36,chowringhee lane


The much awaited Cine club fest-'Moving Pictures' is finally on. Today, I could not resist joining the poster making competition though I had not wielded a paint brush for several months....!

2.35 pm

I have completed the sketch. Mariam and I  stop Priya as she walked by to pen a French phrase for our poster.I feel curiously lethargic as mottled shapes slowly appear on the white sheet before me.

3.30 pm

I walk across the scr lawns towards the AV room. I am proud!not of the poster that I had just completed (and am carrying),but the collage of colours that has appeared on my fingers...the last time I had dabs of paint on my hands was after art block in school.

3.45 pm

I am comfortably sitting beside Obs in the AV room though the air-conditioning inside feels strange..afterall the winter here has not completely faded away and the air outside is still chilly.Impish actually-teasing you at times to wear just a T-shirt while at other times -leaving you puzzling over why you wore no sweater.

4.00pm

36,Chowringhee lane is being screened.Alls well when Miss.Stoneham speaks in her crisp english accent.However,as bengali dialogues creep into the movie with the entry of Nandita and Samaresh,I am straining to read the subtitles over peoples heads.Before long, Lama leans closer and begins to translate the dialogues.Thanks to him I am saved from peering at the subtitles every now and then.

4.37pm

I am thouroughly swept by certain elements in the movie-the surreal sepia toned sequences,the montage effect that emerges when english classical music flows into indian instrumental,and most of all the acting of the lady who plays Miss.Stoneham.

5.15 pm

Shakespearan Lines are introduced into the final shot of the movie.Miss.Stoneham takes solace by reciting the words of another old person(King Lear), who was lonely and foolish in believing others. Pray, do not mock me; I am a very foolish fond old man,Fourscore and upward, not an hour more or less,And, to deal plainly,I fear I am not in my perfect mind. --(King Lear, Act IV, Scene VII)And Lear's last words to Cordelia:
Come, let's away to prison;

We two alone will sing like birds in the cage:

When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down,

And ask of thee forgiveness; so we'll live,

And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh

At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues

Talk of court news; and we’ll talk with them too.

Who loses and who wins; who’s in, who’s out;

And take upon the mystery of things . . . --(King Lear, Act V, Scene III)

5.30 pm

Vinski and I stroll outside for a while.WE both have curfew timings set by our hostels that restrict our movement to the outside world(yes its a dungeon inside believe me!)after 7.00 pm.

" are you staying back to watch Reservoir dogs?"quoth she

I reply"Wish I could!I hate leaving movies midway.So,I'll probably leave now so that I reach the dungeon on time.SIGH!'

;)

6.35 pm

I am 'signing in' to the dungeon.Here begins the prison spell that shall extend the night.


.....Fast forward to the present time......

3.51 am!!!!

Gosh!you better catch some sleep before tomorrow's seminar!Girl you've been awake for too long!...am going to sleep before i morph into some nocturnal creature.

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