Gopal Sathe (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} gopal_sathe) wrote,@ 2005-11-18 21:38:00 |
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OLD ASSIGNMENTS COME BACK TO HAUNT ME
Since I was feeling sick of the routine work that I've been doing I decided to call in sick and take a couple of days off. Exactly a couple of days off actually, yesterday and today, and I spent most of my time lazing about the house, which really, has been utterly fabulous, if a little boring.
Yesterday though, I did make one outing, when I went to visit my grandmother's place. Well, my old college is pretty close to my grandmother's and so I decided to pay it a visit and gave a surprise to one of my professors. He gave me a bit of a surprise too, because when I walked in the class had been discussing ledes and seeing me must have kickstarted some memory, because he took the example of the first lede I'd given him... as how not to do it.
What can I say? He told us to write a feature lede and didn't give any more rules. I mean you might as well hand me something pointy and ask me to run with it, it's really the same thing!
Anyway, since he could remember only the general outline of my lede, I've tried to resurrect it. This isn't exactly what I wrote but it's close enough, I guess:
It was a large room with a big table in the center, the entire scene bathed with harsh lights. He walked in and looked around him. It was almost cheerful, the way the bright artificial lighting glinted of the assembled knives, which seemed almost to be winking at him with every step he took.
He turned his attention to the table now, and looked at what was spread under his hand, and smiled. He reached down, and ran his hand over the round surface, caressing the flesh. The soft skin, with the inner tension of the flesh, the soft red tracery under his fingers, it was perfect.
He turned and looked at the knives. They knew what was to happen next, they'd seen it many times, always a different offering on the table, the knives had seen it all. He picked one up, a short fat knife with a fine edge, and turned back to the table. He lifted the knife high and brought it down quickly, too quickly, and red gore splattered everywhere.
"CUT!" bellowed the director, and Kapoor smiled sheepishly. It was the second time today that Sanjay Kapoor had destroyed a tomato while filming his cookery show and his director wasn't amused.
Ok. Let me clarify. The idea was that I'm writing a feature about a TV chef and it starts off with a day at work. Written in a slightly roundabout way I admit, but hey, c'mon, the boss gave no fixed rules! So there!
Since I was feeling sick of the routine work that I've been doing I decided to call in sick and take a couple of days off. Exactly a couple of days off actually, yesterday and today, and I spent most of my time lazing about the house, which really, has been utterly fabulous, if a little boring.
Yesterday though, I did make one outing, when I went to visit my grandmother's place. Well, my old college is pretty close to my grandmother's and so I decided to pay it a visit and gave a surprise to one of my professors. He gave me a bit of a surprise too, because when I walked in the class had been discussing ledes and seeing me must have kickstarted some memory, because he took the example of the first lede I'd given him... as how not to do it.
What can I say? He told us to write a feature lede and didn't give any more rules. I mean you might as well hand me something pointy and ask me to run with it, it's really the same thing!
Anyway, since he could remember only the general outline of my lede, I've tried to resurrect it. This isn't exactly what I wrote but it's close enough, I guess:
It was a large room with a big table in the center, the entire scene bathed with harsh lights. He walked in and looked around him. It was almost cheerful, the way the bright artificial lighting glinted of the assembled knives, which seemed almost to be winking at him with every step he took.
He turned his attention to the table now, and looked at what was spread under his hand, and smiled. He reached down, and ran his hand over the round surface, caressing the flesh. The soft skin, with the inner tension of the flesh, the soft red tracery under his fingers, it was perfect.
He turned and looked at the knives. They knew what was to happen next, they'd seen it many times, always a different offering on the table, the knives had seen it all. He picked one up, a short fat knife with a fine edge, and turned back to the table. He lifted the knife high and brought it down quickly, too quickly, and red gore splattered everywhere.
"CUT!" bellowed the director, and Kapoor smiled sheepishly. It was the second time today that Sanjay Kapoor had destroyed a tomato while filming his cookery show and his director wasn't amused.
Ok. Let me clarify. The idea was that I'm writing a feature about a TV chef and it starts off with a day at work. Written in a slightly roundabout way I admit, but hey, c'mon, the boss gave no fixed rules! So there!
