Monday, August 11, 2008

Viral, Queues and Queen

On Friday, I took an off. Not because it was the release of Singh Is Kinng and I wanted to watch the first day first show. I told you, I m not those types. I took the off because I had viral fever. Waiting at an old doctors’ old styled clinic, I smsed all my friends and M a message, here it goes:

Puri Botal na sahi, Kam se kam ek jam toh ho jaye,
Milna na sahi, dua salaam toh ho jaye,
Jinki yaad mein hum bimaar padey hain,
Kam se kam unhe zukhaam toh ho jaye.
.
.
Oye haal ta puch lo….


And in the purest spirit of responding to the chappal chor shayar’s shers, my dear friends sent me sms’es and M called. The two hour wait, yes the whole two hours of wait at the doctor’s even in this 21st century, became a little tolerable amid a sweating session, rising body temperature and tiresome body ache. Finally two benign patients saw my yellowing eyes and deteriorating condition, and requested me to skip their turns in the queue purely on compassionate grounds. Taking cognisance of their insistent enthusiasm in letting me reach the doctor’s altar, I complied. The doc saw me, declared I was a gone case of viral fever, told me strictly to stay away from work, prescribed the meds , charged his fee and sent me home.

So what is the big deal, you would ask. You were sick, you were told to rest.

No, here lies the twist.

Only I didn’t go home. I consumed the first dose of meds and headed to the WestEnd Mall in response to my little family’s enthusiasm to watch Singh is King this weekend. I thought, abhi nahi toh kabhi nahi. To the utter dismay of my driver, in about 15 minutes of taking the medicine, we were cruising through multiple traffic jams in blistering heat. Yes, we reached the Waves Cinemas to buy tickets. Never seen such an adarsh patni, adarsh maa even in the K serials, right? Such a sacrifice !!! So mushy?? Okay okay, leave out the crying part for later.

For the first time in my life, I saw Punjab’s essentially male - crowd civilized and queued-up even in the sun. I wanted to click a discreet picture for you to prove my point, but I didn’t have enough energy to argue in case someone chose to exercise their right to object. So I let my phone remain in my handbag. And exercised my privilege of going in a separate queue meant for women (which had only me) and went in. Oh boy, inside was a different story. At 12: 30 pm any given day in such a mall, you won’t see such a crowd. What I was looking at was a motley crowd of rustic, first time visitors to the Westend Mall. They were everywhere, in the corridors, in the elevators, on the escalators. And my brilliant brain immediately told me that Singh was again going to be King, this time in theatres. I was so proud of my Kurta-Payajama clad non-turbanated pendu’s.

I reached the Box office and there was a queue, and actually people standing in a queue. I stood in one too. No, I didn’t exercise my right of being a woman this time. There was this guy who first analysed my queue from his own from the left side, crawled towards ours and then sheepishly tried to fit into ours. I was secretly wary of anyone with any mal-intentions trying to sneak into our queue. The moment he tried to poke his pathetic existence into our queue, I knocked (in the spirit of knocking on a door) with my cell phone on his shoulder. I actually wanted to prick his conscience with a pin, but I did not have a pin and his conscience was not too visible. Surprised, he looked back and I said, "Excuse me, but there is a queue here.” He said, “Yeah, I just have to enquire.” I said, “Yeah, so come in a queue.” He didn’t know, of course, that the lady was running a fever. He again said, “Madam, ticket nahi lena hai; enquire karna hai.” I said, “Yeah, so come in a queue.” I was reminded of my dear friend and colleague N’s words, “Once a bhenji, always a bhenji.” I think he heard my brain tick with these words. Shrugging his shoulders in an I GIVE UP BHENJI tone, he went back. My turn came and I bought tickets to Singh is King. Oh, I forgot to add that by now, I was sweating even in the strong AC due to the medicines as well as exertion. I still had 101 fever if not more. Such Devotion. Akshey Kumar, Are you reading??


31 comments:

Pinku said...

whether the Singh is King or not maybe disputed but you are the Queen of your family's heart after this valiant effort thats for sure.

Really could have done with a pic of the mall...also the doc's u know what.

Get well soon...

Mama - Mia said...

too much i say! :p

hope you are feeling better now, you seva bhaavi sacrificing vision of Indian naari??!

so did ya enjoy the movie?? i thot it was just OK! hilarious in parts (obviously), but quite jerky othawise!! nahi?

brilliant post lady!!

cheers!

abha

Sidhusaaheb said...

Plenty of rest is in order, along with a good diet. The medicines are merely for the symptoms, as you probably know, for viral fever has no cure in allopathy. Rest and healthful food are going to make you fit and fine.

Get well soon!

:)

Anonymous said...

I feel it may be a part of the doctor's prescription to buy a ticket and sit in the cinema hall to take complete rest for three hours and leave the fever there.

Watching movie or not, is not a funda,You must have enjoyed the time.

Description of the scene buying a ticket is an interesting part of today's posting.

Keep it up!

I wish your speedy recovery!!

God bless you!!!

Dhindsa

phatichar said...

bhai wah! Fan ho to aisi..

jokes aside, hope you're feeling better now.. (have been busy, couldn't even talk to you properly this morning)

Mampi said...

Pinku-Pics, as u told me, would result in higher rating of this blog, unfortunately cannot handle that yet. HEe HEEE

Abhs-Loved the movie. Skipped work today also (It being Monday today)

SS-I m already feeling better with the aid of your wishes. Rest ta keeti hi nahi.

