Monday, February 20, 2006

"the spirit of freedom"?

I am on a flight from Delhi to Mumbai, having attended a rather dear friend's wedding - tired, bored, depressed and somewhat lonely. Two successive weddings, two more friends who will never hang out with me without making statements like, "I'm sorry I have to go. My wife is having a bad day." Or, for that matter, without talking about the chest of drawers they plan to buy. I feel strangely empty - a feeling that something has been missing from my life.

A girl walks into the plane, and in what could be a sequence from that late eighties 'lakme moisturizer ad', she looks around. the seat next to me is vacant, and it turns out that it is her's. what is notable about the girl is the big guitar she's lugged into the plane. (the jury may note that a guitar is kind of hard to miss). since there is no space in the overhead bin right above, it takes a considerable amount of time and effort on the part of the cabin crew to find a suitable abode for the damned instrument. after making small talk about guitar intricacies (since one of us seventeen plays the instrument somewhat), it turns out that we have mutual acquaintances.

"I just saw rang de basanti", she suddenly declares. "You should watch it"
"I will. I have been hearing lots about it too. So tell me, what do you think of the movie?"
the plane taxies to the end of the runway and accelerates.
"It's about the spirit of freedom."
"Muh?"
"Hard to explain it. Look outside. Look at how everything blends together when you travel at high speed. And then you flyyyyyyyyyy! That's what it's like."

Epiphany. A moment when everything falls in place. I am rather moved by her observation. This girl clearly has hit on something that has been missing from my life for a long time. Turning around, I look deep into her eyes and catch a glimpse of her soul - that's how dilated her pupils are. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, she's as high as a cloud. She's hit on the blessed weed.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

rang de...is, to say the least, not as bad as the rest of the trash bollywood seems to be churning out week after week, i actually quite liked it...but the director,in his usual style(i still remember Aks) tries to bring a little too much of soemthing that isnt really there...
everything said...do watch it...

Lazarus

Falstaff said...

so presumably the moral of the story is that all flesh is grassed?

You know I've never had that lakme moisturizer ad experience? Not once, despite all those years doing 2-3 flights a week. Sigh.

Heh Heh said...

anon: i have every intention to. thanks anyway..
f: yep. i think this was the first time something like this happened. to clarify, however, the person in question was nowhere like the chick in that ad.

Falstaff said...

dude, she wasn't a gold-chain wearing, loudly snoring 50+ year old blimp of an uncle-ji who can never figure out how this seat-belt thing works was she? Well then.

Anonymous said...

you forgot to mention 'talk about the property they are buying - "no not to live in but it's a good investment"' :-)

Heh Heh said...

falstaff: no wonder you quit the firm. doing that two or three times a week for two years! phew!!
m: nice to see you here. :) the property thingie has been reserved for a separate rant.