Things 'appen

On my way out on work, maybe I should have recognised it as a sign of things to come when the captain on the aircraft ended his welcome spiel with an ominous “And, good luck to you.” Not the most appropriate, or comforting, thing for your pilot to say, is it? And, in case anyone had missed it the first time, he made it a point to wish us luck again a little later. :-)

We were at this posh hotel, shooting. Among the very few interesting (movable) objects there, the one I picked out to use as a prop in a shot was a Kondapalli doll, a disjointed clay doll. A mere touch would have its head bobbing and a gentle touch would make it dance. Later in the evening, I was handed a packet that my friend had left for me at the hotel desk. We’d been in touch on the phone all day, trying to find the time to meet but, most unfortunately, we couldn’t. That’s when she quietly slipped in and dropped off the packet for me. And, when I opened the packet, guess what I found in it? A bobbing doll!

While we were waiting between shots in the bar, they were playing a song that I really took to…or, maybe it was the other way around. I asked but the chap there had no clue about either the song or the musician, although, at that time, he did sound a lot like Chris Martin of Coldplay. Anyway, the chap was nice enough to play it a couple of times for me. I grabbed a napkin and scribbled a quick note to myself to search for the song later. When I got back to Delhi, and logged in to FB to answer a couple of messages, there it was on my Home page – the very same song! And, yes, it’s been playing in a loop since then.

Anyway, there were plenty of long periods of waiting between shots. I had a very small crew, of which three were handling lights. One of them, I saw, had been reading palms in every little break that we had. He volunteered to read mine but I laughed it off because it’s not something I’m interested in. But, I was told that he’s really keen on it and, so, reluctantly and just so that he doesn’t feel bad, I agreed. He started by telling me a couple of things that he had no way of knowing – not stuff that one can glean after spending some time around a person, which in my case, without a doubt, would be that I’m very impatient. No, what he read was that I’m on my own and no family, etc. That was weird. Then, he looked at my hand in silence for about 30-odd seconds and said he couldn’t read any more. This was also weird because, clearly, he could read but didn’t want to say what it was. Everyone tried to get him to talk but he just wouldn’t say.

I’m the first to admit that I’m a bit daft when it comes to subtle hints, coded messages and the like. Because it’s easy to misinterpret and jump to the wrong conclusion. I like it direct and straightforward.

I couldn’t care less for what he ‘read’ but I wish he’d just say why he wouldn’t tell!