From The Crow's Nest.......

"NO EXIT ALLOWED" 

Prologue

“Yaha se bahirgaman mana hai” -- the Signboard read that out to me, loudly and clearly. As I was nodding my head in submission, I realized that there exist many such doorways in our life too -- doors that bear such a similar sign. You cannot go out through these doors. We call such doors as ‘Memories’.

I

Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening -- Dali

As I start writing this article, I constantly remind myself of a painting by Salvador Dali  -- Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening. 


In the upper left of the painting a fish bursts out of the pomegranate, and in turn spews out a tiger who then spews out another tiger and a bayonet. A second later, the bayonet will sting Gala in the arm.
Memories also have such layers -- dark, deep and sometimes, of unfathomable depths.

First of all, memories are like gifts -- carefully wrapped, the ribbons shaking their heads in air like sunflowers in a sunlit field, making a pretty picture; and there is always a sense of mystery and expectation around them -- what will it be? That class VII poem book? The pen I had given to the next boy in the 2^nd terminal exam? The day we won the inter-school quiz contest? That evening when she managed to have a word with me? The night I was caught watching ‘Titanic’ on TV...Endless duels between the What-ifs and Why-nots inside the head.

Then, there are some memories, which have closed doors -- you know who all are waiting for you once you open the doors -- that stick dad used to beat you with, that mathematics copy still bearing the 8 out of 100 in red ink, that report card where you had tampered the 62 to make 82, your walkman which went missing from your bag…enough to give you nightmares till the deathbed. The red walls reminiscent of a horrific past, black and white floors make you smell the acrid flavor of indecisions, broken promises , peels of laughter and unkempt hairs of freedom. You cannot open the doors even if they are ajar…irony unlimited!

And then there are memories which have a closed door with a pretty ribbon as a lock. The ribbon is an illusion of a pleasant gift. A single tug can open the knot -- yet you would dare not -- because, while the door hints at you the skeletons it contains within its brick-and-mortar rib-cage, the pretty ribbon does not have the air of surprise along with it.

II

The boy faces a similar dilemma as he stands in front of such a door. Every day, he tells a lie to himself and finds an alibi to go and stand in front of the closed doors. Every day he gathers courage to push open the door, kick open the door. 

Every day becomes a celebration of failure to him. He pins his hope for the next day as he neatly keeps his wings of Dreams inside his trunk. A strange dichotomy appears in front of him -- he wants to take a dip in all those memories, yet failure sits on his shoulder,vulture-like. He knows a single dip will bring back all those old times -- but it will also open up the old wounds -- blood will ooze out as a constant reminder that he will never be able to realize those dreams. He gets divided every day, only to be united at the end of the day. The doors are better closed because he knows he will never be able to touch these dreams, turn these memories into reality.

Epilogue

While we call our memories each an individual door, they also have a door of their own. That almost creates a Salvador Dali-esque effect within the mind. But who cares? A closed door still has a silver-lining; but an unlocked door, yet which cannot be open, as if due to an invisible magic spell, is pure doomsday. Totally made of stuffs Robert Ludlum used to dream of and Sidney Sheldon used to write of; upheavals of a stressed-out, stretched-out mind.

The boy suddenly finds himself inside the room. The places have been swapped. He tries to run away. The door stops him. He is not allowed to go through the Doors. ”Yaha se nishkraman mana hai”, the Doors said!

The boy does well. He gets two options -- either he has to create a pseudo-reality to convince himself that he is happy and stay in that self-created exile, life long.

Or, he creates a virtual world to that he can come to terms with such memories.

The boy does the right thing. He opens the window and sees there’s apathy far more bloody and gory than his memory. He gets the bigger picture. He accepts the spade as a spade, walks out of the window and dissipates in the crowd.

From the desk of a Guest Wtiter

                                                           its crazy ...

The best thing about rains is how the nature flourishes in it. The same route that my bus takes every day looks like a brand new place. And my jobless mind starts making conversations to another, probably equally jobless mind of mine. All my childhood fantasies come back to life so vividly n my head that I feel almost confident enough to make a movie that will beat avatar.

Creation of M.F.Hussain

If you ask me to describe the feeling that these deep greens and electric greens instill in me…..i would tell you to imagine how that mysterious mesmerizing maiden made the saint on his way to chastitised salvation feel.  Yes that’s exactly how I feel; it takes my breath away n if it were possible to overcome my human limitations I would leap out of my bus window n fly over that green carpet. Trees tat look like a forked hand of a witch now look like someone poured green slime on it and all the forked fingers are now held together underneath.

