When I was 9 or even 13, my mind was overcome by all the morose movies of action, romance and comedy my generation exposed me to. But blame it on my retarded brain, I could never predict any movie plots, ever. I have always been 20 years younger, oops, slower, if that is any consolation.
My girls on the contrary pick plots like farmers pick strawberries from a fresh harvest. Like, how do they understand so much? Do I blame it on Disney? Because I would kill to accept it is the father’s side of the gene that gives them this hard-coded analytical prowess to deduce conclusions from available facts. Confused? Okay, so the past 18 months have been more educational for the girls than ever before. Non stop social distancing, a big chunk of HBL and an overdose of Netflix and Amazon originals have turned them into Film critics and Story pundits. And here are their top 5 observations about love.
- Why is love such an important emotion? Like do movies have no other subject that is worthy? Even movies like Fast and Furious or Hera Pheri have to rope in love? What’s the point of wasting so many episodes and movies on just true love’s kiss? (I know right, but then, love is something we all love. It makes us hopeful and we look forward to a happily ever after. The reason my entire generation got roped into matrimony, only to realise, it wasn’t a 3-hour movie. Happily ever after is no different from the lust for immortality. You can only chase it.)
- People who have a crush always end up embarrassing themselves in front of ‘the one’ when they actually mean to impress them. And stereo typically, it is always the shy and sentimental one with visible feelings falling for the Mr or Ms Popular, extrovert, alpha male or female who is self engrossed enough to enjoy attention but lame enough not to understand the emotion connected with the special one till the mid or end of movie when the chase to the airport happens, bringing up adrenaline levels and sealing the deal with eyes meeting in, ‘Yes, I do’ and the natural expectation of a happily ever after. (Hmm, now this, I refuse to comment about. I have been too comfortable in my skin to embarrass myself. Or have I? Well, most embarrassing situations in my life have circled around food – my first love aka pehla pyaar. Like flipping super hard ice cream just because I was too eager to dig in. But the brutal force of my spoon set the scoop circling all the way over my head, like an ace gymnast making a somersault to land perfectly on the table behind. Or spaghetti refusing to stick circled around my fork and constantly slipping down the plate, leaving me hungry and angry for not making it to my mouth in a fine dining setting. Or maybe, even trying to cover up my disappointment and hunger when all others in the group wish to share a bunch of dishes ordered, and believe in eating in control while I am left high and dry, wanting to devour that full dessert all by myself rather than practising, caring is sharing. No wonder, children’s stories always speak of greed akin to evil. If only I understood that, ever! )
- When 2 people fall in love, there is always an accident, like dropping a pile of books or something. Then one tries his/her best to clear the mess while the other helps him/her and ta da, their eyes meet, and the arrow cupid had long shot, finally becomes obvious to the whole world that is starting that them at that exact millisecond. (Wow, you would have to be either a teacher or a book shop assistant to be in that situation. Naturally, I was neither. I shouldn’t blame my brain, not to have picked the obvious signs)
- Another obvious fact, people fall in love – no literally. Like you will fall on the person you love. That’s the only way your eyes can meet with zero distractions, not even your phone, and let you feel the spark. (I can only say, thank God I never fell on anybody. Else, I would end up earning the title of the serial killer, squishing to death, every person I fell in love with, by the power of my sheer body mass and velocity. Didn’t get it? Okay there is a reason the government advocates against killer litter. Now, do you get it?)
- This one is the most hilarious. The guy never enters the girl’s house via the main door. He always climbs in from the balcony. And there is a covert meeting under the stars. (So much for chivalry in times of fast paced elevators and open minded parents. The 9-yo is certain this is how her sister’s boyfriend will come to see her, at some point in life. But she has fancy ideas of catching them red-handed. She keeps drawing sketches of the ultimate home we ought to own. The biggest attraction would be the tunnel that leads to her older sister’s room from hers. This will help her keep an eye on that budding teen to make sure she doesn’t cross the line. Fyi, she has already bought a pair of binoculars from Decathlon to make sure she is ready for her job. As a mother, I am worried we may need to move to a lower floor. I do not expect any boy, not even if he has done NS, to monkey-climb up to the 16th floor to get a glimpse of my Rapunzel, closely guarded and pranked by an over zealous little raccoon)
All I can say is that we have moved from movies on big screen to 3D and 5D and series that are relevant in recent times where business analytics and big data to dictate what we see. However, these little observations go a long way to tell, some things in life never change. You still need to lock your gaze to fall in love. And it is still women that are equipped with a womb.
P.S. With the fast pace of life, love still makes the world go round. But the definition of love has changed. We have taken the first step towards love for gadgets, for work, for money and ourselves. Movies are mere reminder of true love for our species, the reason we have survived and thrived as humans. So where am I on this whole thing? Glad to report, I am finally on the same page as my daughters and have experienced plenty of eureka moments while exchanging notes with them about love!
Parent By Chance 