Tearjerkers

Ok, now how many of you cry at the movies? How many of you lose control and give away to your emotions at that right moment when the hero is dying or when the damsel in distress is rescued just in the nick of time or when a couple destined to be apart come together in the end or when a man who has been living in poverty all his life wins a lottery out of nowhere. Well I don't expect an honest answer from anyone.

I like to see myself as a scientist. An intellectual who is above the masses and the illiterate riff-raff. But unfortunatley this is just my little fantasty. I am no scientist. I can't even figure out what I am doing in a place that is supposed to be providing me with higher education and better resources. But I do have friends and I treat them like lab rats. I do my little experiments on them whenever possible. But eversince I have been asked this question about crying at the movies I decided this would be my next experiment.

Now you'd be surprised to know that in most cases, the people who breakdown during a movie are the very same people who claim that they don't have emotions and that they are hollow and in most cases its a mechanical engineering student who is just trying to be plain macho. But they are the ones who cave - in first.

Anyway getting back to the subject at hand, my experiment. Recently my circle of friends (read lab rats) decided to go for a movie. I read the review and it clearly stated that it was a pretty intense movie and that it was a great tearjerker. This was the best opportunity for me to observe the behavior of human emotions. In the theater I sat between two people who contrasted each other in every way imaginable. The movie was three hours long. Three - quarters into the movie and now the scenes began to get sentimental. I waited and observed like a tiger observing the movements of its prey. I didn't have to wait for long. I heard it. Sniff - Sniff. The sound of victory. I wish I had a bugle at the moment to blow out loud. But then I heard other sounds too. To my left I could hear someone snoring and in front of me there was a couple who seemed to be totally oblivious to the fact that they were in a movie theater and that there were other people around. And so there I was caught in between the sniff- sniff, the smooch - smooch and the snoring. I wanted to get out. Run towards the exit like a prisoner of war who had just found an escape route. But then there was nowhere to run. I had no choice but to try and block out the noise.

Finally when the movie got over, I looked like I had been caught in a hurricane. The whole experience taught me a very valuable lesson - When you make a plan, make sure you have a foolproof exit strategy to complement it!