Mama-Thankoo. Dont tell the doc, oh ta pehla ee sanki jaa ae.

Sri-Its okay. Sab Chalta hai.

Anonymous said...

i hope u are feelong better now. baki singhs are always kings, we all know that. the film producer probably wants to show that to the world. leaving the king behind, you take care and have a speedy recovry.

Indian Home Maker said...

Awww get well soon!!! I am miserable when I have fever like 101, you were very brave :)Please take some good rest now and tell your family to pamper you!
I don't like Akshay Kumar's voice, in fact I just don't like him at all, doesn't he look too old for Katrina Kaif? She is so cute, and looks like a real sikhni.
...in Namaste India I kept thinking this role belongs to Shahrukh Khan!

Anonymous said...

im nt sure akshay kumar is reading, but we sure are!and we are genuinely impressed by ur dedication!!
somehow im not too greatly impressed by the promos of that film...but then i was impressed with kismat konnection and it was a royal disappointment..so obviously somethings wrong with my judgement!

herez wishing u a speedy recovery!

mystiquedew said...

You shud have given the viral to him..:D
He will never skip queues again, Benji or not.

Hope you enjoyed the movie and have recovered:)
lovely post

Gazal said...

ha ha

i'm sure aki will be flattered....

sweating in the a.c theatre,you must have given the impression that you have the hots for AK.

GET WELL SOON

man in painting said...

August is not bringing good news..)08-08-08 was good for chinese.but not a good day for indians...
Baby B was in hospital..For 5 days..

How are you now?You might be knowing it well...but still.. take lot of fluids and keep the temperature in control..
Above all take rest..
When Singh is king we all know who the Empress is!
MIP

Mampi said...

Seema-King kida pichey chadd deyaan.

IHM-I differ. Aki looks simply fabulous. He is cut out for this role. He spoke Punjabi without an accent and sounded totally natural. Kat does look great, of course.

Mandy-Well, the movie is a great one. I loved it. Thanks for your wishes. I am better. BUT OYE SOMEONE TELL AKSHEY....

MystiqueDew-How to transmit Viral? Kindly suggest, he he he. Movie was wonderful. Welcome to my blog.

Gaz-Hots for Aki! I hope M is not reading this, he he he. But I did sweat out in the AC. The movie was worth the trouble.

MIP-So sorry to know Baby B was not well. Hope you all are taking good care of her. I am trying to take precautions and to do all good things I need to do. Even if one knows, it helps to hear it from friends. Thanks so much. Regards, The Empress. :))

Roop Rai said...

:D :D

i dont think i need to 'comment' anymore. amused as always. i know yer feeling better ... so i won't tell u to feel better. :D but vaah, kya mahaanta!!!

AND OYEYEYEYE SrK CANT COMPARE TO AKKI .. i mean come on ji.

Anonymous said...

take care.get well soooooooooooon.

Anonymous said...

Itna fever mein bhi SIK dekhna zaroori hai kya? SIK made you sick? lol.

Mana said...

I GIVE UP BHENJI.. lol.. I can imagine that person's expression :)

How are you doing now?

Mana said...

You might like this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wildhiss/2755705309/

Anonymous said...

u r tagged!

Anonymous said...

LOL - loved the Bhenji remark! :)

So did the movie scare your fever away?

Monika said...

hope u feeling better now :)

oceanic mirages said...

:-) hmmm...
i hope u r nt running fvr anymore and was the king wrth it? really?
take care.

Kiran said...

Oh! get well soon !
I have just started reading your bolg a couple of weeks back and I really enjoy it :-)

Mampi said...

Roop-Only today have I started to feel better. But yes i agree with the Mahanta Part. Oh yeah Aki Rocks.

KiranG-Thanks coochicoo.

Liju-Dil pey zor nahi chalta na. Im glad its turning out to be a big time blockbuster.

Manasa-I m better, thanks. Bhenjis are a class apart, what d'ya say.

Mandy-Already picked up the tag,left a msg on your blog about it.

Devaki-Yes, the laughter did the trick of scaring it away.

Monika-I m better dear.

OcMi-The king was really worth all the trouble I took.

Kiran-Welcome to my blog. Hope you will keep returning. It is so encouraging to have someone read you and also to leave comments too.

Majaz said...

How was SIK?

Oreen said...

Jai Hind!

aise devotion freedom fighters mein hota tha... kya baat hai...

Unknown said...

The effort that you (fever,patience,ticket) made was enjoyed by us all. There is nothing better then having fun with the family, even at your cost. As regards the movie, I enjoyed it thoroughly.Akshay looked superb with the turban and I loved his Punjabi.I am sure he is a class actor; Katrina is gorgeous, both complement each other.
M.I.Singh

Anonymous said...

Hope your are fine now & your posts are always so wonderful to read...this is one movie which has generated lot of interested & am eager to catch it at the earliest...have a wonderful time!

Sujata said...

Mampi hope you are feeling better now...I must say you had quite a day.

Mampi said...

Majaz-SIK was wonderful, though i wish the turbans had been better in the Australian segment of the film.

Oreen-I gotta start lecturing on the bhaawna, right?

Mahesh-both complement each other just the way you and I do, nai?

FlyingStars-Thank you so much for your encouragment. Yes, you must watch the movie.

Sujata-Yes,I am better now, though i m worried for the rest of the family now. Viral fever does tend to tag others along.

Anonymous said...

Oh my God! Are you okay? I have a funny story too:) The night of the release, I went to the 9:30 pm show but left when I saw so many guys as I was alone..hope you are better now.

Sukh