An Evening Movie Outing For Tim And Ronnie !

It was 5'O clock in the evening when Tim and Ronnie were awaiting their turn at the ticket counter for a movie has has reached ' cult' status in Hindi cinema. Movie hall being the well known Maratha Mandir and the movie screened none other than the DDLJ which has been playing around for the past many years and have been riding high on success with filmi lovers on completing its one thousand weeks..No doubt the ticket counter has been swarming with a huge rush throbbing at its windows to bag tickets for today as it was rumoured that the lead cast might drop in at the movie hall. However this information seems to be very much a rumour for no announcement has been made on press or in newspapers/ radio as of now. Ohh..i just have echoed what the lead hero of my story has been thinkiing aloud to himself and to his best pal Ronnie. 

Both Tim and Ronnie literally grew up togethet in the bylanes of Delhi's Lajpat Nagar and graduated the same year, the year i don't remember, in different streams. Tim had ben a passionate literature student while Ronnie had somehow managed to pass his graduation from the science stream. Okay so the reality, of my two leads lifestory at this point of time is that they have shifted to Bombay aka Mumbai as both of them got campus placements to different companies, now living in a match box sized apartment in Juhu by pooling in the money earned by them and with parent's financial support, they barely managed a one BHK apartment in an expensive city of dreams called Mumbai, and lived a decent lifestyle by Mumbai standards.

Today the buddies have come to partake in the new experience of watching a movie on screen which they have been grown up watching for years, and did'nt think twice before taking half days from their respective workplace. Such a premeditated plan was however quite unaware of the maddening crowd at the ticket counter and the playful Ronnie in his usual jest could'nt help but comment at the Mumbaikar group standing in a big group who were blocking the way for others to proceed forward, as to how being a Mumbaikar they haven't got enough of watching the same movie for like many years..Ronnie was hushed up by Tim who asked Ronnie to not stand unnecessarily in the queue and better to make arrangements for snacks as even if they don't get tickets today they might as well enjoy binging on some snacks.

Tim had now been agitated himself as it has been good thirty five minutes and he has barely managed to move an inch forward, seeing some good fifteen persons standing in front of him along with their families and some with their partners, spouse/ girlfriends to a crazy shrieking aunty at the window, Tim was on the verge of losing his patience. The couple in question seems to be a bad mad version of Raj and Simran with the boy funnily mimicking Raj's dialogue from the film..' Senorita, bade bade shehron mein aisi chotti chotti baatein hoti rehti hain' referring to the onrush of the crowd in the present scene while the girl in the most dumb way was dropping a fake smile. Such authentic observation can come only from the eyes of my literary protagonist Tim who actually got immersed in the scene. Just then Ronnie realised his friend's old habit and came to awaken him from his senses and asked him to move ahead for the ticket guy was now clearly visible and the line has been lessened down to three more people. Had it not for Tim and his creative mind he would'nt have been able to pass a good more fifteen minutes more. But it wasw just 5 minutes into the scene and the crowd had been dispersed, unable to control himself Tim asked Ronnie who seem to be busy filling his appetite with the butter popcorns and who obviously did'nt care a world about the crowd. When Tim's turn finally came he enquired the ' great figure' the ticket checker, for it was he who had the crowds in waiting, the grey bearded  man told him that the news of the lead cast of the movie has actually turned to be a rumour and many of the movie viewers have left the crowd in ire for it was the craze of watching a real SRK and Kajol had attracted them more than the reel SRK and Kajol. While the news was distressful for some it was a secret pleasure for Tim and Ronnie who felt like they have turned into some prince who were now being invitedly called upon to take on the tickets as the prize of waiting. Both the boys were now ecstatic upto the extent of breaking into an impromptu jig when the shrieking aunty described before gave them stern look of being uncivil with respect to not knowing as to how to behave at a public place. Ronnie came up yet again with a ' filmy' dialogue that of the aunty should be prescribed watching Dil Dhadakne Do that too by a doctor for she needs to really ease out a bit and the boys jokingly made fun, just like they did in their school days, about the pitiable condition that the aunty's husband must have to bear with each single day of his life.

