A night with a treasure hunter.
For the last few days, I am unable to sleep… and whenever I try to- flashes of my childhood and a small courtyard in which I run- bother me. I have to undergo this painful process, I guess. Written words are my only refuge…
In the evening… I was feeling very lonely. I didn’t have the courage of staying alone in my flat. I was missing my family…. Perhaps- in the smile of my son and gentle caress of my soul mate, I could have found some sanity. But even they are very far away.
I tried breaking the embryonic grief- by trying to have people around… but everybody has his or her own life… I can't always find a support in them and with them. No complaints.
Sitting alone in my room, I struck upon an idea… why not go and see a movie. I always wanted to check out this new flick- National Treasure: The Book of Secrets. This was my chance.
There was one show at 1a.m in the Cosmos Theatre in Downtown Cairo… and right now it was about 11p.m… I loaded my purse with a couple of hundred pound notes and took a taxi to the place. I was there in a couple of minutes.
This was the first time I was coming to this theatre… While on taxi, I tried following the route… I knew I am somewhere close to Talaat Harb Square and Supreme Court. It wasn’t very far away from the landmarks I knew and was comfortable with.
The man at the ticket window told me that I can enter into the hall only at 12:30 am. This sounded fine with me… I needed to do some reconnaissance of the Neighbourhood I was in. For last few days… I have been trying to walk down from different places to my house, in the dark of the night. A week ago- after seeing AVP2 in Ramses Hilton… and a couple of days ago after seeing Arabic flick in Metro. But both Ramses Hilton and Metro cinema halls are well known landmarks for me, and therefore charting my way back was easy. Cosmos was not.
I tried three different routes for my reconnaissance… the first two led to places that seemed to be further away from my home. The last one led me to the building of Supreme Court. Now I was in comfortable coordinates.
I looked at the time; it was still some 40 odd minutes to go…
Bang opposite the cinema hall was a Café… and it was a bit chilly outside…. What could have been a better idea than having a cup of tea and may be a Shisha. I stepped inside… and saw a pretty girl sitting with her boyfriend, and having some coffee… There were a few elderly people… who were having Shisha and playing Black Gammon… then there were a couple of youngsters chatting and laughing. I strategically selected a place from where I could see the television and the beautiful girl. What can be a better time spent than seeing glamorous images of Arabic pop music and a beautiful girl right in front?
I ordered a tea and an apple flavoured Shisha. The tobacco used in the Shisha was quite raw… as within minutes of having it, my senses were overwhelmed. I felt numb and relaxed.
The couple, though, left after a few minutes. A few minutes later, a family entered the café. A couple, with a cute little son… of the same age as my son. The father ordered a Shisha for himself and a Milk shake for his wife. And then this amusing thing happened.
The son on seeing his father smoking a Shisha, started asking for it… everybody who saw him started laughing… a waiter rushed in with a mock-Shisha (a Shisha without fire and tobacco) for the kid… After laying his hands on a Shisha… the kid smiled and chuckled.
After a while, I entered the cinema hall…
The movie is good… slightly better than its first part… the visuals are better, so is the pace of story- perhaps because it doesn’t require to waste any footage in establishing the characters… there is only one new character in the second part and that is the mother of Benjamin Franklin Gates… who is an expert in Pre-Columbian history and scripts (and that is vital to the treasure hunt this time around). There is a wonderful scene, where the Benjamin- Riley- Abigail and Wilkinson (a gray character in the film) are stranded on a wooden plank and need to balance it by standing at four corners to save themselves from an inevitable death. Wonderfully conceptualized and picturised.
One of the dialogues that really struck me… was when Gates tells Riley that some people are behind the treasure, he quips- Axiom of treasure hunting is that some people are always behind the treasure. (A derivation- if there is something worth pursuing, there will most certainly be some people pursuing it)
The film is good. It might actually catapult Gates to the same heights and fan-following as Indiana Jones… Indiana Jones used to find his way by his instincts and chivalry… Gates however is different- he conjures up a wonderful team (Gates is amazing at puzzle solving, Riley is a tech geek, Abigail is expert in history and Gates father has always been a devil's advocate offering wisdom to his pursuits)… he seems to be more possible and plausible.
There is a reference of Page 47 in the book of secrets…(a book of secrets is a book which is compiled by President of USA and handed over to next President… it is only for the eyes of President of USA)… Gates, who knows the content of Page 47, refers to the secret as "Life Altering"… this I think will warrant a next sequel to the movie. Area 51, who knows.
After seeing the movie, I walked down towards my house… met a couple of people who were warming themselves with a bonfire. They invited me for a cup of tea… I joined in and chatted for a while… then it was time to go…
It was a night well spent… not that it makes me sleepy.
