The movie released in India on March 6, 1998. Isn’t it incredible how I remember a detail like that? Well, to my defense, it’s the only movie release date I remember. And I probably remember it because it coincided with both Vyoma’s and Riti’s birthdays, and also because I clearly remember seeing the ad in the papers and telling myself that I’m going to watch it as soon as my board exams finish.
I was dating Shareen back then, and really wanted to watch it with her. In hindsight, I’m probably glad I didn’t..
The movie release date was not the only thing I remember. There are many more details. And that’s why the reason for blog actually titled “Titanic”.
10th Board exams finish sometime in March-April (don’t remember that date), and the moment it was over, the entire class made a plan to go and catch the movie. I had always been a chief organizer for most things my class did back then, and I was surely not going to be one to miss out on this – although my original plan was to watch it only with Shareen.
Unfortunately, I began church classes as soon as exams were done, which I needed to take before my first Holy Communion. I don’t remember the point of those classes, just as I don’t remember the point of any of Sunday school I ever went to, but did it anyway on mom’s insistence.
So there was this day when we had planned to watch the movie, and I was out with Shareen for almost the entire day. But by evening, I had to drop her off at the cinema along with the rest of my friends, and I had to get to church for my class beginning at 6:30p.m.
Felt real lousy for doing that. Maybe even a little sad that Shareen still wanted to go along with the rest for the movie, rather than hold out on it to watch it with me later. But I never asked that of her. I was a very understanding boyfriend back then. Had minimal expectations out of the girls I dated, and expected the same in return. So I felt it completely justified that she should watch it with the rest, coz the entire class was there. I still remember that the only people who actually missed out on the movie that day was Bala and Buntu. And they were the 2 guys that I eventually ended up watching the movie with!
Of course, after the entire class watched the movie on that day, I tried asking Shareen to watch it again with me. Didn’t really work out – and we were anyway drifting apart soon as school got over.
So I pulled Bala and Buntu, and still remember clearly sitting on the left corner of the 3rd row from the screen to watch the movie at Plaza (a theatre that has now been so sadly shut down in Bangalore).
It’s quite funny that I watched the movie with Bala in fact. Coz the one romantic movie that I remember giving me a gulp in my mouth earlier was DDLJ, and even that one I watched with Bala and Battery – bunking school that too back in the 9th std.
Anyway, so I watched the movie, and remember it really moving me back then. The movie buff that I am, I actually allow some movies to have that sort of effect on me, and this was one of the few to have done that.
But the experience was solely mine to enjoy. I never shared it with anyone. And this is why I am glad I didn’t actually watch it with Shareen. I still remember seeing her off at the cinemas and feeling so bad for not being there with her when I knew she would want me during some of the emotional moments. But just imagine how I would have felt right now! I may never have been able to get myself to watch the movie again, if it actually reminded me of Shareen. This is why I’m glad the experience was only mine to keep, and that I never shared my feelings about the movie with any girl I know.
Years later, some time in April 2012, the movie re-released – in 3D this time, and I wanted to watch it again. This time with Geeta. But as luck would have it, once again never worked out. In fact, I didn’t even have guys like Bala, Buntu or Battery to accompany me. I watched it alone.. didn’t matter though, the Titanic experience was always just mine to keep. Left me with a lump again, albeit a much smaller one, and glad I don’t share this emotion with anybody else – would not have been able to handle it, especially if it reminded me of Shareen..
I still remember the day Vyoma broke down at a party when the Celine Dion song began to play. Coz she was reminded of Jeetu that time. She was dating China, and yet, broke down when the song played. That’s how she had felt back then. Don’t think she feels any of it right now. But I can somewhere empathize with her, and only makes me more glad about the fact that this was simply my experience to enjoy..
Thank you James Cameroon
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Highlights
I’ve never been too much of a Sports guy. Tried my hand at every game that comes by, but somehow, never managed to excel at any of them. Probably Fooseball is the only game I marginally decent at. Somehow seem to have a quick eye for it, and better than most people I play against. But who would call that a Sport!
So like every kid, I think my first game was Cricket. Being a leo and probably in the possession of some innate leadership skills, I anointed myself captain of my class Cricket team way back in 7th/8th. I was a horrible player, but I loved telling who should go in to bat and who should bowl. And for some reason, my friends always let me take that decision. But in the 9th std, Karthik R travelled to Sri Lanka to represent a club in Cricket, and he became an over-night sensation. Suddenly he became captain. I remember he took the job real serious. There was one day when he made all of us toil on a hot weekend to “create” a Cricket pitch. And no matter how much sand we moved, and how much water we poured, the damn thing just didn’t happen. Karthik R was as much a fake as I was!
