I tiptoed out of the room closing the door behind me. Its menacing squeak made our toddler squirm in his sleep.
“Shhhh!” hissed the husband.
“Alright, now you don’t wake him up with your dramatic ‘shhhh’,” I retorted.
After the task at hand was successfully completed, I stretched myself on the couch beside the husband. It was 11pm.
“Haven’t decided on a good one…yet?” I asked him, annoyed. Vinay clicked his tongue and went back to his phone as an answer.
Well, I’d wanted to call it a ‘date-night’ when I’d suggested to him the idea of spending time together.
“What’s the occasion, Anu?” He’d asked, quite nonchalantly.
“Need an occasion for some ‘we-time’?” I’d shot back, indignantly. “I’ll call Amma to take care of the kid. Let’s go out.”
“Oh no, don’t trouble her.”
I tried hard not to roll my eyes at the sweetest son-in-law in the world.
“Fine then. Any other ideas?” I’d huffed.
“Movie! Let’s see a good movie.”
“Typical of you, Mr. Movie Buff. Is that all you can think of?”
“Why not? It’s been ages since we watched one together.” He’d added and convinced me that it was the best idea possible.
I relented. And, that’s how the date-night became a movie-night.
A sneak-peek into our lives for the past three years, since our little man arrived, would reveal that we hadn’t got a single chance to watch even a movie together fully, let alone going out on a date. That’s a bitter truth we’d learnt to live with. So, I could feel his longing when he’d mentioned that we hadn’t got around watching one for ages.
The germinated idea slowly took shape as we fixed the date and time of the night-show.
Day: 25th September
Time: 11pm
Venue: Living room
Movie: To-be-determined
I’d laughed as he scrawled the details on a post-it and stuck it onto the refrigerator. A little extra meticulous the man was. A little more serious to accomplish what we’d set out for.
As the week trudged by, that one thing which eluded us was the movie that we wanted to see together. Multiple options among our favourite genres, latest movies, old films worth watching but missed, and ones with our favourite actors were discussed. Only to dismiss each other’s choices as rubbish and end the chat stating that we might as well sleep than watching such a movie.
Sigh!
I concluded that if two polar-opposites, so deprived of ‘me-time’ and movies, get together to finalise one to watch together, they’d never succeed.
We did not, obviously.
Even as we grimaced at each other’s inability to zero down on a movie, we didn’t want to give up on our movie-night. We kept our promises by being there at the venue on time. There we were, lazing on the couch at the afore-mentioned time on the specified date staring at the blank television screen, as if it was waiting to telecast an amazing movie on its own. Didn’t I just talk about deprivations?!
So, as we hogged on the noodles with our forks fighting for us inside the bowl, I appreciated Vinay’s persistency in making the movie-night a success. He was still looking up options. I, on the other hand, gave up on it. I was planning to go to bed soon as the noodles battle was over, hoping our toddler wouldn’t wake up until then.
I had my full and stood up to leave. It was 11:40 by then. As I yawned, my eyes fell on the calendar. That’s when the most inevitable choice of a movie surfaced. My eyes lit up. I knew he wouldn’t refuse my choice.
“It’s 25th September today. Remember what happened on the same day, 2 years back?” I said, trying to jog his memory.
Flashes from the past played as a movie.
The last-minute plan…
Hurriedly putting our 9-month-old to sleep…
The 8-km bike ride to the nearest theatre in the town…
The hero-introduction scene I whistled for…
The panicked phone call from the grandparents…
The grand intermission…
The bike zooming through the bylanes to take us back to our baby…
Our baby’s victorious smile as he saw us returning from the movie at the interval…
Vinay looked up at me, questions written all over his face. I began narrating the turn of events on the same day, couple of years back.
Realisation dawned. We knew what to do next.
I could see his fingers sliding across his phone in anticipation, as he downloaded the missed movie. Old one, and hence, was easy to fetch.
I switched on the TV and he got ready to cast it on our television. Thanking the technological advancements in supplying us with a Google Chromecast and thanking our stars for blessing us with the opportunity to see the movie together again, we celebrated the second anniversary of missing a movie of my favourite actor… well, by watching it all over again!
A tearful moment it was!
