The conclusion.
I opened the Instagram page and checked.
“I thought you were supposed to run the article by me first.”
Oh shit! This was the person I had written about. And she was a friend. Homi had posted the article. I had asked him to send me a link so I could show it to her first. I had told him, right? Errr… Maybe not.
I messaged, wrote to appease her and ask her to read and check if all was well. I cursed Homi anyway and went back to my play.
Zoom had thrown me out again!
More confident this time, there was no problem. Won’t be allowed to enter and all that jazz — the mail reminded me of the previous government.
“Would you want the girl to go with the man?”
Tick box:
‘Yes’
‘No’
The questions streamed across the screen. It took me a while to understand these questions across the screen were part of an online poll they were conducting right in the middle of the play! I found this so shocking that it took me a while to see the ‘SKIP’ button on top. I submitted whatever answers I could think of to get back to the main screen. Here, questions were being asked of two participants on-screen and they were putting out placards saying ‘YES’ & ‘NO’.
A host of interuptions followed. K came to ask about bed-sheets & towels, I answered the doorbell, V’s cats came to chew on my charging wire & Homi pinged me that my post was online. Zoom kept throwing me out and I kept logging back in shamelessly, believing it to be my right purchased for the princely sum of 108 rupees.
The thought of watching a play in-person did enter my mind. Once I was in, my mobile would be locked, I would be lost to the world for 2 hours and all’s well that ends well.
I looked at the time — almost half the play was over. Clearly, I was struggling. Partly them, partly — maybe more — me. But i wouldn’t give up. I owed it to my friend. After all, if she asked me tomorrow I would have to tell her something.
By now, K& V had settled in. The cats were chasing my socks. The house had settled down. Maybe, in the remaining time, I could make some sense of the play.
The screen vanished as a call interrupted; ‘A’, the friend about whom i had wriiten the blog post was calling. I was too technologically challenged & too loathe to get back to Zoom or the play.
I accepted defeat, pressed the green button and answered. “Hello.”
The next evening, I saw my friend’s ping on Whatsapp. I was ready to defend my position, tell her I loved it, enjoyed the play… I am a writer after all!
I opened her message.
“Oi, you left half way. What happened? Didn’t like it?”
Damn Zoom! I hung my head, smiled to myself and replied, “Hey!!”
appam stew n prawns patiyo 