Thursday, May 05, 2005

Dance of Life

'Cut', yelled the choreographer, she winced at what she knew was about to come.... an avalanche of abuse and admonition from the choreographer... once upon a time, she was the most dependable of the 'extra artists', the one who would not take a step wrong.... she knew she still was getting it right, but things were different after she had strongly resisted the choreographer's advances..
he hadpromised her a prominent role in the movie he was about to make... but like she told him, if she had wanted that route to stardom, she would have done it long ago, instead of slogging out as an extra...a long time ago, she had come to this city of dreams to make it big in bollywood, along with her friend...
but somewhere, she had missed the bus to stardom, so had her friend..and though she had become an extra, her friend had stated that she would go to a studio only as a star... and to make ends meet, she was now dancing at one of the big dance bars..
these days, she felt envious of her friend... her friend danced in front of a crowd, who were extremely appreciative of her performances,maybe bordering on being lewd, but unlike choreographers and producers, kept their hands to themselves.. and literally showered money on her..
she wondered who was better off -she or her friend.. while her friend danced in skimpy clothes in front of a crowd, that was at most a few dozens of people, she danced in skimpy clothes (albeit in the background)in screens that were viewed by millions of people..
she decided that she would talk to her friend today, about getting work for her also in the place she worked in.. she didnt think it would be a problem, the dance bars always needed more girls..and so, she gave it right back to the choreographer, abused him, and spilled out his antics to everyone in hearing distance... when she was sure that he had lost tremendous face in front of everyone, she slapped him, a parting gift, she told him...
back in the room, she waited for her friend to return, it would be morning, but she decided to wait up... as soon as her friend walked in, she told her friend that she needed a job...
"so do i", said her friend...
"what do you mean?", she asked, with a sick feeling..
"haven't you read the papers? they are planning to close all the dance bars. i was hoping you could speak to your choreographer.."
until next time, sometimes getting the steps right aint enough..

32 comments:

GratisGab said...

As usual, another great piece. Giving these situations a REAL perspective.

A suggestion - Increase the font size of the title of the post, it's almost invisible! :)

sanguine said...

ya really nice piece . you connect the recent issues so well with ur characters & their stories or is it the other way round. but good hai :D

Anonymous said...

This is a very touching piece.

Anonymous said...

And then they started a dance school for children of out of work bar girls and...

Kraz.

manuscrypts said...

gratisgab: are u seeing it on mozilla.. coz i thought it oooked fine in explorer..

sanguine: hmmm, nice question... i think i create characters for current situations.. :)

manuscrypts said...

pearl: thank you :)

kraz: dai, no money for food and they will send children to dance schools, huh.. grrr!!

Anonymous said...

good one without doubt......have seen many such scenarios myself :-)

Anonymous said...

will there be a follow on story? with a hint of something positive, light at the end of the tunnel types? pls? pls pls?
austere
story typically manu class, yes!

manuscrypts said...

stone: how come??

austere: actually love pathos... the light wd be a train.. but lets try anyways, sometime... :)

Anonymous said...

clap clap clap..
and yeah.. u need to do something about the font dude..

Nupur said...

... tied up well with the recent issue.
And we have a new pic - a new cartoon. When is urs gonna be up?

manuscrypts said...

sqrl/nt: just the title or the entire post??

nupur: u mean my pic??

Anonymous said...

hey...its already been said, but you really connect your characters with the issues very well.... :)

Anonymous said...

Hey that anon comment was me Angel :)

erratica said...

i kinda feel bad for the bar girls :( and now the extras too....touching piece indeed

Anonymous said...

hmm interesting.. it appears as though u prefer the dance bar profession to the extra..

Argentyne said...

Such irony! :) Lovely one!

Anonymous said...

Nice post! U shud campaign for the cause... and prolly send the story to a newspaper! :)

Yes you do need to increase font size... Using explorer, n its still painful on eyes! :(

do they find a way out? Does sth nice happen?

Why does fate always seem to win between fate and free will? :(

Anonymous said...

Arrey Yaar Manu - where's your great imagination buddy - they start a dance school, and the women power NGOs give them funding, and they churn out amazing talents, and NDTV covers them and then they do a show for the president and... whew I am exhausted.

Kraz

Anonymous said...

beautifully written a different style...nice, the way they have planned to close down bars so many women jobless n inadvertantly on to wrong paths but then still the moral police are morally right..Bah!!!
btw im back take care n keep smiling :)

Anonymous said...

..the grass is always greener ..whichever way u look at it ..isnt it?

How u been manuscrypts?

NoHairBrain said...

Hmmmm...

Elixir said...

agree wid stone...dont u kno o da famous story...da one whr da guy wants 2 give his gurl a "paranda" as they call in hindi, da thing u wear plaited wid ur hair and she wantd to give him a leather strap for his watch...turned out one day, he sold his watch to get her a silver paranda and on da same day she sold her hair to get him a new leather watch strap.

im not sure if ur post is along da same lines...but...i like this story better

manuscrypts said...

angel: thank ye :)

erratica: we all live our coccooned life, dont we??

manuscrypts said...

blokes: things are always getting shattered arent they?

sqrl/nt: uhuh, just a story :)

manuscrypts said...

coolcat: :)

garfy: will do something abt the font.. meanwhile heres an interesting quote "in all the larger shaping of life, there is a plan already, into which one has no choice but to fit." :)

manuscrypts said...

kraz: working twds an imagination refill :)

anz: unfortunately we never think of implications..

manuscrypts said...

cynic: been good, and u?? :)

NHB: and ...:)

manuscrypts said...

elixir: o.henry's 'gift of the magi'?? hmm, now that u say it, there does seem to be some kind of similarity..:)

J said...

Am i seeing better these today or has the font size really increased???

Pallavi said...

its easy to shut down but what about the people who work so hard... /:(

manuscrypts said...

j: yes they have :(

pallavi: like i said, we never think of implications...