do, read fiction for an hour or more, and come back home refreshed and energized. Even a library cannot provide such peace and satisfaction that I get sitting on the makeshift seating arrangement constructed around a tree. The noise of the traffic, the chatter of the people, and the fragrance of tea continually boiling in the vessel is more pleasing than the peace of a library.

Although I miss my friends whenever I sit there, I cannot force anyone to come to the place every time I am there. While reading books, I often meet people from my neighborhood sometimes, and I get to talk to them. Sometimes I wonder why not I should go to visit someplace in Delhi whenever I get bored, but there is no fun going anywhere without my buddies. Rather than going to some random restaurant, historical place, or an event on my own, I would like to wait for someone to accompany me. The only place where I can sit alone is at the Santosh chai-wallah.

This January, it has been more than three weeks that I have met anyone from my childhood friends. And I have thought to get together with them as soon as possible, take a Car Hire, and go to the historical place of Delhi if we cannot go out of the city. It has been a really long time that we have spent quality time with each other. This time, I commit to myself that I will make it.