The Rocky Steps, Philadelphia

I was probably 6 or 7 when I first watched Rocky. Of course, I don’t remember remembering much of the movie except for the inspirational training montage and the climax fight. What I remember vividly though, is the contagious interest with which my cousins Veerender and Srinath watched the movie. They were probably 11 and 14 at that time. A very big influence for me early in my life. I had to love what they loved. I was organically drawn.

When I was 13, I had my first binge-watching experience before Netflix, when a channel named Movies Now aired all six parts of Rocky on the same day. I watched it with my 8-year-old brother Aditya, and we were swept off our feet. We both fell in love with Rocky, the inspiring soundtrack “Gonna Fly Now” by Genius Bill Conti, and obviously Sylvester Stallone.

What threw me into more awe is the story behind Rocky. Stallone had just about 100 dollars on him and he was having no work, no car, and no money to even feed his dog. He took inspiration from a Muhammed Ali fight and wrote a script in 3 days. Producers loved it and offered $360,000 for the script. They didn’t want Stallone as Rocky. Stallone recalls that he thought to himself that if he took this money and the movie went on to do very very well without him in it, he would definitely jump off a cliff. With that conviction, he put a condition that he is willing to give the script only if he plays Rocky. The Production gave him a budget of $1mn and Rocky grossed over $200mn along with 9 academy award nominations and 3 wins. The rest is history. The entire Rocky franchise has netted over $1.5bn so far

I find it obvious now how only men with courage can write honest content that can touch the hearts of people.

I booked an Uber from Jersey City to Philly. I had only one destination in my mind — “Rocky Steps”. These were the steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Arts which transformed into an iconic tourist spot not because of the art inside but because of the art created just outside.

If someone would have told me in April, that I’d be standing there in July — I would have laughed it off as a pipe dream. I climbed up the steps slowly, one at a time, taking in the early morning chilly air of Philadelphia. My heart was racing but I felt a sense of weird peace. I observed everyone who was there at that moment. Maybe 50 or 60 people — all of them in running gear, mostly. One lady who was probably in her 40s ran the entire road leading to these steps and she stopped. She paused, took out her phone and she started playing “Gonna Fly Now” so loud that as she ran past me I could hear the music from her headphones.

The sun was still rising and the beautiful city of Philly was looking very familiar when I looked at it from the top of those steps. I have seen that view a million times before. Like every other person out there, I took out my phone and started playing Rocky soundtrack. It was so fascinating to feel a fictional story in real life and thinking that the story was more history than fiction. It felt as if the events in the movie were real and as if Mickey, Paulie, Adrian, and Rocky are real people who once lived and spent their lives there. Such is the magic of brilliant cinema that the line between fiction and history becomes invisible. The originality of the fictional characters and the stories that they tell are etched into our minds evoking real emotions and real memories for us. I wonder how that is different from us observing a real event and feeling for a real event. After all, memories are just images of what we saw, heard, and felt.

I took as many pictures as possible and I knew exactly how often I would look back at these in the future to remind myself that I was there. All the people who were there on that morning were strangers until they came to those steps. There was a sense of community and a feeling of sharing something precious together as a family. Not everyone was from the city. There were scores of people like me visiting from different countries and cities occasionally exchanging looks, nods, and smiles with each other. Everyone knew how everyone else felt. It was mostly a mixture of overwhelming emotions, goosebumps, and nostalgia. Nostalgia associated with a place that some of us have never been to before.

This was in 2019, four decades after the first Rocky movie released. The story of an underdog waiting in the wings for an opportunity and giving his best fight. This is a story relatable to humans across cultures, age, race, geography, and even time. Everyone has a Rocky in them and movies like Rocky can actually speak directly to this Rocky inside of people. It helps bring out the courage to believe, will to fight, and hope to live life like you actually want.

I helped people by taking their pictures for them and they repaid me by taking my pictures. They also gave me suggestions on how to stand and pose the right way. I then walked down the steps to the Rocky Balboa statue that is placed on the left side of the entrance. A wife was taking a picture of her husband who might have watched Rocky in the theatre as a child. He was giving the iconic Rocky pose. He turned his head when he saw a runner just starting up the steps with Rocky music. With a wide smile on his face, he took another picture. I approached them and asked them if they will take a picture for me.

“Where are you from? India?” he asked

“Yeah”

“Were you even born when Rocky came out?”

“No way, I guess my mom was six when this movie came out”

“Haha, that’s what I thought,” He said and clicked my photo there.

I walked across the road towards Paine park and started walking along the Schuylkill River. I didn’t sleep the night before for two reasons. I was too excited and I was scared I wouldn’t wake up in time to reach Philadelphia by sunrise. This walk by the river was extremely soothing. Life felt clear to me although I didn’t understand exactly what became clear. I thought hard about how privileged I was to be here in my 20s and experience this feeling. I questioned the kind of work I was doing. Pursuing money and doing work day in and day out, for what? I am not doing anything that will leave a legacy as rich as Rocky.

I remembered reading a poem back in 7th or 8th called Psalm of Life. That was when I was 13 and I realized how stupid life is if we are bound to die and all things we consider dear will end and it will be just blank from thereon. It scared me a lot and unsettled me. Still does. Purpose of life is something that is highly subjective and what appeals to one person might not be so appealing to another. It is a journey of discovery and once you discover it, it is a sweet feeling. A feeling of peace.

I read a few lines that helped me understand my purpose or a purpose I’d love to dedicate my life’s work for. The lines were like this:

“Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.”

Rocky and Stallone are successful. He left behind footprints in the sands of time that I and millions of others like me revisit often when we’re down. We recollect courage and take heart again to navigate the mystery of Life