1.2 | Under The Hazy Winter Sky | ✓

10 | the director

29th december 2013

MAYA WAS SEATED on the rocks that collectively formed an uneven cliff-like structure. The strands of her hair danced along the tune of the wind. She sketched the lighthouse that stood at a comfortable distance from her.

Her phone pinged with a notification.

Anu
Forgotten all about me, haven't you?

Maya laughed.

Me
Who are you?

Anu
You ungrateful brat! How many times have I saved you from the angry aunties of our apartment???

Me
*laughing hard emoji*
What's up? I was busy with my sketches.

Anu
Nothing much. I was just bored.
How is your vacation going?

Maya looked up from her phone and glanced at Gaurav and Saina who were playing with the waters of the beach.

Me
Interesting.

Anu
Oh? Which guy did you meet? Is he hot?

Maya, "...."

Me
There's this guy...

Anu
*wink emoji* OH HO HO WHO IS THIS GUY

Me
There's no point though...
He's graduating in like 2 months...

Anu
Oh...
You could always just do long distance relationships...
That's a trendy thing these days...

Me
*shrug emoji*

Anu
Send me a photo :)

Maya scrolled through her gallery and sent a group photo of the four. 

Me
The guy on the right

Anu
Oh wow...

Maya laughed again.

Me
Right...

Anu
Wow, he's...beautiful

Me
Mm..

Anu
Isn't this Ved Agarwal?

Me
You know him?

Anu
Not personally, no. But he's been trending in our chat forums and on SNS. He made a short film recently, right?

Me
Yeah

Anu
The movie has been trending. You didn't see it on SNS?

Me

Haven't had time...

Plus limited data...

Anu
I watched it. It's way too good. That girl in white acts really well too.

Me
Hm..

Maya refrained from mentioning that she watched the live shooting for the last scene. She logged out of the chat and went on the internet. She tapped on the video of the short film. It was only 15 minutes long.

It started with kids - a girl and a guy- running around the lighthouse. As they turned around the corner, the kids had transformed into teenagers. They ran up the stairs of the lighthouse.

Then, they transformed into young adults in another scene transition. The camera seemed to move through a wall and the next scene was the young man proposing to the young lady.

Over all these scenes, it showed a slightly older woman walking through the lighthouses, re-living all these memories.

At the end of the proposal, the young adults disappeared. The face of the older woman came into view. It was clearly the young woman grown a little older. She clutched the photo frame in her hand and gazed into it. Then, she gazed at the sea. The camera zoomed into the sea and  zoomed back out, this time with the woman on the beach.

It was the scene she had been watching Ved shoot.

Maya clicked out of the video. She clicked on the comments.

"The style of Jayant shows in this."

"He's definitely Jayant's son. It shows even in his movie making style."

"Damn, this is really good for a debut project of a college student."

"I won't be surprised if he starts making these kinds of melodramas in his career just like his father."

Maya switched off her data and looked down at her sketch. She voiced the question she had been hesitating to ask the entire day.

"Is Ved not joining us?"

Gaurav looked up at her. "No, he said he has something he needs to work on."

Maya bobbed her head slowly. Maya's eyes reflected the conflict of the sea, whether to push forward into the land or to retreat into itself.

She blinked and looked away.

This was the problem of being the son of a nationally popular director. It was the challenge of also trying to be a director and attempting to break from his shadow. 

She switched her data on again and went on the search engine, typing in Jayant Agarwal. She clicked on his personal details page.

Jayant Agarwal
m. Varaya 
sons. Ved, Gaurav
born. 12th April 1943
died. 15th May 2013

She clicked on his filmography. Slowly scrolling through it all, she clicked on critics' reception and about his life.

There was a section on how he met his wife. An excerpt from his interview was added.

"I met her in the lighthouse in Bundok. We were kids then. We were playmates, constantly playing around on the beach and running up and down the lighthouse. And then, we grew up. I began to make movies and she went on to become a doctor. We kept in contact through text messages. Then, she told me one day that her parents were trying to arrange her marriage.

I couldn't possibly see her get married. The feeling was new to me. I realized that if I couldn't marry her, I couldn't marry anyone else. So, I quickly acted. Now, here we are. *laughs* We've been married 15 years."

Maya's mind went back to the short film and how Ved seemed to know a lot about the town, despite this not being his native and only having stayed here for 3 months.

She placed her phone face down on her lap. She looked at her sketch and blinked for a few minutes. Then, she continued sketching.

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