There was an incident where despite my lack of skills in Cricket, I got chosen to be part of the class team that Karthik was leading. The final two slots were between Jeetu and me, and Jeetu was absent on that day. Karthik asked people to vote for one of us two, and me being the guy present that day, people just voted for me to not offend me. I myself would have probably voted for Jeetu if it was on merit, but once again, I just sneaked through, probably in the same way I was the self-anointed captain 2 years earlier.
Jeetu was not happy at all when he got to know about this, and demanded a re-vote, but I don’t that ever took place. Poor Jeetu, the guy was always fighting for his rights. Actually, he was just always fighting. Being a Sardar just brings it out of you I guess. And that too, a Sarday in South India. I mean, who would understand a guy wearing a turban, that too, if you’re the only one in the entire school who does that. So Jeetu picked fights with so many people, and poor guy always seemed to be at the receiving end to things.
But he was always sweet to me nevertheless. In spite of all those things I did to him, he’s been nice to me to this day.
Anyway, not digressing, let me actually move to those few moments in my brief Sporting career, where I made a difference, and remember it to this day.
So to begin with Cricket - I was always so lousy at it, but during the phase that I was self-anointed captain, I remember one clear occasion where I caught the ball while fielding right next to the batsman, complete with a dive and a throw of the ball in the air after the catch. It was one of those rare spectacular moments, when my body reacted faster than my brain did, and pulled off something that stunned everybody around. It definitely stunned me – I remember that catch after nearly 17 years!
Then there was a time I pulled off a catch running all the way from the boundary and just about latching onto the tennis ball without having it pop out of my hands, like it did most of the time. This had happened when I wasn’t captain anymore, and was asked to field near the boundary where the ball rarely comes. If I were captain, I would always keep myself right next to the batsman, where I could be “in the center of things”!
These 2 catches are probably my only memories of the Cricket I ever played. I barely remember ever doing anything great with the bat, and I never bowled. I remember going for coaching classes in HAL (what a disturbing episode that was – but that one makes an entirely different post) and then the coaching classes that Hari and I went, and he became an instant superstar, and I remember getting to bat only once, during which time also I got screwed by the coach for trying out his kit instead of a local one that was lying around – now how was I to know that! But that was the only, and last time I tried on pads, gloves, and gave a shot at batting. It was the time I got hit in the eye by a spin bowler – a mark I have to this day. And I never padded up ever after that..
The next game I remember playing in school was football. It was the easiest game to play during that stage in school, coz there was nothing apart from a big and dusty playground, where we would place 2 stones to make a goal post and play around them.
In the 10th std, the girls began to play with us. They did that for a brief time – just the 10th std. Not before, and never after that. I actually remember once in the 11th std wondering why the girls don’t play football with us anymore – but my guess is that they realized they turned into ladies that summer.
Anyway, so there was this one game of football I can never forget. It was on the day of my birthday, and it was definitely led out of the adrenaline that got pumped into my system on a day that was clearly the most important day for me – and as per me, the most important day for most people around me
So that one particular game, we won 4-0, and I scored all 4 goals. I even remember how some of those goals took place – been 15 years, and I still remember how they went. It was one of those rare rare moments for me. And one of the last times I played that sport as well..
11th and 12th std, it was more of basketball. Once again, a game I tried desperately to excel in. And once got my shot at it, coz apart from Tunu and Noel, there was nobody else in the Blue House team. Yellow House had Upkar and Praty. Red had Hari and Gopal. Green had just Bala (poor guy was the only saving grace for that House – whichever sport or event there ever was). Blue was the best house for all creative activities, as we even had Aash and Sush, but in Sport, we were never quite there.
Anyway, I used the opportunity I got being in a team with very few players. But there was once when we played a school of another team, when we got completely hammered, but Noel and I were on the bench that day. And Noel got a shot at playing for a brief moment, and I couldn’t even get that much. In spite of the fact that we lost so bad. People later said I should have given a chance when we were anyway losing, coz I ended up being the only guy on the bench that day..
Well, as the story goes, that was again the last time I played Basketball..
Since school till now, I’ve tried my hand at other sports like swimming, volleyball and badminton, which I keep playing every time I get the chance to. And today I try playing as much of squash as possible, to keep me fit. But I’ve come to terms with the fact that I can never excel at any sport I play, and I should just play it for 2 reasons –to get the exercise, and to enjoy the time spent on it.
So that’s the Sandeep-Sport love story – a compromise achieved, to live happily now and after.
So like every kid, I think my first game was Cricket. Being a leo and probably in the possession of some innate leadership skills, I anointed myself captain of my class Cricket team way back in 7th/8th. I was a horrible player, but I loved telling who should go in to bat and who should bowl. And for some reason, my friends always let me take that decision. But in the 9th std, Karthik R travelled to Sri Lanka to represent a club in Cricket, and he became an over-night sensation. Suddenly he became captain. I remember he took the job real serious. There was one day when he made all of us toil on a hot weekend to “create” a Cricket pitch. And no matter how much sand we moved, and how much water we poured, the damn thing just didn’t happen. Karthik R was as much a fake as I was!
