  Drama
This week: Why are they here? Edited by: THANKFUL SONALI Library Class!  
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Drama is created by the unstated, the intangible.
Like the REAL reason someone is somewhere, for example. |
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Dear Reader,
It was my friend's fiftieth birthday a few days ago. She is a very inspiring person, and a group of her colleagues and former colleagues got together to throw a BIG bash for her at a posh hotel. There was music, dancing, food and drink. Each table was decorated with a glittering "50", and multi-coloured lights twinkled on the trees. There was a fountain in the middle. Her parents had contributed old photographs, friends and colleagues had chipped in -- and there was a ten-minute video of her life. Folks from out of town, who couldn't be there, had taped their messages to her and sent them.
While I was waiting for the video to start, someone next to me asked how I know the birthday girl. "We were in a poetry group together," I replied.
"Ah," the young man said. "I am in the same office as she is. She had tried to get me to go to the poetry meetings, but I'm married."
I blinked, and he laughed. "You don't know? Men don't write poetry. Men don't understand a thing about poetry. The only reason men go to poetry meetings is to hit on women."
I chuckled. Someone called out to him and he moved off, and my attention turned to the video, which started with "In 1968, while the Americans were celebrating their Independence Day, the cows in a small town in India were rejoicing, too. They knew that someone who loved them very much had been born."
The video played through, and everyone cheered and applauded. I met old friends and new ones, I met the spouses and children of old friends and new ones. I met fellow Harry Potter fans and talked about witches and wizards.
It was later that it struck me that the throwaway statement the young man had jokingly uttered was actually fuel for a newsletter. Did men only go for poetry meetings to hit on women?
Maybe some men did. If so, imagine the scene as played out from their point of view -- looking for the most likely women to hit on, and then trying (and probably failing?) to hit on them. On the surface, they're there because they 'write and understand poetry'. Actually, they're there for another reason. Drama all round.
Thinking a bit more, I wondered -- why was I at the party? (No, not to hit on men, poetic or otherwise.) Because my friend was turning fifty? Well, yes. But the reason I went was because she has been a good friend, helping me when I was unwell, bringing home-made pickle over for my Dad, inspiring me with her zest for anything and everything. Also because the food would be good. Also because I'd meet up with people I hadn't met for years. Also because on a Saturday evening, you need to have a party to go to. (Nah, not really.) (And for those who are counting, the party wasn't on her actual birthday but on the closest weekend.)
I'm sure all of you have been able to think up examples of 'obvious v/s understated' reasons for being somewhere. I guess the most common use of this technique would be in a detective story. But I'd like to give a quick example of a novella by my favourite author, Paul Gallico.
In 'Coronation', Paul Gallico speaks of a middle-class family - grandma, ma, pa and a boy and a girl - whose one treat is to go to the seaside every year for a holiday. The year of the Queen's coronation, however, they decide to forgo this much-awaited vacation and spend the money instead, on a room with a view of the procession, with lunch thrown in. They feel they'll be watching history being made.
When they get to the venue, they find that it's a hoax, their tickets are for a non-existent address. The security guards send them across a barrier, and, being latecomers there, they are beyond the point from which they can see anything happening. They've lost their precious holiday, they've lost the chance of a glimpse of a new queen - they're hungry, thirsty, tired and disappointed.
However, Gallico redeems the day for the couple. The lunch was to have included champagne, and that was one of the reasons why the young lady had agreed to giving up her seaside holiday. When she learns that she has been cheated, her first reaction is, "Then there won't be any bubbly!"
Her husband realises she was there for the bubbly, and on the train ride back, splurges on a small bottle of it for her. Her tiredness turns to joy -- he still loves her! He still cares about what she needs! She keeps the champagne-cork forever, as a souvenir of their bond.
This is one of the most beautiful examples of stated-v/s-real motive that I've read. I haven't done justice to Gallico's charming story the way I've narrated it, I do hope a few of you will try to read the whole thing.
So yeah -- why do we go anywhere we go? Seldom is it for ONLY the stated or obvious purpose. And the more reasons you create for putting your character somewhere, the more drama ensues. Add that to multiple motivations for the supporting cast, too, and ... well, let's keep it manageable, folks!
Have a very dramatic week,
PS -- Usually, feedback for an issue of the newsletter is included in the next issue that editor does. But this feedback from Quick-Quill  came in on Day #1, and it's so cute, I decided to include it here!
I loved the story in this NL. First you pose the question why we attend a function? Really why do we go? I ran through a few recent scenarios I'd attended and been unable to attend. Your story of the real reason The woman went to the "Coronation" was homey and sweet. I thought of times I'd gone somewhere for the freebie. Once a local car dealership was giving out a free George Forman grill for test driving a car. I coerced my husband to go. "We'll drive the car, get the free grill and go home." We drove the car and sat while the man tried to get us to exchange our car for a new one. When he held firm to out car and asked for the grill we were told they ran out and had to go to another place and get them. That took two hours, while different salesmen tried to change our mind. What started out as an hour or two morning jaunt ended in a 5 hour trip, all because I wanted the free grill! My husband has not let me live this down. |
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Drama: July 11, 2018 Issue [#8996]
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