Those were the days!

I recently happened to book a movie ticket online which reminded me of the first time I booked a ticket online. Having received the confirmation on my mobile, I had approached the counter to collect my tickets whereupon they guided me to a machine from where I could collect the tickets.

Me being naive requested for assistance and one of the impeccably dressed assistants stepped out from the counter and showed us how it should be done. In the end, it all seemed ludicrously simple. Booking movie tickets had become so simple. Log onto the web-site, select your show, class, seats etc., pay through credit-card, swipe the card at the cinema, collect your tickets and you are done. Easy! 

Now, you might be wondering why I'm going ga-ga over something as simple as this. Well, the thought of just relaxing on your favourite couch at home and punching a few keys to book your tickets brings back some old memories of the struggles we had encountered in our quest for the movie tickets.

The one movie that springs to my mind instantly is the Superstar starrer Baba. It was the movie to watch in those days and much-awaited flick released on a Thursday, which happened to be Independence day. So, we lined up outside Urvashi hoping that somehow through some divine intervention we would lay our hands on the tickets that would provide salvation to us. But alas, that was not to be and we were left staring at the "House full" board and the movie posters with a host of other guys who shared our fate.

Then someone hit a brilliant idea to go to one of the other theatres Naga which is half way across the town, and we all hit the road again with rekindled hopes. Only god knows what made us believe that we would get tickets at Naga when we didn't at Urvashi. Surprise, Surprise!!! Tickets are available, but only in Black with each ticket costing around Rs.400/- or so (don't remember the actual figure). We returned home disappointed, but not defeated. We vowed to resume the battle soon and sure we did!

The next day, we were back in the Urvashi queue at the break of dawn much to the ridicule of a few passers-by. This time the queue was not very long and we were almost certain to lay our hands on the damn tickets that would clear our path to Nirvana. But then, as they say on National Geographic, Disaster struck!

The Tamilian movie-goers at Urvashi have this peculiar habit of breaking queues in a unique manner (perhaps they should patent it). They rush forward as a group at the same instant, as if predetermined, and then spread out and join the queue at different locations much ahead of where they were! The lone constable who was posted there to prevent this from happening was left standing clueless. He did make an effort with the help of the other victims (of the queue-breaking conspiracy), yours' truly included.

There was this particular guy who had quietly slid between us and claimed that, he had been standing all the time! So, as quiet as him,  I pointed him out to the constable, who charged at him with his Lathi raised and was about to strike him, when the guy coolly slipped out like an eel, and I who was latching on my Brother in front so as not to be pushed out of the queue got hit on my arms!! My thick pullover saved me. The constable sheepishly smiled and moved away.

Anyway, as a result of this melee, we were pushed back by at least 30 places, and it looked touch-and-go. Luckily there no more break-ins, at least, no more that affected us and we just about managed to squeeze in!! Yoohooooo!!

The movie was lousy and to top it there was a guy sitting in the back-row just behind us, who was hell-bent on expelling the secretions of his mucous membrane every quarter of an hour.
Thankfully, he didn't fancy us much and we were spared from being the target of his misdirected missiles.Wish the Superstar had made good our losses too along with those of the Distributors. Another instance, I can recollect was even earlier, a good 20 years back, when Oru Kaidiyin Diary
was released. Same theater, different group. That time, the whole family, around 12 of us, had descendedon Urvashi to watch Kamal Hassan's astonishing performance in a double-role. We joined the serpentinequeue and in half-an-hour were at the counter. Someone from our group put in their hand and asked for12 tickets, but got only 2 instead. Those were the last 2 tickets available. We returned those andspent some time at Lalbagh instead where the elders gossipped and we kids ran around!!!. Yes, those were the days!! More recently, when Lagaan was released, it was the talk of the town. People you knew were
going back to watch the movie again and again, and if you hadn't watched it, you would get that lookfrom everyone, "What, which planet do you come from?!!" It had already run for over a 100 days, andwe estimated that we could get that we could get through without facing a hell a lot of trouble. Wiser from our previous experiences, we didn't want to take chances, and we formed strategies around getting tickets. We collected information from those who had already watched it, as to whattime they went to the theater, how long did they have to wait for it etc. After Saturday morning's cricket, we directly headed to, where else, Urvashi, again. But the crazy crowds beat us again and all the shows were "House full" for both Saturday and Sunday!!
Never the ones to give up, we repeated the Baba strategy of turning up at day-break the next week
and indeed watched the movie. But unlike, Baba the movie rocked and it felt like watching a cricket match at a movie theater. Rocking atmosphere! Well, I could go on and recount a couple of other experiences, but I think got the point across.
So, before you begin to curse me, I'll close this post here. Thanks for reading. Have a good day!