The Sound of Music

There is something intriguing about the love for movies that exists in each MBA student's heart. Hitherto the student may not have been a great fan of movies at all. But give him the incredible weapon named the intranet, and lo and behold! you have the great Indian movie fan. And mind you, this love for the movies can be seen even in the most unlikeliest of circumstances.

Whether you have a mid/end term examination the next day or project assignments in 5 different subjects, the way to unwind is to watch a movie rather than going off to sleep, which in any case is in short supply. Beats me how people do it. Because I take the easiest way out, I watch movies AND sleep like a log. :D

Anyway, a friend forwarded "The Sound of Music" to me today. I realised I had 3 huge assignment submissions tomorrow. So, I proceeded that with which was simplest for me: I saw the movie AND went of to sleep promptly. I must confess that this was one of the most peaceful sleep that I've had in a long long time.

The reason is very simple: "Sound of Music" is home. The last time I saw Julie Andrews and the Von Trapp family on screen was when I was barely 12 or 13 years old. I still recall asking my Mom for explanations about some scenes and my Mom trying to simplify the setting of the film. My mother, who has done her schooling from a simple Gujarati medium school, finds the film extremely enchanting, and till date regards the movie as one of her all time favorites. "Sound of Music" is one of the few Hollywood films she really likes and remembers.

"Sound Of Music" to me is like a beautiful dream gone by, a dream I call the "Innocence of Childhood". For any middle-class Indian children of my generation, Hollywood movies were a strict no-no. Reason? They symbolised all that was bad with the outside world, namely, sex, skin-show, violence, men who smoked cigarettes and drank "wine" (at that age, all alcohol could be categorised as "wine". *Sigh* If my parents were to find out today what I know about alcohol , they would be in for a major shock). This used to continue till the day Dad would decide to get a video cassette of movies like "The Sound of Music" or "The Guns of Navarone" from the local video library. Mom would prepare 'bhajias', a staple snack for the entire family and we would all settle down to watch the movie. And if by the end of the movie, I wasn't already asleep, Dad would take me down to the 'paanwaala' either for a drink of Maaza (remember? These were the days when Coca-Cola had still not re-entered India and the mango drink Maaza was still everybody's favorite) or an ice cream.

I do not remember exactly what dreams I had while I slept today, but I'm pretty sure it had something do with home, something to do with Mom lovingly brushing her fingers through my hair and something to do with the flat that we shifted out of almost a decade back; because the old flat is where I saw everything through the eyes of a child.

Hmm..Perhaps I'm getting too nostalgic. But then, what the heck? I enjoyed the movie and I've slept peacefully for a good 6 hours. Plus, it is almost 1 in the morning and I must prepare a Financial Management report, study a Goal Programming case, prepare an Operations Management case and do the pre-reading for the 3 classes that I have tomorrow. That shouldn't be too much of a problem, what with the Innocence of Childhood shining brightly.

:)