Child is the father of man

There is a time when you realize that some things taught to you earlier in school were not merely based on some assumptions and non-sensical events but rather on factual data collected over a period of many generations.I narrate to you one such experience which may be classified as a coincidence of sorts but it does sound rather strange.

Some of my close friends that I've spent time with in the past may  be aware that I am a movie buff....not the kind which gives reviews but the kind who just want to get away from it all into a different imaginary world in which one gets fits in...One which we have ourselves experienced or have seen others in that position. Some of the imaginary world are inviting and relaxing while others are rather disturbing. Now-a-days I prefer to go to ‘Happy’ movies with happy endings  which keeps me in good mood long afterwards.

Well...This Sunday morning I, alongwith my son, made way to the theater where we had prior advance booking.

This particular Sunday was different though. I was preferring to see the Tom Cruise thriller -- Édge of Tommorow'   and my son was keen on 'How to train your Dragon-2'.  I put all my negotiating skills at work the previous night when the booking was being made and my son reluctantly agreed to see this action packed movie starring my favorite star from  'Top Gun'. After all, this could be the last week it be in Theater. However, the turn of events resulted in a different ending to the story.

We entered the theater which I remember was Screen No.1 (there are three screens) in the cinema hall. As we were nearly on time, we quickly settled on our seats in anticipation. After the usual ads and national anthem, it came as  a surprise to me that the movie started in animation…By the time I was figuring what was wrong…… a person came up to me and said, ‘Excuse me, these are my seats.’’  ‘’How could that be ?’’  I thought. However, keeping my cool, I opened my wallet to show and prove that the actual right of sitting on that seat was mine.

Lo and behold. Both the tickets showed the same numbers and same screen. It was major goof up by the system. I recalled the olden  times when tickets were torn from a booklet and given to you. Those could not be duplicated at all.  I felt that this was as serious a matter as allowing another passenger to board the flight with the same seat indicated on the boarding pass. This was serious stuff on a Sunday Morning and this surely did not, by far,  have the makings of a happy ending. Where was the DGCA official when I wanted one.

On the other hand, my son was cool as a cucumber. After all, it was a movie which he always wanted to watch in the first place.  So I had to move out of the hall and inquire about this system issue. I showed it to the usher and he was also amazed to learn about the problem. Then the supervisor came and I started to indicate that the movie I wanted to watch was not on and demanded the seats in the other hall where it was on. The supervisor, matter of factly, indicated the time of my show- It was 10.30 PM and we were 12 hours early in the hall. I had during the booking somehow by mistake, booked the late night movie instead of the morning one. I was definitely on a different flight and this needed to be in the prime time news ! So option was to go back home and return to the movie late in the night.

My son, on the other hand, had other ideas. He wanted to watch ‘this’movie only since he was already here. There was discussion on the time, energy and money spent on reaching the place. So in the end, here I was,  sitting in the third row watching ‘How to train your dragon-2 ’which made my mind wander back many years when I had seen ‘Top Gun’’ from the front row.

I realized that my sons' desire  for watching that movie was much more than mine and somehow, the sequence of events resulted in us watching that movie which he wanted.

Concluding that the child is the father of man, I replied in affirmative when, after the movie my son asked rather innocently and probingly about my liking for the movie. After all, next sunday was not far away. 

I am yet to watch the movie I wanted.  My regrets to Tom Cruise.