Valentine’s Day…alone

Located in a foreign country this is the second holiday that I have had to spend alone even though this one is made up by Hallmark to bring in business each year, we will still count it as a holiday for the sake of this story. With all of my office friends, I guess my only friends, hanging out with their significant others I would be forced to make up my own fun this weekend.

** This is the part where you pause and feel bad for me **

Why not a movie it should be a non-adventurous relaxing thing to do right? Finding the movie listings on Google for the theater located in the mall a few blocks from my house, I select an English movie and head off.

Entering the mall I happen to notice a “Purchase Fun Cinemas’ Tickets Here” sign with an arrow pointing to the parking garage. Knowing that the theater was on the 5th floor, the top level, I found it strange that you would purchase tickets in the underground parking garage but being that nothing else is this country makes sense I went with it. Sure enough there were lines of people waiting to purchase tickets. Unlike the states, I tend to pick one of the longer lines as this allows me some time to figure out the system so I do not look like a fool when I reach the counter, even though this appears simple enough. I reach the counter and announce my movie choice to which the man behind the counter asked if I wanted the gold or the silver ticket. Having no idea what either one meant I asked for the cheap one, after all I had no idea what that was even going to cost me. 180 RS or $3.60 later I was headed for the elevator as there was only 5 minutes until the preview started. Being that this was my first movie in India I did not want to miss the previews. Out of the elevator, through the metal detector, allowing the little Asian man to wand me (stereotypical maybe, but it was true), I finally made it into the theater. Taking a quick walk around begin to notice the differences between movies back home and movies here.

• Baskin Robins is sold inside the theater
• There is a concession stand and mobile vendor carts
• Popcorn is sold but most people are eating roasted corn (like cut from the cob), and some kind of Indian chip
• Red bull and coffee are sold at the concession stand

With the cleaning of the theater finished I enter and begin to look for a seat. Shockingly, the theater is very nice consisting of stadium seating with a middle aisle dividing the top and bottom sections. I select a seat in the upper section square in the middle. As others begin filtering in I begin to notice a trend. The theater employees standing near the entrances are looking at people’s tickets and then pointing in a direction. Confused, I stand up and exit like I was going to purchase a last minute refreshment. The last thing I wanted was for all of these strangers to think I had no idea what I was doing. Stalling for a few minutes I walked back into the theater, this time on the other side where the usher was standing. Acting like I knew what I was doing I handed him my ticket and he showed me to my seat. After sitting down I noticed there was a seat number on the back of the chair in front of me. Comparing it to my ticket I was able to identify where it told me I was supposed to be in this chair. Assigned seats, weird, but I can deal with it. Settling into my chair the previews began, some in English, some in Hindi.

As we reached roughly the 1 hour mark the lights suddenly turned on and the theater was filled with late 90’s rap music. What is going on? Apparently this was normal and expected, well at least by everyone but me, as the rest of the theater stood up and walked out. I remained in my chair, slowly the people came back. After about 15 minutes the lights dimmed and one again the movie began to play.

After the movie I stopped at the grocery store, also located within the mall, to buy a drink for my walk home. Approaching the checkout line, an older western gentleman (white skinned) of some kind, which is rare for my neighborhood, got in line in front of me. Forced to wait for a while he turned around to chat, asking me where I was from and if I was visiting. I told him I lived here and that I was from the United States. Laughing he asked me where that was, he was only joking. Twenty minutes later, we had already been checked out for ten minutes, we were still talking. This older gentleman, western of some kind, happened to be an Executive Officer for the Australian Department of Defense. After an exchange of business cards, he offered me a tour and a beer if I ever find myself in Canberra, Australia.

This valentine’s day I did not meet the love of my life in the frozen food aisle, but I did a good movie and meet an interesting fellow.

"Fun Cinemas Movie Listings"

Blake