There was an incident where despite my lack of skills in Cricket, I got chosen to be part of the class team that Karthik was leading. The final two slots were between Jeetu and me, and Jeetu was absent on that day. Karthik asked people to vote for one of us two, and me being the guy present that day, people just voted for me to not offend me. I myself would have probably voted for Jeetu if it was on merit, but once again, I just sneaked through, probably in the same way I was the self-anointed captain 2 years earlier.
Jeetu was not happy at all when he got to know about this, and demanded a re-vote, but I don’t that ever took place. Poor Jeetu, the guy was always fighting for his rights. Actually, he was just always fighting. Being a Sardar just brings it out of you I guess. And that too, a Sarday in South India. I mean, who would understand a guy wearing a turban, that too, if you’re the only one in the entire school who does that. So Jeetu picked fights with so many people, and poor guy always seemed to be at the receiving end to things.
But he was always sweet to me nevertheless. In spite of all those things I did to him, he’s been nice to me to this day.
Anyway, not digressing, let me actually move to those few moments in my brief Sporting career, where I made a difference, and remember it to this day.
So to begin with Cricket - I was always so lousy at it, but during the phase that I was self-anointed captain, I remember one clear occasion where I caught the ball while fielding right next to the batsman, complete with a dive and a throw of the ball in the air after the catch. It was one of those rare spectacular moments, when my body reacted faster than my brain did, and pulled off something that stunned everybody around. It definitely stunned me – I remember that catch after nearly 17 years!
Then there was a time I pulled off a catch running all the way from the boundary and just about latching onto the tennis ball without having it pop out of my hands, like it did most of the time. This had happened when I wasn’t captain anymore, and was asked to field near the boundary where the ball rarely comes. If I were captain, I would always keep myself right next to the batsman, where I could be “in the center of things”!
These 2 catches are probably my only memories of the Cricket I ever played. I barely remember ever doing anything great with the bat, and I never bowled. I remember going for coaching classes in HAL (what a disturbing episode that was – but that one makes an entirely different post) and then the coaching classes that Hari and I went, and he became an instant superstar, and I remember getting to bat only once, during which time also I got screwed by the coach for trying out his kit instead of a local one that was lying around – now how was I to know that! But that was the only, and last time I tried on pads, gloves, and gave a shot at batting. It was the time I got hit in the eye by a spin bowler – a mark I have to this day. And I never padded up ever after that..
The next game I remember playing in school was football. It was the easiest game to play during that stage in school, coz there was nothing apart from a big and dusty playground, where we would place 2 stones to make a goal post and play around them.
In the 10th std, the girls began to play with us. They did that for a brief time – just the 10th std. Not before, and never after that. I actually remember once in the 11th std wondering why the girls don’t play football with us anymore – but my guess is that they realized they turned into ladies that summer.
Anyway, so there was this one game of football I can never forget. It was on the day of my birthday, and it was definitely led out of the adrenaline that got pumped into my system on a day that was clearly the most important day for me – and as per me, the most important day for most people around me
So that one particular game, we won 4-0, and I scored all 4 goals. I even remember how some of those goals took place – been 15 years, and I still remember how they went. It was one of those rare rare moments for me. And one of the last times I played that sport as well..
11th and 12th std, it was more of basketball. Once again, a game I tried desperately to excel in. And once got my shot at it, coz apart from Tunu and Noel, there was nobody else in the Blue House team. Yellow House had Upkar and Praty. Red had Hari and Gopal. Green had just Bala (poor guy was the only saving grace for that House – whichever sport or event there ever was). Blue was the best house for all creative activities, as we even had Aash and Sush, but in Sport, we were never quite there.
Anyway, I used the opportunity I got being in a team with very few players. But there was once when we played a school of another team, when we got completely hammered, but Noel and I were on the bench that day. And Noel got a shot at playing for a brief moment, and I couldn’t even get that much. In spite of the fact that we lost so bad. People later said I should have given a chance when we were anyway losing, coz I ended up being the only guy on the bench that day..
Well, as the story goes, that was again the last time I played Basketball..
Since school till now, I’ve tried my hand at other sports like swimming, volleyball and badminton, which I keep playing every time I get the chance to. And today I try playing as much of squash as possible, to keep me fit. But I’ve come to terms with the fact that I can never excel at any sport I play, and I should just play it for 2 reasons –to get the exercise, and to enjoy the time spent on it.
So that’s the Sandeep-Sport love story – a compromise achieved, to live happily now and after.
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