Chasing Hugo- an experience of Murphy's law

That is what we did all this week.

Let me first make it clear that I am not usually very keen on movies, but with something extraordinary like the movie in question, and a tween on her summer vacation, I do make exceptions.

Let me also make it clear that this is a longish post, a rant at that.

Last friday we read in the papers that there was an interesting new movie running in town, one that A and I certainly wanted to watch.  The movie, HUGO, is based on "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," a book that we have been searching for for a long, long time. (Hint, hint, everyone! For both the movie and the book!)

So we searched the movie listings, and found out that there was only one place at which there was a day show-  Goplalan Cinemas, on Bannerghatta rd. So we made plans. I picked A up at noon from a summer camp she is attending, gave her some sandwiches in the auto that I had got from home as her lunch, reached the multiplex 20 minutes before the show and hurried up to the box office.

Disappointment! Yes, they had advertised about the show, (they even had a huge hoarding up next to the ticket window), but they had had some problem with the distributors, and had decided not to run it. (So why hadn't they discontinued the ad in the paper?!)

OK, so there we were, with full tummies, quite a distance away from home, with a remote possibility of meeting up with friends who stayed nearby, but no concrete plans. We decided to pick up some supplies needed for school and home from a nearby Staples store, and then spend some time at a Crossword outlet nearby. Browsed around some, then decided to have an ice gola from a Go Gola stall. Yum!

Undeterred, we decided to go to the evening show at PVR cinemas. This time, we even got some company- Choxbox and her FB.

So we made our plans for yesterday's 6.25pm show, and I decided to check if I could phone in for tickets, or get them online. Imagine my surprise when I found that now the movie was listed at 3 places; all the places except the one to which we had gone earlier. Clicked on the link for PVR cinemas, and as if by magic, the movie was not listed there.

That made me smell a rat.

I then tried to book through BookMyShow. On their site, the movie was listed at Cinepolis, Bannerghatta rd, for a 10pm show, and an offline listing for PVR cinemas. So now we were down to 2 listings from the original 4 I had seen just three days previously. Wondering what that meant, I got the phone number of BookMyShow from Just Dial services, and called them.

They confirmed that their listings showed just that one show at Cinepolis. When I asked them about PVR, they said that there was a 6.25pm show listed there, but they were unable to book for that multiplex as they did not have a tie-up with them.

I then tried calling PVR cinemas directly. They had one IVR options number, which did not list Hugo as one of the movies. The landline was not picked up at all, inspite of calling repeatedly over a period of half-an-hour.

I was now getting seriously annoyed. What kind of service was this? It did not make sense to drag the girls all the way to the cinema through the evening Bangalore traffic, especially with the threat of rain.

It was now 11am, and A would finish her class by noon, and, as was pre-decided, be got home by the mother of the other child who attended with her. I called up Choxbox, and she was neck deep in some work, with no chance of being able to go to the cinema to check in person. This was a movie we really, really wanted to watch on the big screen, and the only option left was for me to go personally to PVR.

I decided that if the movie was indeed running, I would just call Chox, pick up the tickets, pick up A and come back home with the girls - I could get a ride with the other parent. If not, I decided I'd take A out to Blossom Book Shop, a treat I had promised her for a long, long time.

I got ready quickly, and was off. Reached the box office there, and the people there had not even heard of the movie. I checked, and there was no poster of the movie anywhere, though many of the newest wonder- The Avengers. They looked very Hunger-Game-ish. Somehow I didn't think A would be interested. So I called up Chox to inform her, called up the other parent to tell her I'd be picking A up myself, (as it was almost time for them to be picked up) and went ahead to the class.

We were almost near Blossom, when I suddenly realized I had not packed my reading glasses in my hurry. Now, that was a real blow, as it meant there was no way I could browse at the book shop.

We were hungry, though, and decided to have lunch before doing anything else. At the place we ate, some popular songs were playing, none of which I knew. Except for Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On' from The Titanic. Which is when I told A that a 3D version of the movie was playing in theatres.

Now, A has earlier watched the movie on television. So she was instantly enthused with the idea of being able to watch it on the big screen. Now, I had no idea where it was running. (No smartphone!) So, I called Choxbox again, and asked her to check and tell me. (Sorry I bothered you so much the whole day!) PVR was the place, again.

Now comes the high point of this extremely long narrative. We finished eating quickly, then reached the cinema a good half-hour early according to the show timing. Went to the box office and asked for two tickets for the show. The girl behind the counter looked at me and said, "We don't have that movie running, ma'am!" You could have knocked me over. "But, it is listed on the PVR site," I sputtered in some consternation. Yes, she said, it would have been but they had their last show on the Wednesday, and decided to discontinue it one day early to make space for a new movie that had its early release this week!

All this in a high-tech age where information is supposed to be at our fingertips, and it should not be necessary for one to go personally to far-flung places to find things out, let alone get them done. I understand our government and semi-government establishments are still stuck in some other era, but businesses like the entertainment industry?

Anyway, we had already wasted much of our afternoon in what turned out to be a useless pursuit, so we decided to put the rest of the time before we needed to go home to some better use. Going to Landmark was ruled out because of my glasses.

I remembered I had a Rs 1000 worth gift voucher for Fabindia, so decided to go upgrade my wardrobe. Something I don't do as a matter of course. I don't like to spend good money that can be put to bibliophilic uses in buying un-necessary clothes or accessories. There was, however, the thoughtfully provided gift voucher from my brother (You know me, bro!) and the other little fact of a currently oft-expressed advice by my tween daughter- "Aai, you should wear some nicer clothes!"

So we went to Fabindia.  But, as they say in hinglish, "Mera bad luck hi kharaab tha!"

Saw a beautiful kurti in black with some exquisite embroidery in crimson and forest green. Tried it on- a perfect fit. Asked A to check the price tag as I had forgotten my glasses at home.

"Rs 435," she said. "Wonderful, let's pick it up," I thought.

Gave the kurti to her to hold while I looked around for some more to be able to use the whole amount. After a few minutes, the kid comes up to me and said sheepishly, "Aai, I read wrong. It is Rs 4350!"

:( Should have double checked. The piece was much too exquisite for 435! Had to put it back!

We did check out some more stuff, and finally I did find something that met her AND my standards, and bought it.

A wasted endeavour in many ways, but also one that gave A and myself some laughs, and some more mother-daughter memories of some crazy times spent together!

Not to mention the Fabindia kurti!