01
The Call Sheet
Before first light he already knows the room he will walk into. The client, the venue, the faces waiting.
Before anyone meets Santa Claus, there is a man.
This is one event day. He has lived it for almost twenty-three years.
90 second story
The Preparation
02
The Face
The face children will believe is built slowly, at home, so nothing is ever rushed in front of them.
03
An Hour Too Early
He arrives an hour early. Always. The client decides the moment. The moment must not wait.
05
The Five-Hour Journey
They spent five hours to get here. He has two minutes.
“People have come all the way from different parts of Delhi NCR to meet the Santa Claus. The time spent with me will not be more than two minutes.”
06
Every Age, the Same Love
An infant. A teenager. A grandfather. The register changes completely. Each leaves believing.
Santa Claus of India“Same act with all will not work.”
07
The Basket
He will not arrive empty-handed. Santa Claus gives, so the basket is never empty.
I cannot go and meet them barehandedly.
If an act could hurt the character of Santa Claus, he refuses it.
The Memory
Six hundred voices shouting his name from the assembly ground below.
“For a moment, I felt like a superstar.”
The Repack
When it is over, he changes, repacks, and drives home alone.
Twenty-three years of the same day. Every December, he is ready an hour early. The Santa they imagined.
“When you give love to people, love flows back. It's not one way traffic; it's two way traffic.”
