A movie that changed life (Discontinued For Unknown Period)

Drama Practice (Chapter 2)

Ashu's pov (point of view)

Morning 20th December 2015

Mom yells, "Ashu, wake up! It's already 6 am. I know today is Sunday but you have to get ready for your practice. Always remem---"

Cutting her off, I finish her sentence for her, "I know mom, practice makes a man perfect."

Mom said, "Good boy! Now get ready."

I grumble for a minute in bed struggling to get up, then I head straight to the bathroom. Oh, I forgot to mention that I live in a 3 BHK apartment. As you can guess 1 room for me, 1 for Bobby and 1 for mom and dad. We have a single bathroom for all four of us and an attached toilet. Usually, it's not a problem but...

As I reach the bathroom, I try to open the door and find it locked. I immediately knew it was Dad. I tell him, "Dad! Do you always have to go just before me?" without waiting for an answer I try to remain calm as I ask , "How much time are you going to take in there?"

He said," I could ask the same thing son, why do you have to come just after me? Don't worry I will be out in 2 minutes."

Sighing resignedly, I reply, "OK dad"

This is the exact reason I asked him to build an extra bathroom but he always made some excuse. You might be thinking about how I knew it was dad. Simple, it's a daily routine. Even if mom hadn't woke me up, my sister never wakes before 9 am on Sundays.

When he comes out, I quickly barge in the bathroom to take a bath and brush my teeth, then head back to my room wearing a towel to pick out today's outfit. By the way, I don't have nearly as many clothes as my sister, but have enough. I wonder why girls need so much stuff.

Opening my closet, I pick my undergarments, then a check yellow shirt, along with grey pants, black shoes and a black belt. Weird combination, right? But this is what I like and surprisingly I look good in these seemingly weird combinations.

Mom calls me for breakfast. I know it's the same Sunday special Idli Sambar and what's even better, mom cooks it herself. Usually, we have bread and butter with juice or some cereal for breakfast, but Sundays are different. At this point, my sister Bobby also comes in to sit at the dining table. I looked at my watch thinking I am late for drama practice. You know why, as I said she doesn't wake before 9 am on Sunday. Thankfully, it's only 7 am.

Taking a deep breath, I ask her, "Why are you up so early today?"

She says cheerfully, "I have a plan settled with my friends."

I ask, "Who is going with you?"

She says, "Why are you interested in a girl's picnic?"

I told you she can be an irritating one. I reply, "Ok, no need to yell at me, go have fun."

Once breakfast is done, I head to my drama practice.

At School Playground......

We always practice in the school playground. My school is very supportive of all kinds of talents and personalities. We don't have a dress code either. My school believes every child should be able to express themselves however they feel, true freedom of expression.

That's why students with all kinds of preferences study here. LGBTQ and straight men and women are open to express themselves and no one targets any one because of it. We all respect each other. My school has a full-time psychologist as well and teachers are trained in mental illnesses most of the people don't care about. That's why teachers know who needs help and how to handle it. It's one of its kind in the whole of Maharashtra.

Back to the story. When I reached the playground, my team was waiting for me.

"Ashu! It's about time you got here. You know you're late," John shouted at me as I approached the playground.

I apologize then head to the changing room to put on my costume. We always practice in school wearing our costumes so that we get used to it and don't mess up on the stage.

This time it's a play where all the eight planets start arguing when Earth becomes egoistic about being the only planet that has life.

We are performing it for the first time, so we are a little nervous. John plays Mercury, Suman as Venus, Kritika as Earth, Pawan as Mars, I was playing the role of Jupiter, Bhavika as Neptune, Mandeep as Saturn and Shubham as Uranus.

Let me tell you the main dialogues of each planet

Mercury, "It's so hot."

Venus, "Let me cool you down baby."

Earth, "You lifeless planets are not worth my time."

Mars, "Don't forget when my atmosphere was dying, I gave you the responsibility to take forward this life."

Jupiter in anger, "You would be devastated by now if I wasn't holding you from being sucked into the Sun with my gravity and also from being destroyed by the asteroids coming towards you. I consume most of them to save you."

(Fun fact: Jupiter's atmosphere is so intense that it rains diamond and those diamonds are vaporized before reaching the surface)

Saturn, "My rings are too beautiful to be in your matter."

Uranus, "Oh, Jupiter, you are so cool".

Neptune, "Hey, what are you all talking about? I can't hear you from this far out."

In the end, Earth apologizes to every planet and promises to be humble after that forever.

The practice went pretty well and I came back home at 5 in the evening, hungry as heck.

We completely lost track of time. The script was so funny that we didn't want to stop. I hadn't laughed that much in a long life.

During practice, Bhavika got excited and was twirling around. Well, you can guess the result. Shubham instantly grabbed her to keep her from falling down, and she flushed in embarrassment.

At Home......

As soon as I got home, I headed to take a bath since I was covered with sweat. On my way to the bathroom, Mom asked me if I wanted a snack. I told her it would be nice if she made me some white noodles.

After my bath, I ate, then went to study until around 8:30 when dinner was ready.

When we sit down to eat, I ask Bobby about her picnic and she says it was canceled because one of her friends was involved in an accident with a bike. It was bad enough that she was sent to the hospital.

I could see that this had my sister quite upset. So I decided she needed something to take her mind off of the accident.

I invited her to my room to play cards. At first, she argued that she wasn't in the mood, but I convinced her. To help her feel better, I let her win and pretended I just had a bad hand.

She asked me about my practice while we were playing and I told her all about it. She laughed several times at the things I told her.

After the game, she told me, "I know you were just trying to cheer me up, but next time, don't lose on purpose. I can beat you anytime fair and square. Good night."