I was in the operation theatre when Jasmine delivered Jispa.
Besides obviously being happy that our
child was born, I was so happy that it was a girl. We both wanted a girl. We even
had the name in place. But if it were a boy, hmmm that would have been a bit of
a tough one.
But you know how dads can get. I always want to bond with my
girl on a man to man basis. I’d like to talk to her, explain her stuff, go
cycling or swimming with her. Watch action movies with her. But my girl, well
she is a girl after all. She hates action movies. So no super hero movies or
movies where the bad guy gets thrashed about, smashed into pulp or bullets
flying. So I have never been really able to see these movies. I remember many
years ago when she was around five years old and die hard part 4 was released.
We went to see the movie after she was asleep. Normally I would carry her in my
arms and hold her through the movie, while she was fast asleep. This time she
woke up and saw some action and I distinctly remember her getting angry at us
for getting her to the movie. She started getting angry in the movie hall
itself “why did you get me here, why did you get me here?”
Last week, one day she asked me, “how did Spiderman become Spiderman?
I heard that some spider bit him or something. Is that true?” Ah yes. I then
proceeded to explain to her the legend of the Spiderman. How he was bestowed
with special spider sense and then I explained the part about ‘with great power
come great responsibility’. Then I asked her, if she wanted to see the part
thee (or is it part four) of the movie that was releasing this Friday. “hmmm. I
don’t know. But shouldn’t I see part one before”. Well it’s not like they are
sequential like harry potter or something. But ya. So we borrowed the first
part of the series and watched it at home. She was ok with it. nice and fun, so
we went on Sunday for ‘the amazing Spiderman’. Whoops. This one was a bit dark,
tough and a lot more gore (blood) in it. I guess after the Batman in the Dark
Knight, Hollywood must have thought about dark, confused and complicated superheroes
with blood on them would make for more compelling viewing. I mean when was the
last time you saw a super hero coming home and covering his bloodied face from
his aunt. This is eth first spider man who I have seen who has removed his mask
so often and been so bruised. It was like an action blood movie than a
superhero movie. Either their target audience has gotten older or the kids can
take much more violence these days. Its
rated UA but I strongly feel that families who get their kids for a ‘wholesome’
experience would be a bit rattled by the movie. I think we need a certification
that’s between UA and A for this one. I think kids need to be at least 12 to
really enjoy this movie. Jispa came out ok from the movie. There were parts she
did not want to see for sure. Possibly the boys in her class would be more
blood hungry, but it was a bit dark and gory for a 9 year old. After the movie,
she was ok. I told her I did not know this would be as bad. She was ok about
the whole thing. I finally got her to see a couple of super hero movies. I enjoy
them and I secretly hope to see them with my kid. Possibly when she grows up. Anything
is good when you compare it to the home alone 3 that she hired to see along
with Spiderman 1.
And if that bonding wasn’t enough for the week end,
yesterday night, both Jispa and I couldn’t get any sleep. We tried to hit the
bed by 9. Jasmine was asleep but Jispa and I struggled. So I snug into her bed
and tried reading my book, while she tried sleeping. Didn’t work. So I tried
reading while she was reading. Didn’t work. She drank a little milk (wonder of
wonders) and I drank milk. Didn’t work. We looked at each other for around an
hour and then another… still we both were awake and wondering what to do. So we
decided to watch a movie. Since we have no cable and our collection of movies
ain’t that big, we had little choice. She did not want to see ‘my movies’ and I
surely did not want to see ‘her movies’. It then I told her fine, I think the
right movie from our collection would be …. Yes. I got it. ‘do aankhen baarah
haat’ (two eyes twelve hands). This is an old black and white movie, I told her.
I had seen it as a kid, about your age or a couple of years older possibly. And
it was a nice movie. So Jispa and I were watching this 1957 movie about a jailor
who is trying to take 6 hardened criminals and reform them by giving them
freedom and taking them out of a jail set up to an open ground without
encumbrances. It was nice movie and the prayer
song from that movie never left me.
I had to keep explaining the story and its nuances to Jispa
from time to time. The premise of the story,
why he taking them to a free place, why is he breaking the fences and that he
is giving them their murder weapons as tools to work with. The music score and
the over acting of the cast is worth watching and is so different from the
cinema of today. Jispa found it amusing and then even remarked “these black and
white movies are quite nice and fun to watch”.
So yesterday we watched around 55 minutes of the movie till I
felt sleepy and it was around 12 midnight. We promised to complete it later.
This was a lot of bonding for one weekend. But yes, I am not
complaining.
