Monday, April 6, 2009

The Story of a Sign

This particular 'short film', won an award at the Cannes Festival 2008. The story is really beautiful. You can watch it on this link- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyGEEamz7ZM. I suggest you see it. The following is an adaptaion the same story written in my own words. Hope you like it.

It was another fine Mexico morning. The sky was beautiful. The city park was filled with families hanging out on a weekend.
A blind beggar was sitting outside near the park gate. He had a basket in front of him having a few coins and a board beside him saying, 'PLEASE HELP THE BLIND'. He listened to the noises around and was enchanted. Children were laughing, adult couples talking to each other, the traffic on the road and the soung of water falling on water from the fountain. But he rarely heard the sound of coins falling into his basket with a jingle.
Somewhere else in the park was a man sitting on a bench, fidgeting with something in his breifcase. Later, he closed it and got up. He was wearing a tuxedo, sunglasses and had gelled his hair. He didn't look friendly so people tried to keep distance.
This particular man walked towards the park gate, and stopped in front of the beggar. Sensing someones arrival, the beggar cried out, "Please help me. I am blind." There was a jingle. "Thank You" the beggar said.
The man took a look around and then looked at the basket. There wasn't much in it. He stood there for a while. Then he put his breifcase down and walked towards the beggar's board. He picked it up and the chalk lying beside.
The beggar jerked, "Hey, whad'ya think your doin'?" The other man kept quiet. He rubbed the board and scribbled something on it. He placed it down, picked up his breifcase and left.
The beggar wondered what the man had written on his board. But he did not get time to think. Suddenly he heard a lot of jingles. He became alert and put his hand into the basket. A lot more coins were in there and more were falling. He opened his mouth and laughed happily.
Some time later a boy walked past the beggar and stopped by to read the sign. He was really young but he read the sign easily. "TODAY IS A BEAUTIFUL DAY AND I CANNOT SEE IT" the boy read aloud and threw in a coin.