Protest March and Superman

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Before I forget, I should mention that I have moved from AB's Apartments to Taj Mahal Palace & Tower. If you read my earlier blogs, you would remember me mentioning that we went to look at the hotel. I must say it's really much more comfortable here. At the very least, we can adjust the air con temperature and the blanket is much warmer.

When we were at AB's apartments, people always asked how many channels I have on my TV and I would answer,"That depends on whether it's raining or not." Now, there are so many channels, about 80, to choose from but not many I am interested to watch. There're AXN, HBO, Star Movies, Star World, Channel News Asia and Channel V, among others. Just last night, I saw Jet Li in a Huang Fei Hong show but dubbed in English. It was quite funny.
Anyway, this morning we went out to take a walk around our hotel area. We saw a big group of people carrying orange flags at the Gate of India. At first we thought that they were tourists. I realised we might be wrong when we saw road blocks and a big group of policemen standing at a traffic junction but since they were just standing around we decided nothing was wrong. After we finished our stroll and was walking back to the hotel, the group we saw at Gate of India was walking, chanting in Hindi (i think). Immediately we walked in the opposite direction. Lucky for us, the protest was a peaceful one.

We asked a policewomen what the protest was about but she couldn't speak English so we had no idea what was going on. But a day ago, we received an email from Tina that said there would be a strike by bank workers in August and that we should make sure we have enough cash on hand during the strike. Perhaps they decided to bring forward the strike. Who knows.

I watched Superman with Tina, Barbara, Ridzwan and his wife in a Mumbai cineplex. INOX, today. Tickets cost about 180 rupees (S$6). The seats were cool, they could recline a little. Different theatres in India sell tickets at different prices. The one we went to was considered one of the newest and the best. It is about the same standard as Singapore's cinemas.

Each time there was a movie trailer and before the movie, there would be a scanned copy of the certificate issued by the Board of Film Commissions or something to certify that the film has been approved.

Before the film began, there was a sign that said "Please stand for the national anthem". So we all stood and sang the anthem. In the middle of the film, there was an intermission of about 10 minutes. During the movie itself, people were talking and mobile phones were ringing. If someone was too loud, people would sshh them but I don't think it was effective especially since most of the people talking were kids. When Superman appeared to save the world, some people actually clapped. It was an interesting experience.

After the movie, we went back to the hotel in a taxi and I was reminded of why we didn't want to take them to work. A girl beggar came to our taxi window to ask for money. She first touched Barbara's hands, then touched Ridzwan's face. Lastly, she came to my side of the taxi, she touched my shirt sleeve in an attempt to get my attention. When I got of the taxi, I saw that there were 2 black marks on my sleeve! I wonder if Ridzwan would get pimples on his face tomorrow.