off over into down under!

whaddaya know?!

spending puja vacs in kol...call from office to send in papers for aus visa processing...back 2 blore after pujas & within a week i fly off to sydney.

guess the charm of the destination being sydney kinda makes it more sexy!

the bengali 'travel-bug' has been aroused in me.....planning adelaide...planinng alice springs....ayers rock...dunno how many wil be possible in this short time-frame....but as they - keep watching this space for more!

gogol...his life...his name.....& his life!

So ppl ask me – why did I go to watch the namesake.
Is it becos I had read the book & liked it as much as I like the author (at least to look at!!)?
Is it becos I’m a bong and I wud identify with it?
Is it becos it is a life that I have not been a part of (neither yearn to be) – but do want a visual feel of how it feels like?

Watever it may be for…..it is an experience to watch this film. An experience brought about by the brilliant enactment of a foreign-relocated middle-class Bengali couple by Tabu & Irfaan ; an experience brought about by the tender unraveling of the entire pain of the disconnect from the homeland yet being bound by an unseen umbilical cord; the joy of re-birth tinged with the sadness of losing near ones; the attempt to use a name to overshadow a disaster of the past –to the state of being gifted life – to a more happy state of giving birth to life and to translate that name into a joyous occasion of fatherhood; the pain of seeing your own blood drift away in –spite of your best attempts to hold onto it; the ultimate enlightenment of the son – but when it was too late to make proper amends to the one, who arguably and silently, loved him the most!

I had promised myself not to go and watch this film along with any female friends of mine and I didn’t. Reason? I had to make quite an effort to hold back tears even when I had read the book, I didn’t want to risk it with a more life-like medium like a film; so it was me & my partner-in-crime sandybasu. Turns out, I wasn’t too wrong.

The underlying theme here was homeland – a concept that most of us can identify with today, with most of us pursuing our big-buck dreams in places far away from home. What spurs men to travel so far away from their homelands to etch out a decent livelihood? To forget the family and earn money to secure your future for a time when you are too damn old to spend that money anyway!

Our protagonist chose a life like that - a life which wasn’t spurred by big-buck dreams, but a desire which was sparked off by that one-liner from the gentleman he met for the 1st & last time on dat fateful nite on the train….akta baalish-kombol niye beriye poro….the bug called wanderlust…making the world your oyster…..

But his life begins afresh with the birth of his son – the natural born American, the one for whose future he chooses to make that foreign land his place of residence (can’t call it homeland), the person whose naming redeemed the 2nd life that he had been blessed with…..because of that name – as Ashok chose to quote from a Russian author to his son once, leaving it for him to decipher….we all came out of Gogol’s overcoat.

What follows next is a saga of the dichotomy that threatened to split the family across cultural lines….the Bengali middle-class values against the all-american lifestyle, the ruckus of 40 bengali ppl (all a part of the extended family that you create far away from homeland) all over your house at any occasion VS the quiet lakeside getaways….the baba-ma-apni vs the ashok-ashima-you…..the inherent lack of PDAs (public display of affection)as against the rampant sexual romps on the lakeside.

All of this borne with stoic & dignified resignation by the dad….when he gifted his son with the book that saved his life, and it was thrown away in a corner – the quiet resignation of a person who’s waiting for his son to understand him. When his son decides to change the name given to him by his parents, the very first gift given by parents to their child – he dignified acceptance of the fact that whatever Gogol’s name may become; he will always be Gogol to him.

And when he does tell his son about the significance of Gogol in his life, and his son asks him whether he is reminded of that ghastly night whenever he thinks of his son Gogol, and his heart-wrenching answer – “no Gogol, you remind me of everything good which happened after that”…….standing ovation!!

It is so very tragic that this gap of understanding, the chasm of relative values between the father-son duo was bridged only when the father was taken away too damn far away for the son to convey to him – that yes…he understood his father, that he understood what undying love, unconditional love could be, that he had kept all his love for his parents so very suppressed, that when it came up to the surface – it was too late anywayz. Was it intense regret that made him shave his head, even though it was as foreign a concept to him, as when his dad did the same at his grandparents’ demise? The sight of him coming out of the airport terminal to join his bereaved mother & sister, his mom’s choked voice saying ‘that it wasn’t required’….and his whispered ‘I wanted it’…..every gap, every chasm was bridged in that one instant.

What do we see after that? The family comin to terms with ashok’s loss….gogol & his sister re-building their life around their mother & each other, gogol trying to make up for all lost time, even at the inevitable loss of Maxine. Gogol being fixed with another bong-family-friend girl, in a very true spirited Bengali meye (aha…o khub bhalo meye)….how gogol feels the stab of pain at her (Mou’s) infidelity, at the same instance that he required her the most – when his mom is slated to travel to her homeland….their homeland…resigning herself to a life of a gypsy, transcending continents every 6 months! It was then that maybe gogol realized – wat it feels like – to give unconditional love, and not to be valued for it…it was he who was at the receiving end this time, where he had put his parents all along his life.

