INT. PREVIEW ROOM- MORNING
Two women, about twenty years of age sit at the far end of the room. One levels the projector while the other one plays back some video files on her laptop. A third girl sits even further towards the corner of the room reading a newspaper, in English, not aloud though.
A:
(Closing her newspaper)
Should I shift the tables out?
MO:
No! I am sure they will be space or even better it will seem like there is no space.
MI:
Ya man! They will turn up no? I mean, I was thinking about it last night MO and seriously...
MO:
They will they will...They will??? Lets see.
'MI' is done fiddling with the projector, 'MO' has gone to drink some water. 'A' proceeds to make a playlist on 'MO's' laptop. The playlist is called Frame25.
*Chapter 2*: How it Began
On 15th December 2007, the Frame TwoFive group gathered at NID, Ahmedabad. Amongst those present were Arun Gupta, SB Saxena, the convocating and the current students of Film and Video at NID.
It began over a span of half an hour as missed calls were made, SMSes (I mean the plural of a SMS) were exchanged and people ran to catch breakfast at BMW while others floated in. In this process, the projection's wallpaper was changed about five times. The songs in the playlist were going on, at a lower volume though. The celebrities, or rather the celebrated, the convocating students had all soon arrived.
The meeting never began, it was a gathering which did. There were no formal introductions, briefing on Frame TwoFive or a statement of an agenda. We came together and as a group seemingly dictated by the space, time and company started of on something.
*Chapter 3*: The screening
Sometimes you laugh at a film. You laugh because of the memory you have of the film- the memory of you having made it, of having shared the experience of making it and having watched it. You may also laugh as a third person, not the film maker itself, experiencing all this. Sometimes it doesn't matter whether you know the film maker or not, but it does seem to matter whether he/she is present while watching the film. Despite all this, sometimes, you also laugh because of the film itself. At NID, even though we recollect the making of the film while watching the film rather than actually watching the film, we do after a point, watch the film itself, as a film. Somehow, these notions go haywire while watching films in a group, when in this group are present all those afore mentioned. I guess film viewing, in a group, is quite an interesting thing.
*Chapter 4*: Chai and Bhajiya
'A' likes pouring out chai though she does miss having chai itself. Drinking chai is a ritual, not an action. Chai creates conversations. The act of drinking Chai is more significant than the chai itself. 'A' enjoys missing this experience. She knows she will enjoy recollecting this feeling of loss as others will the feeling of not having lost it.
*Chapter 5*: Waiting for the End
The Frame TwoFive T-shirts shall be released today. We hope everybody likes them. Aastha, Ujjwal, Sushmeit and Uday did manage to pull it off. Quick! They are done with their chai and are coming back. Let us sort it out into piles. We should give one to Arun too.
*Chapter 6*: The End
Refer to 'Say Cheese!' post below
*Chapter 7*: Epilogue
The non convocating bunch, having not got their T- shirts as yet run to the preview room to pounce on them. 'AA' of the higher order calms down the frenzy. She stands alight, list in one hand and T- Shirt in the other. We were forced backwards into civilisation worth a ten thousand years in ten minutes. We 'collect' our T- Shirts and drift off. We land up on either of the two isles- Chai gate or BMW. We bump into others, the same ones we had been with all through this reading and sit with them. We spend some time together, share a few conversations over chai and we leave.
*Note*:
The tables were not neccessary to fill up the room and we introduced ourselves to each other only right at the End.
- Aishwarya Arumbakkam
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