Films and Reality

A lot has happened this month. First things first. With Kalpanirjhar - the short fiction film festival happening at the Max Mueller Bhavan, Kolkata, I got to see some very well made shorts. Then followed the Kolkata Film Festival and since I got a Press card, I was able to see some great movies.

You know, had I written about these fests a few days earlier I would have been more elaborate... but now all these wonderful experiences just seem to melt into the shadows. I am still in a state of shock. I do not know how to react to what has happened in Mumbai. It now seems that living is a bonus. Through those 60 hours, as I watched the horror unfold on TV, it was as if watching a reality show, only this time there was death, and it was very real. The tragedy hitting families seems to be my tragedy, for am I not the next potential target?

Tomar Jonyo

The Bengali movie, Tomar Jonyo released on the 14th of November. This is a special movie because it has been directed by Nilu (Nilanjan Banerjee), my brother-in-law and has been edited by Sharmistha Jha, my sister. Both are graduates from the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, second batch. Produced by Zee Movies, it stars two newcomers. I admit I was a little apprehensive about enjoying a Bengali love story, especially with the kind generally doled out these days, but the movie turned out to be a sweet love story with tragic twists and turns and the right dose of humour, good music and, of course, a happy ending. A very promising debut, no doubt!

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Following on the narrative of The Kite Runner, this second book is again outstanding. The two boys in the former have now been replaced by two women, and the master storyteller, Khaled Hosseini, never falters to draw me into their lives. I feel the helplessness, the hopelessness, the claustrophobia that both of them go through. But, finally, the sacrifices do not go in vain and I loved the ending of the book. I was easily transported to Afghanistan this time since I had visited Kabul not so long ago with Aamir and Hasan. The two books could be combined into a new whole. Here's to the Strength of Women!

Durga Puja

The five days have come and gone and as always, its the anticipation that was more exciting. Pandal hopping was a little low key, thanks to the jihadis. But the goddess never fails to enthuse me with the spirit of inner strength and optimism. Ten hands is what I require and maybe ten heads.
Got some pics of the puja which I will upload soon, so keep viewing!!!

A New Innings

I surprised myself getting a job once again. The last regular job held was exactly two years ago in the IT sector. I quit after a while. I suppose the templetized work was not for me and I went back to freelancing. But this new job allows me to do what I do best: writing, editing and research, with a youth magazine, Kindle, launched last month from Kolkata. Since it is new territory for the magazine as also for the market (no good youth magazine there), its early days yet to predict the outcome. But the production quality is very good. The next six months should get things rolling. In the meantime, we, the editorial staff, have to keep churning out ideas for today's youth, known for its ability to pass judgement at an instant. Lets hope that judgement favours us.

Rock On!!

Rock On!! certainly did a great job of rocking. While looking for snags you would think you have seen this kind of a film somewhere before, but that is all. The similarity ends right there. No doubt this movie is an entertainer to the hilt, but it also has actors who can act, a script that is tightly written, and music that is required by the script. The oscillation between the present and the past is slick, as are the rock concerts.
The four main leads, Farhan, Arjun, Purab and Luke have excelled in their beautifully etched out characters. They looked quite comfortable with their musical instruments and quite uncomfortable with their adult lonely lives. The film is all about loving, losing and loving again and definitely clicks with the audience.
The beats of the music created by the foursome called Magik, pumps up the adrenaline which keeps resounding in one’s mind when the credits roll up and the lights come on.
Hats off to the Production team. Keep Rocking!

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh

A book worth reading is Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies. Unfortunately, this is the first of a trilogy, and the wait for book two seems a long one. The characters who travel across the Indian Ocean from Calcutta to Mauritius in the ship called Ibis come alive so effortlessly. Their pain, worries and happiness simply cannot leave the reader alone. The research behind the background of the mid-19 century is immense and being a lover of history I find that an added attraction. The working of the East India Company and their realtionship with the zamindars and the working class of India, as well as the poppy plant business from the fields by the Ganges covers a vast area. This book is an intellectual marvel.

The Kite Runner

Indeed, very few books have moved me as much as The Kite Runner. Khaled Hosseini really takes the top position amongst storytellers. The emotional upheavals woven throughout the book never lets go of the reader's mind and heart. I remained with Hassan, Amir and Sohrab long after I had turned the last page. The phrase, "For You, a thousand times over" keeps ringing in my ears, haunting.

The Crab Soup

The play The Crab Soup was staged on July 9 at the Max Mueller Bhavan. Both the shows had quite a turn out. The TCA director, Ramanjit Kaur and scriptwriter Arthur Cardozo have really done a great job. The play travels to London as a Theatre Science project. It dealt with a middle class young couple facing the spectre of HIV and coping or not coping with it.
The Kolkata audience does seem a little uncomfortable with English plays and with subtleties. Long silences are definitely not appreciated here. Moreover, the actors need to come to grips with a foreign language and learn to deliver more confidently.
All in all, a good effort. Good for English theatre!!!