Ashima, who at one point had willed to leave everything in the US and had wanted 2 travel back to Calcutta, now proudly stands & says – that she’s travelling to her homeland, but is leaving behind her home (& not house); the home which she & her husband had set up…..the place where she had the maximum memories of ashok, the place which she will always remember whenever she remembers ashok!

.........as the film draws to a close, we see gogol rummaging through his baba’s memories….comin upon the half-unravelled b’day gift of his dad….Gogol’s Overcoat….the gogol name, which he has started to value, cherish & treasure….with which his father’s memories have been forever entwined in one common fate….and there in the dusty flyleaf of the book, lay imprinted before him in his father’s hand: “The man who gave you his name, from the man who gave you your name.” awesome. Period.

Don’t miss this one.
Makes you love your name. It made me do it, even though I was so uncomfortable with it all through. Now I treasure it.
Makes you value your loved ones. Makes you call your dad to ask how his day was. Makes u call your mom to find out if she’s fine when ur dad’s out of the city. Makes you call your home just like that. To tell them you’re there for them. It made me do it –rite after the movie. It was 1 AM.

KILL THE ANT.....REAR THE GRASSSHOPPER!

NOTIFICATION - i have not composed this piece of article. In light of the recent 'quota system' thought of by the brains in the Indian Government, this is an awesome article i came across! I would call posting it here as 'Appreciative Plagiarism'!! :-)

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CLASSICAL VERSION...
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks that the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasShopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

MODERN VERSION.....

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.
NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. The World is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be that this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house.

Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other grasshoppers demanding that grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.

Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the grasshopper.

The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance)

Opposition MP's stage a walkout.Left parties call for "Bharat Bandh" in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry. CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among ants and grasshoppers.

Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

The Judicial Committee drafts the Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act [POTAGA]", with effect from the beginning of the winter.

Finally, Arjun Singh makes Special Reservation for Grass Hopper in educational Insititutions & in Govt Services.

The ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.

Arundhati Roy calls it "a triumph of justice". Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice'. CPM calls it the 'revolutionary resurgence of the downtrodden' Koffi Annan invites the grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.

Many years later...The ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi billion dollar company in silicon valley. 100s of grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India ...
As a result of losing a lot of hard working ants and feeding the grasshoppers, India is still a developing country..... .

Bangalore tending to Kolkata?

One more dispute....one more Bandh! Total city-shutdown....school, colleges & even MNCs shut down for the day.

Seems familiar to Calcuttans? Not just Calcutta anymore......'cos this is happening right here in namma Bengaluru!!

Peeved at not getting the demanded quota of Cauvery water from the tribunal, and salt upon injury added by Mr Karunanidhi managing to secure a relatively favorable decision for arch-rivals (at least w.r.t. the cauvery issue) TN....the pro-Kannad organizations have decided to shut the city down for 12 staright hours to protest this injustice!!

What have the Pro-Kannad organisations decided upon doing?

• Decided to stop all vehicular traffic on all major roads from 0600-1800 hrs....fetching discomfort to the Bangalorean junta will teach the tribunal a lesson!
• Down all shutters....close all shops.....shut down all business - When they lose money...they will know how it feels! (Still undecide as to who the 'they' being referred to is......)
• Ban all Tamil channesl of the cable TV network (Now theTamilians will know what it is to mess with us!!!)
• Not enough. Let's ban all Non-Kannad channels from the cable TV network on the bandh day (Now even the rest of the world will know what it is to mess with us!!)
• Shout slogans against the govt for allowing the Tribunal to give such a verdict against them (so what if none of the govts in the last 17 years couyld not get a decision in favor of themselves!!)
• Shut down the pulse of the city!

So how is Bangalore dealing with this?
Very well i must say....and like Calcuttans, even Bangaloreans have learned not to look a gift horse in the mouth and take full advantage of a weekday off! Thus is their planning -

• Residents of nearby places like Chennai, Hydbd & Cochin had fled back home on fri evenig, ths ensuring a 3-day stay at home....
• B'loreans thronged the dvd parlors, stocking up on movie fare to last through the day. My roomies & i hve picked up Munich, The Prestige, Aastha & Divorzio all'Italiana to last us thru the day....
• The liquor shops also saw a heavier than usual traffice, with pppl stocking up on the spirit-quotient too. I myself spent 20 mins standing at the queue at Foodworld to pay fot the beers that i had picked up (including the new Haywards Stout)......come'on guyz - where else do u get to pay for booze by Sodexho coupons?!
• Maggi...the life-saver....went fast off the shelf for bachelors like us. A search for the new Rice Maagi yielded no results! :-(
• All TN registerd vehicles were hidden out of sight (come'on....remember)
• Friends were called over on sunday evening to partake of the beer and the bakar!!
• Last heard all Non-kannad states (including Tamilians) would be leading their usual lives, and even getting to watch all their TV channels on the Cable Tv network
• As to how life_during_bandh was......gotta wait till we spend it.

Still wondering though....who are they trying to register their protest with?