Travelogue: The Phantom strikes!

Once the play was over, the actors and actresses showed up one by one on stage as their names were announced. Each actor drew a larger applause than the previous one; the crowd was on their feet and the best appreciation was held for the last – the introduction of the actor who played the lead role. A boisterous crowd sent flying kisses to appreciate his performance.

It was good to see such encouragement for the actors – acting live in front of an audience is no easy task and they surely deserved all of that applause. I don’t know how much of that encouragement we see in India; maybe it’s there sometimes and sometimes it’s not.

Perhaps if there were some way of projecting sub titles it might be really good – or maybe that would spoil the atmosphere. The music by Andrew Webber Llyod was great – especially the title song “Phantom of the Opera” had a nice tune.

On the whole it was an enjoyable experience; my colleague and I rounded up the day with the standard junk food for dinner at a food joint which had four vendors in one place. Back in the main bus terminus we parted ways – he was off to catch the metro while I went upstairs to catch my bus. A few minutes later when I put my hand in my left pant pocket I realized that something was missing – I checked my jersey pockets but it was no where to be found. I ransacked my bag but it wasn’t there either. I had lost the mobile phone!

First thought was to run down to the metro and see if my colleague was still there below. But I decided against the idea since it was already a few minutes since we departed and it would be difficult searching for him below. Next idea that popped up was to give a ring to his mobile and check where he was – but from where to ring? Fortunately I had a list of mobile numbers written on a sheet of paper within my bag. I found a coin box phone and read through the instructions. I tried numerous times but it always ended in a dead line with my quarter getting refunded. I tried another coinbox telephone booth but the result was the same.

Next idea was to go back to the theatre and check – I was sure of having my mobile in the theatre because I remember putting the mobile in silent mode while in the theater. It must have slipped out of my pant pocket; I usually never sit anywhere with the mobile in my pant pocket just because of this reason – but I probably did do it this time. To my good luck the theatre was abandoned – there was no one in sight and all lights were switched off with the main entrance locked.

What next? I hurried to the food joint where we had our dinner though I didn’t have much hopes of finding it there. I enquired in the counters but everyone said they hadn’t seen the mobile. Exhausted with running up and down I returned back to the bus terminus to catch the next bus.

As I sat in the bus I had to accept the fact that the phantom had succeeded in getting my mobile!