Quite an emotional way to reunite the second-half of the movie with its partner!
The show began from the first reel. No fast-forwards; we hardly remembered the storyline.
I whistled, yet again, at the hero’s entry. We sat there engrossed in the movie that, in absolutely no time, the scene before the intermission came up. Memories flooded by, making us smile. I looked at my phone experiencing déjà vu.
The second-half started.
Almost on cue, I heard a familiar voice calling me sleepily.
“Ammmmaaaaaa……”
I thought I must be hallucinating and brushed it off.
“Ammmmaaaa…..”
“It’s him. He woke up,” informed Vinay, jolting me back to my senses.
He stopped playing the movie. I rushed inside. Our cute monster was wide awake, standing close to the door; waiting to scream if I didn’t appear soon enough.
I looked back at Vinay and pouted.
“Is the movie jinxed, or, the Universe’s conspiring…?” I whispered. He shushed me hastily.
What’s that dialogue again by Ranveer Singh?
‘Apna time aayega…*’
Atleast, before its third anniversary?
***
Glossary:-
*‘Apna time aayega’ – It’s a famous dialogue by actor Ranveer Singh from Gully Boy. It translates to ‘Our time will come’ crudely.
***
A fun read! Liked the way the author broke off from the usual connotations of a second anniversary and hitched it to missing a movie! That’s very creative. An easy, breezy read that brought on a knowing chuckle. Rate this 7/10.
This is so cute!! The story of every parent who every wanted to watch a movie in peace. I recall trying to watch a movie In so many bits and pieces that I even forgot what it was about. !
8/10
Hahaha, that was hilarious. I was wondering if the story had strayed away from the prompt and there it came. However, it was fairly predictable that they were going to miss the latter half of the movie.
Let us hope they get to see the movie together till the end soon.
A different take on the prompt. 7.5/10
Such a simple and relatable story — the plight of every parent. Liked how it ended as well with them not getting to watch the movie. I’d have liked for the author to tell us what the movie is, it’d have lent some more authenticity to it. Also, I felt the second anniversary was a bit force-fitted. But otherwise, really enjoyed reading this sweet story. Rating: 7/10
An enjoyable fun read that most parents can relate to! Shopping, movies, parties – all become a luxury once the kids arrive. So these little details, the misses, the disappointments, the mundane routine, were all well reflected in the story. An undertone of humour added an element of liveliness.
I liked the way the prompt was interpreted and incorporated – something different and creative.
My rating – 8 on 10.
Hi,
This was such a sweet little tale and so relatable. I have a 20 month old kid myself and it’s a real task to take him out of home. Children, unbeknownst to them, become cute little devils who take joy in derailing their parents’ relaxation plans. I like how real the story sounded and the cute chemistry between the couple was endearing. I didn’t find anything I could criticise per se. My rating would be 7/10
Hehe. Enjoyed this one. Relatable to T.
Hope unka time aega
Rating 7.5/10
Hahaha… could relate to this story so well… after we have kids, all celebrations become ‘kidcentric’ or nothing at all! It’s a pity they couldn’t complete the movie… apna time zeroor ayega jab ye bachche bade ho jayenge My rating 7/10
I enjoyed this take, the life of every parent after a kid. The kids always seem to know when to make an entry / disturb the carefully planned date night.
My rating 8/10
The trials of parenthood. Well described. Creative and enjoyable. I got on the second read about the take on a movie celebration. 7
Hahhahaha… You took me on a trip down the memory lane, with this story. So totally relatable. Loved the narration, the dialogue and the subtle humour in this piece. Full marks for whipping up a unique take. My rating 9/10
This is so the story of every toddlers parent. Could completely relate to it. Without commenting on editing part. I would rate 7.5/10
Very relatable story. So many instances where I could identify with the poor couple.
The idea of the second anniversary was quite novel. Fun breezy read.
My rating : 8/10
This brought me back to my toddler parenting days. My favorite part was the Ammmma…and how she brushed it off as a hallucination. I could totally relate. Very simple language and simple plot. Overall my rating is 8/10.
A lovely story that kept me gripped from the beginning till its movie-tus interruptus ending. A leaf from every marriage’s story. Smooth narration. 9/10