Been too long

Yes, its been quite some time since I updated my blog and that really does not reflect well on the blogger. Yet, sometimes other things do take precedence and you are lost for time - for yourself. But then again, this phase could be used positively and the blog does come in handy then. Whatever be the case, thoughtprocess, my blog, is very close to my heart, so I cannot afford to stay away from it for long.
Recently, I read the book, Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton. What a read it was! Inspiring, sad, happy and funny, all at the same time. I recommend this book for everyone. Makes you look at life a little differently.

Kolkata by Night

This is how a part of the city looks from the ninth floor by night. The landmarks are the Howrah bridge, the Vidyasagar setu, the Eden Gardens (flooded with lights), and the Hastings Crossing.

SRK and the Kolkata Knight Riders

Sunday, April 20, 2008 was a memorable day for me. After all, I caught the Knight Riders in action LIVE at the Eden Gardends! Yes, I did get to see Shah Rukh Khan too, a feat that I had imagined as being near impossible. It was evident that besides the match, the crowd had gathered in large numbers to see the Bollywood star and his entourage. What I cannot understand is the bitterness in media circles on this aspect. When you have someone like SRK coming down to Kolkata and a team like the Knight Riders playing , what are the crowds supposed to do? Ignore the fact??? Cricket has certainly not lost anything with the IPL. In fact, it has gained ground. Cricket and glamour have always gone hand in hand, only this time there is a pressure to perform well. So let us all sit back and enjoy the good times ahead with similar sporting events. Great going, SRK!!!!

Bodyweather performance

On April 11, I saw an interesting site-specific performance based on the eight natya rasas, viz., shringara, hasya, karuna, raudra, vira, bhayanakah, vibhatsya and adbhuta. This 40-minute improvisation showed a glimpse of each of these eight emotional states. It was performed by two actors, Tess de Quincy, dancer, choreographer and performer from Sydney, and Shantanu Bose from Kolkata. The audio and video support was provided by Sam James, also from Sydney.
What was interesting about this Bodyweather technique was its slow and subtle quality founded by butoh dancer Min Tanaka of Japan, weaving Eastern and Western thought processes. The grating sound composed by Michael Toisuta helped create the unsettling atmosphere, as did the black and white video images, keeping the audience on tenterhooks as they followed the two performers in their journey.

Rahman and Rock

April 3, 2008, was a memorable day indeed. After all I got to see the little maestro himself -- AR Rahman!!!! He was in Kolkata to judge the finals of the Bangla rock show, Bandwagon, on ETV Bangla, and I was there at the Technician's Studio while the show was being recorded. He was a thorough professional. Not only did he sit through hours of shooting not leaving his seat once, he also smiled throughout and expressed his enjoyment at the musical talent and energy shown by the three bands making it to the finals, viz., Aliens (the winners), Atmahatya (1st runner up) and Indiana (2nd runner up). In fact, it seems Rahman wasn’t an ardent fan of the rock genre, but he admitted that this show might have converted him after all. He also felt that Bengal has tremendous potential in the field of music and hoped these bands would make music to change the world like The Beatles did with Imagine and Queen did with We are the Champions.

World Theatre Day

On March 27, the world celebrated Theatre day. I attended a panel discussion on theatre and found it quite riveting. Where have the patrons of theatre gone? - That was the topic. Well, with the kind of theatre being churned out, is it a wonder that patrons are running for cover? Being a part of the Creative Arts gave me an insight into what experimental theatre is all about. The director, Ramanjit Kaur, has been working on site-specific theatre where the audience too has a part to play and is unsure of what to expect next. Our play, The Merry Go Round - Another Spin, was quite a show stealer when it was staged. Attracting audience is no mean feat. Stage something new and exciting, a play that seriously wants to make a difference, really wants to communicate with the audience, then and only then will theatre get more eyeballs, sorry to use that word.

The archipelago of Bengal

Fisherman at work

Low tide

Sunset at Sunderbans

Sundarbans

I recently read Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide and I was glad that I did. I had visited the Sundarbans in Jan this year and the book simply added a magical quality to the place. The different moods of the rivers, the islands totally at the mercy of nature, the hardworking fisherfolk, the bhotbhoti and the saga of Bon Bibi, all seemed so real, and all because I was right there, feeling the breeze tugging my hair, smelling the salty air, peering into the pitch black night and marveling at the mangroves.

Trip to Gangasagar

Kapil muni's Ashram

Bathing at Gangasagar

Naga sadhus

I went to Gangasagar for a day in Jan this year. It is said about this place: Gangasagar is such a holy pilgrimage that one visit is enough to cleanse all your bad karma. Need I say more???

Bayon, Angkor Thom

The War Remnants Museum,HCM City

The Mekong Cruise taking off from Chau Doc.





The Angkor Wat at sunrise

This is the Suvarnabhumi airport of Bangkok.

