Past few days back I was:
Reading newspaper's editorials, novels, eating and snoring
away.
Waiting anxiously for my college to start. Literary I am now
getting bored of this banal routine, just wasting my time in sleep. Sleeping
away! May be I am unable to withstand
the truth of life and its complexity and want to shut my eyes same as a grey color
pigeon closes its eyes when a black, frowning cat attacks it, planning to kill
the bird and that stupid pigeon, thinking that it will prevent that killer leap
of the cat to its appetite hunt and pretend to fool death.
Life is what you make it as Preeti Shenoy claims; May be her
determination can overcame even destiny but not mine. I am still struggling
with my mundane presence.
After all, for me “life” is like helping a tiny toddler to
buy candies, who with wide gaping eyes & by awesome pink color wrapping of
chocolate, points toward the container of bars and you help him buy them.
Later, when he tuck the bar between his
lips and take a swift bite he throws away the chocolate and makes an awful face,
and you realize that it was not liked by
that infant and you, showing a great deal of mercy buys him some other toffee.
Later in life when that neonate grows up and he makes same
choice in another field and ends up being on losers side, this time the pink
wrapping and the chocolate inside it nothing but merely a metaphor of time space, and obviously history. Then he
will be told him in a stern manner "look! You put all your pennies and
effort on it, and since it was your choice and you are alone responsible for
all the wrong happenings".
This time there may be two aspect of history:
Either the individual loses the strife or he stands up once
again in a strident manner and changes the perspective of things around him.
The editorials have nothing interesting in it, not in my interest
as I think gleefully. Usually an article will be there, cursing the present
government for inflation and G.D.P. I
usually skip that part except sometimes a political cartoon is printed in
middle of the printed matter and I give a vague look to it. The clear cut
reason is I don't have a family to support nor I am in a prospect of that. So I
don't have to worry about the recent rate histograms of onion, vegetable and
other groceries. Neither, I have to worry whether the recent petrol rate is
71.81 rupees and I have to shell out a clear 500 rupees currency note with
smiling Gandhi Ji (may be seeing our pathetic condition and thinking about his good
old days, the India of dreams, brings an ear to ear smile on his face) to get
your gasoline hungry fuel tank being filled. The simple fact is I don’t have
any vehicle which runs on any kind of liquid brought to our country through
pipelines from Iran or Middle East but I am in present possession of Mr. MacMillan’s
inventory. A bicycle!
Inflation and population in India, of India, is like
continental drift...ever increasing. Recent survey showed us that it is the
best topic to be discussed at tea time in Indian households. Other gossips
include Sunny Leone, Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati.
What else a mango man (aam admi) can do except exerting his frustration
in dharna, speeches and articles.
Other articles in the editorial include the political war between
Palestine and Israel, in which I have very less interest. I only know three
words Yasser Arafat, Hamas and Gaza in the whole massacre. And it will be least
shrewd for me to tell which one of the above three are hanging on which
frontier and I will be ending up with both parties tracking down me. After all I
am afraid of Mussad.
I read some article on Robert Zoë lick and the search for his
Successor. Why don't they give me a chance to chair World Bank?
I am smiling by the mere imagination of a person handling
billions of liquidity who never subscribe to the yellow pages himself. Probably
I would end up as transferring all money from Barak Obama's bank account;
relief fund for the people of Africa and the genocidal countries to the account
of Justin Bieber.
Of many, two novels which I read recently are worth
mentioning. One is "Delhi is not far" by Ruskin Bond and other "The
shadow lines" by Amitav Ghosh.
Ruskin Bond, another Bond known to me apart from James Bond,
chemical Bond, Dative Bond and Ionic Bond. The writer known for his children
stories was introduced to me by C.B.S.E in my high school English literature
book through his work "The night train at deoli".
Being Awarded the by The Sahitya Academy and The Padamas and loads
of other laurel he is simplest man in the novel, presumed by many literary
research scholars as his autobiography or a novel encircling his life.
The protagonist is an Urdu novelist struggling himself as a
full time writer.
There are other characters also, boring and fed up by their
melancholy state in a dusty city called Pipalnagar. The novella opens up the ‘white
dove dreams emotions’ in which we often feel cuddled in some or the other phase
of our life. The book is full of all those small town incidences of which our India
is still struggling.
Other book “The shadow lines” deals with human emotions and
the dichotomy of countries, areas and cultures. It is a novel which is hung
between the violence of 20th century world and India. From World War II, partition of Bangladesh (the
then East Pakistan) and riots in Kolkata (the then Calcutta).
The lighter side of the novel tells us about the narrator memories
of childhood (all those small memoirs fading away from our memories) and his
cousin Tribdib. It is part where all the hilarious side of Amitav Ghosh comes
up.
Talking about Cocktail…the bollywood affair written by
Imtiaz Ali. The movie is just an entertainment, Saif hanging up with Pinty and
Padukone. A guy with two girls going hand in hand, a condition which is rare
and beyond comprehension of Indians, on account of declining sex ratio. So obviously the movie had to based in London. And so it is!
According to my hypothesis, there are two kind of movies
made and watched. One is cinema, which is a theme based issue, which compels
you to use your brain and imagination to answer the question coming up in your
mind after watching the movie. Other is
entertainment, which is a theme less issue, no idea, vague script and worst cinematography.
In first category you may find the movie boring, but this is
the real cinema. Watch Nandita Das Firaaq…or any other movie directed by her. Try
Amol Apte’s. Watch Vishal Bhradwaj’s
movie. You can also try Madhur Bhandarkar’s, apart from loads of them in LA.
I am still reminded of how I thought for about 3 days after watching
‘water’ and each time only one question popped up in my mind. Why she left him
and loses her life herself?
Talking about category two…it includes all those movies
which are made as a profit and loss game. Don’t think I have any prejudice
toward those movies; some of them are good too. But the bottom line is “They
are simply entertainment”.
And Cocktail is a complete 3 hour entertainment driving in
between all the stale love triangles of Bollywood.
Even If u reach the Himalayas, you are still climbing just a
mountain…
