PUSHPANJALI TALKIES OFF NH 4

National Highway 4 winds through our residential area and is an important highway in the country. The stretch of highway from Bangalore to Chennai (Madras) is called the OMR meaning Old Madras Road. Off the highway near the K R Puram railway station came the Pushpanjali Talkies somewhere in 1973. Almost during the same time another talkies came up in Ramamurthy nagar called the Laxmi talkies. Pushpanjali talkies is on a busy stretch of road making it more accessible and hence had more visitors.

What is a Talkies ? 007 Talkies is a slightly impoverished version of a Theatre which used to be some 300ft in length and 150 ft in width. It had pucca walls almost like a fence covered by a tatched roof. It had two sections almost divided at the middle . The front section had no chairs and one had to squat on the floor and the rear section which had benches and chairs. Largely tamil movies used to be shown at this talkies. A rare feature of the talkies is that the sound track of the movies can be heard as vividly outside as in the inside and many a people would assemble outside too to listen to their favourite dialogues and predict the future scenes.

There is none in the area who have not been to this talkies atleast once. Families used to make advanced planning to watch a movie not to mention many children who sneaked away from their homes with few coins collected over the past few weeks to be at the talkies. During show time the roads leading to the talkies wore a frenzied look with a sense of urgency filled with prospective cinema goers rushing to be at the talkies on time. Children were rebuked by the elderly to be faster and the older ones too doing their best to prove vigorous. this was the influence the talkies had on the public living in the vicinity. In the sporting feilds most of the time was whiled away discussing the stories of the movies and some children pretending to be heroes and others imitating the villains --- not to mention the lady folk for whom the discussions ranged from the locales seen in the movies to the attires of the heroines. Some times in a whisper they used to discuss the more romantic scenes and other escapades at the movie attracting the special attention of the children who wanted to be explained the reasons for the secrecy and the occassional giggling only to be driven away and silenced under some pretext.

In 1980 Shivananda theatre came up close to this venue to some extent damaging the fortune of the talkies. Pushpanjali talkies was converted into a theatre somewhere in the early 1990's leading to the closure of Shivananda theatre in 1995 or so. Shivananda theatre is the only theatre in the world where stray dogs would be found seated in some corners of the hall staring at the screen proving a point that they understood everything that transpired. They were driven out only if they ganged together and created some raucus.

The very important aspect of the Pushpanjali talkies is the peculiar entry schemes in practice at the talkies. You can enter the talkies even after one hour after the show has begun by tipping the gate keeper. Depending upon the time elapsed the rates were negotiated. The children never had the money in full to buy a full fledged ticket but were short of some specified sum but could see a part of the movie depending upon the mood of the keeper. I have sneaked into the talkies on several occassions to only see few climax scenes of the movie.

I cant forget Pushpanjali Talkies for one important reason- it taught me a very important lesson in financial and risk management. The setting was an MGR movie the posters of which were stuck everywhere in the neighbourhood and the heroines in the background attired in peculiar dresses were enough to unsettle a young mind fuelled further by the narration of the movie and its attractions by peers. I was debating with myself for several days and could not sum up the courage to make a venture to see this movie.

However one saturday afternoon with 40 paise clamped tight in the pocket of my half-pants and with a sense of guilt I sneaked out of the backdoor one afternoon sensing my mother was fast asleep to the talkies to be there on time; crossing the railway line with care and the national highway thereafer very carefully implementing the principles of executing these tasks as indoctrinated by my mother and reinforced year after year. Reaching the talkies was a mission accomplished. The entry fee was 60 paise and I was 20 paise short which means I have to adopt the unofficial entry procedure of tipping the keeper. I knew I was not very good at the task but with 40 paise I approached the attender or gate keeper whatever we would call him but the amount didnt seem impressive to him and he signalled me to wait. The movie had started and roars of laughter and appaluse could be heard by any one and I felt I was missing something and I approached the keeper again only to be turned down. There was nothing much I could do but to beesech his grace which never seemed to be forthcoming; added to this I was apprehensive that one of my father's friends would show up somewhere and inform my household about my mis - adventure and uncertainty and gloom filled the air. The gate keeper seemed peculiarly difficult on the day and none of my approaches could get the better of his fastidious nature. At school I was taught to pray when in trouble and I tried that too but lo my prayer seemed to have been answered when my class mate Mohan showed up at the scene and I explained the situation to him. He could not reconcile to the fact that a decent lad like me should be caught waiting at an unearthly place seeking the grace of a semi clad and unschooled being who was making full use and dominance and importance of being cast as a gatekeeper of Pushpanjali talkies.

At school Mohan was known for notorities and did not gave a good track record, a reason enough for me not to have trusted him. But he seemed more than eager to help me and the forty paise in my pocket seemed particularly attractive to him. He tried to negotiate on my behalf with the keeper but to no avail ;a job I think today Mohan did not do earnestly and by now my 40 paise was firmly entrenched in his hands and he being physically more astout I could not rip it off my hands.

Mohan gave me an idea-- There are many gambling dens in the vicinity and he would invest my forty paise there and with the spoils both of us could make a royal entry into the talkies. I was hesitant but had no other go and before long found myself in the company of vagabonds and uncouth people playing some kind of money game the modus-operandi of which I could not very well understand.My friend Mohan was in the thick of things and put my 20 paise first and another 20 later only to emerge a winner with almost two rupees. I was happy and signalled to Mohan to quit because our purpose was served but this rascal as I should call him now never relented and he went about playing with the two rupees to loose everything. My face was becoming red with every loss that was being incurred but nothing could prevent this man from calling it quits so that I could atleast have my forty paise back. Today I think Mohan was all day at this venue and must have lost lot of money and was using my forty paise to salvage his own damages. In no time my friend vanished leaving me alone deprived of my capital and in the midst of people quarelling with each other with the most combinations of foul languages the meaning of which I could comprehend only in isolation.

God seemed to have answered my prayers - never undertake such missions in the future. I was neither sobbing or smiling but was caught some where in between. I trudged back home in dissapointment and despair. My mother asked me where I had been only mutely to give an evasive answer.

When I look back at this incident I learnt a very valuable lesson for sure- never to give your money to a third party to play with it. Many modern day comapnies come to me with many plans to multiply money some at the stock market and few others with some queer schemes. I remember Mohan; the Pushpanjali talkies; the MGR movie and its heroines and the gambling dens. I conciously refrain from any involvement what so ever. Pushpanjali talkies near my home defanitely game me a million dollar lesson.