Regal Cinema Hall -Please Dont Go Away ! .Part 1

Memory is a powerful instrument  .All talk of forgetting the past and moving on is in the realm of rubbish .You can never ever get away from your past – which is a aggregate of memories .Some good ,some bad !! A person without memories - is a dead person .Thats why Pablo Neruda wrote " You start dying when you start forgetting ". !!

Good memories are like wine – they linger and encompass you with softness and finesse .Whenever one comes across a name , a incident , a street , a place , a friend – one also tends to  look back at times as they were when one  first encountered them .The older the memories – the more romantic they get .As I just said – they are like wine .Age makes them better .Or more forgettable .

I read that Regal Cinema in Delhi is closing down .I also read that 31^st March will be day when the last  shows will be screened .I don’t  know whether to believe it or not .Its not for  the first time that such news has leaked its way into the press .Every spring – the owner comes up with the idea of closing down .

But this time it seems more real than  at anytime before .Which will be so sad .Because it will bring and end to one of Delhis most iconic places . Regal will disappear . The memories wont .Certainly not from the mind of a man in his sixties who walked the streets around Regal from the age of 16 or 17 .

My memories of Delhi are very powerful .I was neither born , nor brought up in it  .But I studied in the University there .Those days Delhi was not like what it is today .We could easily get a ticket in a bus and find ourselves a seat of preference to occupy ( unless it was a University Special – called a U Special - , or the rush hour ).

We made our way to C.P very often ( I was in the Hansraj  Hostel  ). Most of the times we would see movies in the movie halls around the University area or within easy reach .Amba , used to be a favourite which was a walking distance of 10 minutes from my hostel .There were also other movie halls which we frequented – Alpana in Model Town , Filmistan  near the Subsi Mnadi , Ritz  and Minerva in Kashmere Gate ,Novelty and Shiela ( slightly further away ).We would also make our way to Golcha in Daryaganj .Chandni Chowk had a number of movie halls – Moti ,Excellsior , Kumar and many more .Most of them have died .Look at what happened to Minerva - i remember seeing so many movies here .....sigh .......!

There was another “movie hall” if one could so call it .It was the darling of all Delhi University  hostellers .It was nothing more than a slightly sophisticated “tin shed” .The chairs could be moved around at will ( like in a “shaadi” !! in a tent house premise ). It was called Robin .It was a free for all movie hall !! People would in with beer bottles ,or  get up and start dancing or clapping .At times brawls would break out when goons form Malkaganj or Kamla Nagar would barge in to bully the sophisticated “hep”  ganja and weed smoking long haired freaks !!. Ticket would cost 25 paise .I am told that it was not demolished .It was razed to the ground in a storm !!

But when we had our best attire on ,and wanted to impress a girl with whom we were going out ,or to show off to our relatives or friends who came from small towns - we would make our way to Regal !!. And what a amazing place it was . More of that in my next blog .