Letting go, they still had good half an hour to go before the 6 p.m evening show starts. While Tim had been worrying about the piled up work at the office on account of the half day leave, Ronnie had been quite determined about making this day and this time being meant for nothing but DDLJ, after all it was their first movie outing together in six months, since the time they shifted to Bombay( oops i made the mistake again) its Mumbai..Ronnie reminded Tim of their past escapades to the movie hall in the past when they used to watch each new Friday release together with a bunch of friends as they bunked classes and were a lot mischievious back then. Tim was now getting kicked up also about the fact that they can relive their old childhood days again, just the condition being to rest the inner fear which catches hold of one, sometimes of the pending office work, sometimes of neglecting a certain MS. G, an office colleague of Tim and with whom Tim shared a brief romantic relationship of what is now called as GF AND BF. However it was the company of this BFF of Tim called Ronnie that gave him the maximum pleasure and the best of memories. The two chit chatted about their old pals and multiple topics coming from anywhere and everywhere as if there was no dearth of topics to chat on when the two are together and my readers would be surprised to know that this is when the two are living in together and still have so much to speak to each other about as if meeting after a long time. 

How the half an hour elapsed, both of them did'nt know until Tim's phone flashed with a message from Ms. G , the contents of which we do not know, but what caught the eye was the timings, it was already 6:10 p.m, they have already missed on some obviously known introductory scenes. While Tim was upset first over the message thing and then missing the movie by 10 minutes, Ronnie seems to have an answer for everything as he jokingly retorted that their last 10 minutes chit chat was surely more entertaining with its reference to the Bhola Prasad from their school and all the funny stories attached to him and on the top of it demanded that Tim should thank him for saving Tim from watching those nauseating anti tabacco ads showcased before films nowadays. Realising that Ronnie will not budge he thanked Ronnie and the two boys finally went inside the hall putting an end to the waiting game of tha past two hours. While Ronnie had a office talk with his boss with a seriousness that was so not Ronnie like, Tim was still contemplating something. 

Just then the guitar tune of DDLJ rung the thaetre loud and the crowd cheered as the movie rolled on screen looking as fresh as it was twenty years back when it hit the screens for the first time in 1995. A distressed Tim though enjoying the fun atmosphere at the movie hall, but could not ward off something distressful, the source of which was the message? we do not know..Tim now decided to walk out of the movie hall and give a call to the giver of the ' distressful' message, Ms. G, that is. Watching him walk out of the hall without letting Ronnie know made the latter be filled with anger for the first time in their friendship.

Tim now safely out of the movie hall, sat on the bench upon which the two friends recently sat and chatted along. Tim did what he came out to do i.e call up Ms. G. On a second call, Ms.G picked up the call and tauntingly spoke to Tim as to how his best pal Ronnie should have been his girlfriend and not her, as he loves to spend most of his time with Ronnie rather than her..on hearing her speak insultingly about his best friend Tim was furious, but the cause of his furiousness as i can see is because she has managed to challenge his masculinity. Ms G reminded Tim of how he promised a date with her today at Maratha Mandir for DDLJ this evening and has gone out with Ronnie instead ( she being tactful enough to find about the whereabouts of her boyfriend; modern girl ). This promise of Tim came as a shock to Tim who had genuinely forgotten about the date promise to Ms. G,sensing a prick of a guilty conscience he apologised to her, number of times but the young modern girlfriend was not willing to budge ( unlike Ronnie) and with a sharp tongue decisively yelled at Tim calling him a homosexual and calling off their relationship which had been on a bumpy rough patches for quite some time, the cause of it was, as it is clear, Ronnie !. Tim was now as it seems completely out of his senses, as for the first time did he let anyone speak about his innermost feelings for his best friend..Speechless he stood there blank for some time when suddenly Ronnie came in and awakened him from his slumber just as he had been doing for many years. On asking the cause of his present distress, he sensed that something has gone wrong between the two love birds but did'nt know that a break up has been made in the shortest span of time and because of a trivial reason of a forgotten date. 

Ronnie finally managed to bring the secret out of Tim, not the real secret but the fact that Tim had broken up with Ms G and could'nt help but laugh in his usual filmi way of how the Shahrukh Khan of DDLJ has turned so quickly into the Shahrukh Khan of Devdas, he persuaded Tim to watch the film and promised him to talk to Ms. G on his behalf. Tim was stuck with a heavy blow, heavier than the pain which Ms.G inflicted upon him through her words, as the realisation of ' one sided', ' homoerotic' relationship came flashing over his mind as if he was yelling from inside, it is you Ronnie..and before he could complete, came rushing forth  a sudden painful realisation ' ONLY IF HE COULD' understand..