"I guess I should hurry up, I don't want to miss the film", thought Anu as she got into the bus.
It was a fairly empty bus and she got a seat.
"Did you read about Arvind Kejriwal. He supposedly went to the swearing in ceremony by metro. Can you imagine that happening in India!", said a lady sitting by the window behind Anu
"It is one of the things in his manifesto to weed out the bureaucracy and VIP culture", responded the lady in blue sitting next to her.
It didn't take much time for Anu to reach the inaugural function. The fest was announced open and an elderly gentleman was talking to the audience, when Anu entered.
"The idea is to disseminate film culture. We have films from all over the world. Such film festivals act as a platform to democratize cinema and bring it closer to the people...."
"It is a wonderful feeling, all of us sitting together and watching the films from some other corner of the world. It promotes critical thinking and opens up our horizons. Otherwise the access to several of these films is limited to the elite. Here we bring it to the people....", said another white bearded man with unkempt hair who spoke after the elderly man.
"Who is he?", asked Anu to the lady sitting next to her.
"Must be some film personality. Some director or something, that's what the appearance suggests", she said matter of factly.
After the speeches, followed the elaborate photo sessions with different people clicking pictures in different combinations. The old man with a white bearded man, the man with a jhola with a woman with a big bindi, the man with curly long hai with another man with a waist coat and all other such combinations.
Finally the audience was allowed to move to the screening hall. Truly a spectacle of cinema, old, young, men, women, the style conscious, the simpleton, the monied and the money less all moved to the hall for the screening.
As they entered the hall
"Here ma'am can you show me your card. Oh delegate please sit in the lower rows. The upper rows are reserved for the guests, VIP and film family. Delegates are not allowed to sit there. Please cooperate.", said a volunteer to Anu as she looked on.