The snow falls hard and fast outside young Vivaan’s window.
His pale eyes watch the outside world wistfully. A poorly-timed viral fever
attack has left him unable to watch the all new installment in his favourite
franchise – Star Wars. Worse still, his eleventh birthday is only a day away.
Could this Mussoorie winter be any bleaker?
The door opens and Vivaan looks up eagerly, hoping it’s Luke
Skywalker, come to rescue him from his misery with his Jedi powers. Alas, it’s
daddy, bearing a tray of hot chocolate and Oreo cookies – Vivaan’s favourite
things in the world, next to Star Wars of course. “How is my champion doing
today?” dad asks brightly, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “All right I
guess,” Vivaan mumbles, his head turned away. Dad strokes his hair softly.
“Don’t worry Vaan, we’ll go watch the film as soon as the force awakens in you
again!”
Courtesy: Lucasfilm / Via lifeisaglitch.tumblr.com
But Vivaan doesn’t smile. “This is Mussoorie, dad. The movie will be
out of the theatres by then.” Dad sighs. “Then I’ll get the DVD for you and
we’ll watch it at home.” “That’s not the same thing! This is the worst birthday
of my life!” Vivaan cries with all the energy he can muster, and buries himself
under the covers.
Shailesh shuts the door behind him, aware that anything he
says will only make his son angrier. Sometimes, Vivaan doesn’t realise how
difficult it has been, raising him all alone. He retires to his room, where a
sparkling new HP Pavilion 15-an003TX Notebook sits on the table, intended as a
birthday gift for Vivaan, who is fast outgrowing his tablet. The second
Shailesh laid his eyes on this notebook packed with special Star Wars software,
he knew he had to get it.
Courtesy: http://hpshopping.in/starwars
Shailesh smiles, recalling the time when they had
first seen a Star Wars film together. It had been the third episode of the
series, titled ‘Revenge of the Sith’ and had served as an unlikely ice-breaker
between father and son. Eight year old Vivaan unfairly blamed his father for
allowing his mother to die in a bungee jumping accident.
But somewhere between
Chewbacca’s lovable gibberish and Yoda’s obscure wisdom, they had
developed a bond that had stood strong until now.
Courtesy: Lucasfilms / Via thenostalgicworld.tumblr.com
Pouring himself a cup of
coffee from the flask by his bedside, Shailesh replays the weeks before
Vivaan’s sudden bout of sickness. After three years of devouring Star Wars
movies, shows and cartoons on TV, Vivaan had been beside himself with
excitement at the prospect of finally seeing his favourite characters on the
big screen. But now it’s all ruined – unless Shailesh’s plan works.
Vivaan struggles to stay awake until the clock strikes
twelve, but the inviting warmth of his quilt and the weakness induced by his
fever, pull him into the deep throes of sleep. Eventually, the steady rhythm of
his breathing mirrors the tick-tock of his bedside clock. And then suddenly, an
increasingly louder familiar music jolts him awake. Rubbing his sleepy eyes,
Vivaan sits up to see the Star Wars logo forming on a large screen before his
bed, resplendent in the darkness and accompanied by the crystal-clear iconic
Star Wars theme music.
His mouth wide open, Vivaan wonders if he’s dreaming.
Then, the screen stills on a frame of the much-loved Galactic landscape and an
otherworldly blue light floods part of his room. From the shadows, a figure
walks into the light and lifts up a glimmering lightsaber. “Luke Skywalker!”
Vivaan gasps, almost leaping up in his excitement.
Courtesy: leiaorganaa.tumblr.com
Luke walks over and shakes
his hand. “Happy birthday, my boy. May the force be strong in you.”
The voice
is undoubtedly that of his hero’s. Vivaan is too stunned to respond. “I thought
you’d like to have this.” Luke turns to fiddle with something in the darkness
and miraculously, a comic book page appears on the screen in front of Vivaan.
He scans the images eagerly and exclaims, “It’s the first comic of the Star
Wars series! Can I really have it?” Luke ruffles his hair. “Of course you can.
I’ve also arranged for you to watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens if you aren’t
too sleepy.” Vivaan’s eyes turn as round as saucers. “What, now? Really?” The
Jedi knight nods, his expression as intense as the music surrounding the room.
“Let’s watch it!” Vivaan grins and wonder of wonders, the movie that had
released just two days ago, unfolds on the screen.
Created using http://gifcreator.me/
The riveting events in the
film compel Vivaan to stay awake despite the late hour. But he never realises
when the end credits begin and his head falls back on the pillow. When he wakes
up the next morning, Luke Skywalker is gone.
“Happy birthday!” dad crows, entering the room with a large
wrapped package in his hands. Vivaan turns to him with shining eyes. “Dad!
You’ll never guess what happened last night!” “Oh you can tell me all about it
at leisure. But first, don’t you want to see your birthday present?” Dad looks
tired, despite his cheery tone. Vivaan grins. “Of course I do!” He eagerly
unwraps the bright green packaging and pries open the box with a pocket knife.
Lo and behold, encased in bubble wrap is a shiny new laptop in stone grey,
proudly emblazoned with a Star Wars poster and the box proclaiming ‘Star Wars Special Edition Notebook’.
Courtesy: http://hpshopping.in/starwars
Vivaan gasps. Could this really be a coincidence?
And then it dawns on him. “You were Luke Skywalker!” he points at his father
accusingly. And then he smiles wide. “How did you do it?” Shailesh grins back
and wraps his son in a tight hug. “With the help of this beauty of course.” He
proceeds to explain how he had sneaked into Vivaan’s room at night and placed
the HP Pavilion 15-an003TX Notebook on the table, switched on and ready for
use. Unknown to Vivaan, he had already installed a projector-operated screen in
front of his bed, that could be rolled down with the push of a button, along
with a special blue light.
He had connected the notebook to the projector and
delved into its array of special Star Wars software to create the visual
effects and play the theme music. Dressed in pre-purchased gear, he had then
stepped into the light as Luke Skywalker.
“But where did the Marvel comic book
come from?” Vivaan wants to know. “It’s part of the Star Wars goodies in the
notebook. There are e-book excerpts, Star Wars movie trailers, concept art,
storyboards, themes and wallpapers as well,” his father says. Vivaan wonders
how his birthday has turned out to be so incredibly wonderful all of a sudden.
Overcome by emotion, he throws his arms around his father and cries into his
chest, “Thank you dad! This is the best birthday ever.”
And then a thought
strikes him. “But how did you get your hands on the film so soon, dad?”
Shailesh winks and says, “I just tapped into some movie world contacts I have.
They managed to get me a screening copy on the condition that I wouldn’t
duplicate it or share it with anyone apart from you, until they had officially
released the DVD.” “You’re a genius, dad!” Vivaan whispers in awe. His dad
laughs and hugs him tightly – this boy that he loves more than anything else in
the world.
The Star Wars Special
Edition HP Pavilion 15-an003TX Notebook is priced at Rs 69,990 and comes with a
6th Generation Intel Core i5 Processor, Windows 10 Home, 8GB RAM,
1TB HDD, 2GB Graphics, 8x Supermulti DVD writer and 2GB NVIDIA GeForce 940M
Graphics. How will you use these features to #AwakenYourForce? Leave a comment
and let me know.
