About going to the movies

Now that we are parents, going out to see a movie is a luxury and this weekend when we went, I thought about all important instances when I had gone to catch a movie, the time, the scenario and the fact that I love to watch movies.

The first memory I have of going to see a movie and not watching it on VCR (Yes, we used VCR back then) is going to the movie 'Maine pyar kiya' with my sister and my friend and her Mom and sister. My Mom wasn't in town and Dad was at work and there was no way we would be taken to see it, so we decided to go with friends. It was weird going out without our parents and I was all of 9-10 years old, why would I find this movie entertaining. But this is my first memory, so well..
Next I remember moving to Delhi and going out to see 'Jurassic Park' with my sister and her friends. O how I was smitten by this one friend of hers, he was very polite to me the entire time and I mistook it for love. Heheh...fun times still !
Then my cousin moved to Delhi and these were the all important 11-12th years, when every soul wanting to be an engineer or a doctor (and those were our only choices) was neck deep in books and not allowed to think about movies and such. But my cousin coaxed my parents and she and I had a fun time seeing 'My best friends wedding' and some more. The whole multiplex rage was just starting in Delhi and those were crazy days. It's a very important memory because of the timing of these movies, I would come back from it and get back to my dreary books.
Next I left for the land-of-a-1000-stories - Jabalpur. Now here, we were not permitted to be friendly with boys, but I was who I was and I got friendly with R. (Poor soul, probably repents it till now). So on his B'day he invited the girls and guys out to catch "Mummy". Boy, was that a fun evening! It was pouring rain, our college was on strike and we didn't really have anything much to do. The movie made us all happy and it paved the way for the 999 other stories :D
Next is the time when S came to Delhi and we had to give our TOEFL exam. It was in the afternoon and we had but a day to spend in Delhi together. So we decided to do what anyone would do before an exam, we went to catch a movie. Ironically we saw American Desi. A laugh riot and it helped to calm our non existent exam blues. Memorable for the timing and the stir we caused amongst our parents :D (If you haven't seen this movie, it's a must watch.)
The first 3D movie I saw 'SuperMan'. Such a dumb movie. And my friend S and I were late coming in, and we had to sit almost at the foot of the giant screen. Very painful in every way, not to mention the wrath of the friends who suffered coz of us.
Next milestone in the memory lane is when G n I went for our first movie together. We went to see Click with Adam Sandler. Memorable for all the reasons you're thinking of and some more. We weren't engaged then, and boy was there a whole furor. (Coz ours is an arranged marriage and till it is not arranged, going out for a movie was not the acceptable behaviour).
While I was pregnant, my bum chum A and I decided to go see a movie. She was just out of sorts and I wanted to get out of the rut, so we went to see a movie. That movie turned out to be MJ's 'This is it'. It was memorable, because it was so much fun. Because we got to do it after a really long time, I guess the time b/w her and my pregnancy. And it was MJ, who's music we grew up to and it gave us goosebumps :)
The next memorable movie is when G n I went to see 'Avatar' this is after the kids were born and we going to be leaving them with the Nanny and going to catch the movie. I cried half way through the movie because I am emotional like that :D
And that is my movie journey so far. I bet we'll add so many more like when the kids go to see their first movie, when N and G decide they want to see their kinda movie. When the kids go off to movies alone w/o us and when G and I are old and senile and we'll go with our grand kids :)
Hail Bollywood, Hollywood!!!!

My Sins Against Gender Stereotypes

My Sins Against Gender Stereotypes – tagged by IHM

This is a tag from Anu:

If you are a woman,

Have you ever wanted something that is considered ‘manly’ ? Like a basketball, a cell phone, a dog, a camera or a new laptop? A new car or motor bike? Ever wanted to be a pilot? A doctor or not a nurse? And the manliest want of them all – The remote!

As a kid did you enjoy playing with a bat and a ball?

There was a time when books were considered ‘manly’, women authors had to pretend to be men – would you say books are still rather manly – women should want to embroider and crochet?

If you are a man,

Have you ever wanted something that only women are supposed to want – like bags, shoes, clothes, creams, perfumes, babies, flowers? A peaceful home and a happy family? Have you ever been afraid of the dark or of insects?

As a kid did you ever want to play ‘teacher-teacher’, cooking or did you like playing with a doll? Have you ever enjoyed cooking? Bought something in pink? Loved chocolates?

So Anu is right in saying that I when I read about this Tag on IHM's blog, I thought it to be a weird tag. But after reading a few posts on it, I started thinking, it might actually be interesting!
So here goes:
1. I am not the kinds who will sit pretty and not get my hands dirty, be it to change tires, haul things or help people move.
2. I love a lot of sports and it's not just in passing, but actually watching. Can't say the same for playing, I used to love playing volleyball in school, didn't keep it up after that.
3. I absolutely love reading about gadgets and if I can have them, then even better. Laptops being the most important.
4. I love to discuss politics.
5. I absolutely hate shopping! Detest it with a vengeance.
6. I hate the color pink, I have exactly 1 pink top in my closet.
7. I hate saying 'What's going on Babe' or some such thing to my girl friends.
8. I would much rather wear comfy shoes than wear pretty ones.
9. I prefer action packed thriller movies to chick flicks.
10. I have exactly 3 close girl friends + my sister. Most of my best friends are boys. (It's just happened that way, I haven't consciously done that. It's easier for me to talk to guys than girls.)

Alright, so here's my tag list.
1. Akansha Because I want to see if you come up with anything :)
2. J Man Would be fun to get a Man's POV.
3. Rajat, I know you don't have a blog, you can use my space here, but I want to know what your girly ways are :D

It turned out to be a fun blog. I have not mentioned some things from my childhood, where in girls always treated me suspiciously because I was too boyish for them :D

Newhoo, fun tag, thanks for tagging Anu!