A Monday Morning I was Waiting for

Hating Monday mornings is a cliché. And something I’m not supposed to do. My work does not have weekends, and more importantly, my work is not work. So there is no reason why I would hate Monday mornings, except for a minor fact that my swimming pool remains closed on Mondays. However, a couple of weeks ago I welcomed a Monday morning with an unusual excitement. It was the morning of 27th February, and simultaneously it was the evening of the Academy Awards at Kodak Theatre.

So much has been written before and after that day that I feel this post of mine is a redundant exercise, and not much should be expected either. It is just that I wanted to share my excitement, something I could not do immediately after the Oscars due to my cramped schedule that is not even allowing me to watch movies as regularly as I need to. However, I would have regretted having not written this post, and so better late than never.

This excitement comes from the fact that this was the first Oscars that I watched live. I do not have a TV at home. And I never miss it except for occasions like this. So, after an extremely busy working Sunday, I reached a friend’s place around midnight. We chatted until 3 in the morning and then went to sleep. I got up three hours later and switched on the TV. Thanks to my friend, he was sleeping in the same room and claims no sound can wake him up from a sound sleep, I could watch the entire event from 6 to 10 am. And I could enjoy it like never before.

One reason for that was the ‘suspense’ factor, as I was watching it live. But more important was the fact that I had already watched most of the movies nominated for various awards, and was aware of almost all. This meant my level of participation was many times more than ever. I have always loved how they organize the show, and there were several moments that left me emotional. Every time a glimpse or a mention of a classic or a great filmmaker was made, it brought a wide emotional smile on my face. Meryl Streep’s words about her husband and Angelina Jolie’s leg-show are what everyone is talking about. There were couple of more things I remember affecting me. One was the indifference of the little dog from ‘The Artist’ who had joined the cast and crew on stage when they won the Best Picture. The little creature must be the first living being on the stage of Academy Awards who cared least about it. And another was the contended and calm face of Martin Scorsese – every time someone from the crew of ‘Hugo’ won an award, and they won five that day, they abundantly and sincerely thanked the director, who just nodded from his seat, like the proud patriarch of a family. Those moments made me think of the kind of respect a great director must command from his team by simply being what he is, and of the kind of enthusiasm his crew members must feel while working with him. It is moments like these, which you can only feel and not read about, that justified my excitement for watching this year’s Academy Awards. You may or may not assign importance to the awards per se, but the ceremony is such a beautiful way to celebrate cinema that I would hate to miss it next time.