The Missed Matinee Show Poem by Bashyam Narayanan

The missed matinee show

That was the time
When it was not even a year since my mom died
People around sympathized with me
I enjoyed a lot freedom than even before
I was frequently feeling I could do mischief
And still could go uncaught and unquestioned

One Saturday afternoon
No school after lunch break

I heard a lot good about a film just released
So tempting the description about that film was
That I should watch the same at the earliest
The film had the best of actors that time
Playing the lead roles
The story line quite appealing
With a good number of emotionally challenging turns
Scenes were very well picturized
Dialogues were meaningfully made
Reviews were impressive
Boys, who had seen the picture already
Had only great things to say

I wanted to make use of this half-day off from the school
For going to Tiruchy and visiting the theatre

I impressed two of my friends with this idea
in between classes before the next teacher arrived
And they also got ready for this venture

We would not tell anyone about the programme
None of our parents and people at home would know
We would manage funds ourselves
And we would make this possible

Not that we were belonging to well-doing families
We knew that we could not get enough money
In the short span of time between so-called lunch and departure
So our plan was to run to the theatre
At the town five kilometers away
But we would ensure that we have sufficient funds
For theatre entrée fee and for the travel by bus back home

We would run through the temple
And one of us would join at the end of the temple

I went home and hurriedly finished eating
Collected coins from my petty savings
And was glad that it would just take care of
My planned expenses that afternoon
And without telling anyone at home and was on the mission

The other guy joined at the temple entrance
And we both were running through the place of worship
Missing to stop and worship deities in between
Which we normally do while visiting temple

We were surprised to see the third boy
Waiting at the other end of the temple
We continued the running
Without a word exchanged

After having gone some far in the hot sun
The newly joined wanted to say something
But, we stopped him
As such discussions would delay our reaching the cinema hall

We had gone quite far
And the boy insisted that he had something very important to say
We all stopped for a while

He started confessing that
He could not at all collect any money
Me and the other guy with money verified the funds we had

We were disappointed as
It would not meet the expenses
If all the three of us were to go ahead with the scheme

We did not talk any further
We all started running back
With the same speed
And parted ways to go back to respective homes

I was at home sweating profusely
With the mission unaccomplished
I would not forget this episode
The missed matinee show