Boat ride on the Chao Phraya at Bangkok
The War Memorial at Phnom Penh

A Trip to South East Asia

On Dec 21, 2007, four women, me being one of them, decided to take on an adventurous journey over four countries in SE Asia. Only trouble --- time was in short supply, so a 10- day trip was planned, squeezing in as much as possible of the best of the four worlds.

Took off from Kolkata by Jet Airways. Smooth flight, great service and for me, my second international fight. Landed at the huge Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok. Believe me, it was a huge complex. Christmas décor shone on the outside. But, the weather --- we were sweating!!! No winter there! A slick van took us to Sukhumvit. But early next morning we took off for Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City, earlier known as Saigon. Saigon was soooo much like Kolkata that I felt completely at home there. Crowded and bustling, warm and smiling people, no chance of losing your way, bargain while you shop for knick knacks… it was unbelievable. Bought a wooden Vietnamese lady and some lacquer boxes. The War Remnants Museum very graphically brought out the horrors of the Vietnam War. The City square has the Reunification Palace and the beautiful Notre Dame Cathedral. We stayed at Luan Vu and were really well looked after.

Next day we left for Chou Doc and this time we made it by road. The country side did not leave me gaping as it was like Bengal’s villages except for the fact that the houses were on stilts. Banana trees, ponds, huts, small shacks for shops --- the works. We crossed rivers twice on barges along with the car. We went to Chou Doc for a purpose. The Mekong Delta cruise was too much to resist. So from Chou Doc the next day we boarded a motor boat and whizzed over the mighty Mekong towards Phnom Penh. The journey was magnificent, for me definitely so since I love boat rides. We crossed the Vietnam border, got our passports checked at the Cambodian border and then about an hour later touched the Cambodian capital.

At Phnom Penh, the War Memorial and the Killing Fields left their mark. The Royal Palace looks resplendent in its traditional Khmer architecture. A 5-hour bus journey from here to Siem Reap the next day brought us to the largest temple complex in the world, Angkor Wat. The evening was spent there as well as the entire following day. Besides Angkor Wat, we visited the Angkor Thom complex comprising Bayon, the mountain temple, Baphuon and the terraces of the elephants and the Leper king. Majestic and awe inspiring, these complexes contain beautiful and exquisite friezes, reliefs, engravings and sculptures. The Mahabharata, Ramayana and the Churning of the Ocean to extract ambrosia form part of the art here. It seemed all so familiar and like I mentioned before, hardly had any foreign atmosphere, though we seemed to be the only Indians around. Shopped at the local market and bought a Cambodian puppet and some ceramic plates with cane borders.

From Siem Reap we flew to the capital of Laos, Vientiane. A small, beautiful and laidback colonial city, this place was a delight. The wide boulevards, the Mekong flowing by its side and the street food was just great. An interesting thing was a huge shed opposite the main market bustling with people. Under this shed were young women in leotards, exercising away to music. No man could be seen in the vicinity gaping at them. There were only four Indian women who were busy with their cameras taking in this amazing sight!!!

Next day we were off to Luang Prabang and here the landscape changed. It was cooler and reminded me of Sikkim in summer. The Wat Xieng Thong is a must visit here. Besides the temple, it also has a monastery. The golden Buddha image is housed in a temple replete with gold paintings on a black wall and magenta pillars. The road leading to this temple has restaurants and shops to the right. They have nothing in common with the Khmer architecture. It is mostly French and owned by expats. As night fell, we decided to shop at the night bazaar. The fabric is famous here but these reminded me of designs we find woven in our sarees in India. The next morning right before we took flight once again, there was something we had to witness. At 6 am, the monks from the monasteries here walk by silently and the people seated on the ground by the roadside give away food to them. It is this that sustains the monks throughout the day. I saw monks, young and old, disciplined and stoic, walk by spreading a strange sense of calm all around.

From Laos it was back to Bangkok and this time we visited the Grand Palace. We took the Sky train from Asok and got off at Saphan Taksin, then took the boat to Tha Chang which is close to the Grand Palace. Had lunch at one of the many fast food joints next to the jetty and walked through the vegetable and fruit market. Beyond was the Palace which houses the Royal residence, government offices as well as the Emerald Buddha. This Buddha statue carved out of a jade block is a venerated site in Thailand. I saw the image clad in the winter costume. The costume is changed three times a year by the king. The golden Chedi within the palace complex dazzled with its gold. I bought some exotic fruits from Bangkok which we do not see in India like the Rambutan, which looks like a hairy litchi but tastes much better, and the Dragon fruit, with its magenta - coloured peel and white pulp peppered with black dots and quite insipid.
All in all a mind blowing enriching trip, one I wish I could extend for much much longer.

I could have gone on filling up space but let me hear from you first.

A visit to South East Asia

The year 2007 ended on a high note. From the 21st till the 30th of December, I went visiting fellow Asian countries Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. The highlight of the trip was that not once did I feel like an outsider there. It was quite like home.
I shall soon be posting some lovely snaps I clicked.