Reminiscing Sir RAYMOND

Sir RAYMOND was a frequent visitor at the dvd shop where i used to go. at first , i was reluctant in conversing with this old man aged about 65 with big spects .. he used to talk and brag a lot with the shop staff over a cup of tea and fried banana roast which used to be offered to him as a sign of goodwill the moment he stepped in the shop. An ardent fan of Hollywood cinema he had a good collection of DVDs.

i am an introvert personality. so i converse less with strangers. i was urged to fore go my reluctance in conversing with Raymond mostly because i was amazed by his deep knowledge in films,actors . so with a whiff of semi reluctance i asked him the first question " Sir , is the film "red dragon " as good as the "silence of the lambs "."I asked this because i was not quiet satisfied with the second installment of the lecter franchise , "Hannibal". the moment i asked this with great enthusiasm he started talking like a vending machine about the movie, its actors Edward Norton, Ralph fiennes ,their performances and he rated this film as the best of the lecter series. The guy was a big fan of Edward Norton ,a name i hadn't heard off as i was an amateur in the knowledge of cinema at that time..One of his punchlines was " If Edward Noton is there in a film, you can blindly take that film without reading the other details like director ,story ,rating ......" . I ended up owning most of the Edward norton movies , (25th hour , primal fear, American history x , red dragon ,fight club).And i am waiting foR dvd release of "The Incredible Hulk" .

One thing led to the other and we became good friends . we used to fix the day when we would meet at the dvd shop and spent about 6-7 hours bragging and talking about movies ,his life experices.......He despised indian cinema ,indian music .He was like an american soul trapped in the indian body.He had a vast collection of english albums fom 70's to 90's and he was pretty talkative on pop ,country,blues rock music.This guy was a bachelor at this age living alone.His first wife and son cheated him and extorted his money and flat in Bombay. He left his second wife since she was reluctant to leave Goa and he wanted to stay in cochin. He was a victim of
deadly stroke which had paralysed him .But he came out from his vegetable state because of high will power.Also he quit his job in firm he had worked for 20 years because of a back stabbing from the management which he couldn't tolerate. Despite the numerous set backs in his life like a clown he used to be smily an filled with hope and joy when he came to the dvd shop.He only had a very few friends.

As i had certain other assignments , i couldn't go to the dvd shop for a month. Yesterday , when i came after Onam, i heard the news that Raymond had died of a severe cardiac arrest. i couldn't believe it. although we had only met 3 times, i felt we were age old friends.At our last meeting he was starting to write on a book on his life . I was planning to introduce him to the world of Foreign Cinema and persuade him to drop his selfishness, rejoin with his wife and put an end to this solitary life . That's the mystery of life. . But those few moments I had cherished with him will be forever embedded in my thoughts .

GOOD BYE Sir RAYMOND.......