In the evening… I was feeling very lonely. I didn’t have the courage of staying alone in my flat. I was missing my family…. Perhaps- in the smile of my son and gentle caress of my soul mate, I could have found some sanity. But even they are very far away.
I tried breaking the embryonic grief- by trying to have people around… but everybody has his or her own life… I can't always find a support in them and with them. No complaints.
Sitting alone in my room, I struck upon an idea… why not go and see a movie. I always wanted to check out this new flick- National Treasure: The Book of Secrets. This was my chance.
There was one show at 1a.m in the Cosmos Theatre in Downtown Cairo… and right now it was about 11p.m… I loaded my purse with a couple of hundred pound notes and took a taxi to the place. I was there in a couple of minutes.
This was the first time I was coming to this theatre… While on taxi, I tried following the route… I knew I am somewhere close to Talaat Harb Square and Supreme Court. It wasn’t very far away from the landmarks I knew and was comfortable with.
The man at the ticket window told me that I can enter into the hall only at 12:30 am. This sounded fine with me… I needed to do some reconnaissance of the Neighbourhood I was in. For last few days… I have been trying to walk down from different places to my house, in the dark of the night. A week ago- after seeing AVP2 in Ramses Hilton… and a couple of days ago after seeing Arabic flick in Metro. But both Ramses Hilton and Metro cinema halls are well known landmarks for me, and therefore charting my way back was easy. Cosmos was not.
I tried three different routes for my reconnaissance… the first two led to places that seemed to be further away from my home. The last one led me to the building of Supreme Court. Now I was in comfortable coordinates.
I looked at the time; it was still some 40 odd minutes to go…
Bang opposite the cinema hall was a Café… and it was a bit chilly outside…. What could have been a better idea than having a cup of tea and may be a Shisha. I stepped inside… and saw a pretty girl sitting with her boyfriend, and having some coffee… There were a few elderly people… who were having Shisha and playing Black Gammon… then there were a couple of youngsters chatting and laughing. I strategically selected a place from where I could see the television and the beautiful girl. What can be a better time spent than seeing glamorous images of Arabic pop music and a beautiful girl right in front?
I ordered a tea and an apple flavoured Shisha. The tobacco used in the Shisha was quite raw… as within minutes of having it, my senses were overwhelmed. I felt numb and relaxed.
The couple, though, left after a few minutes. A few minutes later, a family entered the café. A couple, with a cute little son… of the same age as my son. The father ordered a Shisha for himself and a Milk shake for his wife. And then this amusing thing happened.
The son on seeing his father smoking a Shisha, started asking for it… everybody who saw him started laughing… a waiter rushed in with a mock-Shisha (a Shisha without fire and tobacco) for the kid… After laying his hands on a Shisha… the kid smiled and chuckled.
After a while, I entered the cinema hall…
The movie is good… slightly better than its first part… the visuals are better, so is the pace of story- perhaps because it doesn’t require to waste any footage in establishing the characters… there is only one new character in the second part and that is the mother of Benjamin Franklin Gates… who is an expert in Pre-Columbian history and scripts (and that is vital to the treasure hunt this time around). There is a wonderful scene, where the Benjamin- Riley- Abigail and Wilkinson (a gray character in the film) are stranded on a wooden plank and need to balance it by standing at four corners to save themselves from an inevitable death. Wonderfully conceptualized and picturised.
One of the dialogues that really struck me… was when Gates tells Riley that some people are behind the treasure, he quips- Axiom of treasure hunting is that some people are always behind the treasure. (A derivation- if there is something worth pursuing, there will most certainly be some people pursuing it)
The film is good. It might actually catapult Gates to the same heights and fan-following as Indiana Jones… Indiana Jones used to find his way by his instincts and chivalry… Gates however is different- he conjures up a wonderful team (Gates is amazing at puzzle solving, Riley is a tech geek, Abigail is expert in history and Gates father has always been a devil's advocate offering wisdom to his pursuits)… he seems to be more possible and plausible.
There is a reference of Page 47 in the book of secrets…(a book of secrets is a book which is compiled by President of USA and handed over to next President… it is only for the eyes of President of USA)… Gates, who knows the content of Page 47, refers to the secret as "Life Altering"… this I think will warrant a next sequel to the movie. Area 51, who knows.
After seeing the movie, I walked down towards my house… met a couple of people who were warming themselves with a bonfire. They invited me for a cup of tea… I joined in and chatted for a while… then it was time to go…
It was a night well spent… not that it makes me sleepy.
No comments:
Post a Comment