What is it like standing in dark,
with hundreds of people, shoulder to shoulder, crooning a melody?
I came vis-à-vis the melody,
crooned in the dark with scores of people standing upright, the last time I went
to watch a movie – The Martian – in the
PVR cinemas just across my home, with my family. I wasn’t unfamiliar with the regulars
of a cinema that runs before a feature presentation begins; in fact it was
mundane! This time though, the set of actions that I ran through were
unprecedented.
I, on a Sunday evening, was
among the few lucky ones to have had our seats reserved – God bless internet
booking! To the likes of every family, the father and the son were ready before
time and the mother and the daughter were dilly dallying over what to wear. We
were late!
Now, thanks to PVR cinemas for
providing a buffer of fifteen minutes; full of movie trailers and undesired
commercials.
 |
| Sing it, Nation! |
We got into the auditorium when
some commercials were going on. I helped myself assume my seat next to a lady
who had got the whole row occupied with a dozen or more children, whom I couldn’t
fathom, again, because of the dark.
It is mandatory to play Jana-Gana-Mana,
India’s National Anthem, before any movie begins. No sooner had I got myself
comfortable than the big screen flashed – Kindly stand-up for the National
Anthem. I stood up!
Now there runs an unsaid protocol
wherein one needs to stand-up in order to pay respect when a National Anthem is
played, be it of any country. If one doesn’t stand-up or is lazing around, then
the moral policing eyes of the people, who are standing, whether in real
respect or not, will give a look of disgust that would pierce deeper than a dagger and compel you to stand-up; often this moral policing is done by the
people who doesn’t get a head or tail of patriotism or its values.
I often valued these principles at
mediocrity, but was always pro-active at such occasions, however brief they
maybe. I stood up! My parents and sister, would either hum or croon the anthem
with me grinning at them. I didn’t! I didn’t because I couldn’t as I believed I
would kill the harmony and also a part of mine was hesitant.
The National Anthem began, as
melodiously as it could get, with some old and lazy people still managing to
get on their feet. A big tricolored flag flashed heaving on the screen. I
looked towards my right, my folks had already began humming and me showing them
my teeth in the dark in a very awkward standing position. It was nothing new. I
was surprised when I heard the croons coming from my left. The noble lady with
all the children was crooning it with all having their right hand on their respective chests. They
all were so enthusiastic and so true to themselves. Their singing had purity
and was rose-water bathed. It was serene!
Slowly and steadily, the rows
ahead and behind ours picked it up and gradually went up to almost each and every
one picking up the rhyme to either humming or crooning it. I was mesmerized by
such unprecedented happenings in the auditorium brought by those bunch of children
and a lady, supposedly their teacher.
The 52 seconds rhyme had its
effect on everyone. I, though picked it up late, maybe last, but got along and
hummed it if not sing the remains of the anthem. Nostalgia groped me; took me
to the days of school, long missed, where we all would, every morning, sing
some prayers and our national anthem with so much of pride and so much of love,
incredulously; which only got layered under the saw-dust of mundane activities
of growing-up.
Later, in the intermission, I figured
out that those children were differently abled. I kowtowed in reverence!
p.s. The National Anthem with the differently abled school children and the one with the Army officials at the Siachen Glacier are the best as per me.