It’s crazy, the pain it causes in my heart, the distance is unbearable and all I want to do is touch it, feel it like a foolish child running behind a soap bubble thinking he can hold it for eternity and hold it intact.  And then I invariably come to you I ask you’ why?’ of all the things you could have made me, you made me a human, why?  Why not the air, why not the water, why not the bird who can see it all?

For once, I pray to you, for once make me a soul, for once let me feel it all, for once take me beyond the limitations of these four limbs……. Or take this green away from me forever…..cause its crazy, the pain it instills in me.

                                    (penned by Priti Bhosale) 

From the desk of a Guest Writer

                                          look at yourself....!!! 

I was born with a tail, hair covering the entire body, long teeth to make myself comfortable with all kinds of food. With changing times, I have shed my tail. The fur cover is all gone. But all this while beyond the cognizance of my inner intuition, certain change was accumulating within me. A thing called "my need" has been slowly building its base inside me. once upon a time , I used to earn my livelihood by hunting. I used to eat fruits, vegetables, meat. I did not have a home and not even a dress to protect myself from the elements of weather. I have everything at my disposal today.

It all started with the invention of the wheel. It showed the way for further invention & terms like 'progress' and 'development' were coined. 'Necessity is the mother of invention' was framed and the world got a new looking glass. 

But as we moved from wheel to motor, naphtha-paraffin to petrol-diesel, bullock carts to trains, we still wanted more. We have moved on to airplanes yet our pursuit continues. The maids have given ways to washing machines, the sun has given ways to heater, A.Cs have replaced the khus-khus  - cyclically the forests have given way to mines, innocent childhood have covered in front of child labor. Playing grounds have given way to computer-games, drawing room adda-sessions have given way to Facebooks, and human beings have given way to technological zombies. Comfort and profit, balanced sheets and unbalanced viewpoints have taken us today to a point of no-return.

In spite of having almost everything I needed, I am still unsatisfied, hungry, uncontented and greedy. The greed keeps evolving.......

                                                      (the writer is Sanjay roy)
                                                      

from the Crow's Nest ...

-- "You’re next...!!"

-- "Oh Really ??"   

A common question has always plagued the young generation. The question of when someone will say an “I Do” or “Kabul Hai” or walk 7 rounds around the fire.

And while an opposition to the institution has always been there, anti-marriage stances have always been considered blasphemous.

The recent uproar is due to a comment by Eva Mendes who went on air saying,” It’s (marriage) a very old-fashioned, archaic kind of thing! I don’t think it fits in my world today.”

This is exactly what we need to look at, in today’s time. Marriage was never supposed to be a binding; it was always about bonding. But this is one area where we are stuck as a society, if not perpetually, for quite some time now certainly.

We still expect the trajectory in a boy’s life will be a career and a marriage then; the girl’s will be a marriage and if possible, a career then. Any deviation or detour will draw a thousand jeers, questions, frowns, pointed fingers. Introspection. Compromise. Self-imposed exile maybe.

The flow of relations, however, has always been the same. People have fallen in love -- fallen in love without prejudice, without expectations; most importantly, people have fallen in love without the promise of a haloed marriage.

Yet, the fixation with the institution continues. The beautifully framed picture, about the inevitability of marriage, keeps adorning our drawing-rooms. The hangover still strong, the belief in this empty rhetoric is maddening.

If we follow the ideologies strongly, we get to see that right from the communists to the post-modernists, people have always denounced the institution of marriage. But it is the strong feudal and patriarchal air that hangs around, which is still calling the shots in today’s world. Imagine this, in a Hindu marriage, the tradition requires the groom to hand over a pair of sarees to his newly-wed bride and say – “From today onwards, I will take care of your food and clothes.” Down South, the tradition is more pathetic. The groom will have to leave the ceremony-house; the bride’s father is required to coax him back and persuade him to marry his daughter.

Then what if the wife runs the house? Maybe a divorce makes her raise their 2 kids single-handedly? Where’s the respect then?

And then we talk of women-empowerment and celebrate Women’s Day?

With such a thick air of rigidity and obstinacy around such a concept, breaking free or thinking of a world minus the M-word falls just short of a utopia.

But when I look at the Bachelors’ Club, I go moonstruck. When people think and staunchly believe that without marriage, a person’s life will be miserable, it’s time we take a look at “The Club”.

From the yesteryear to the realms of present, from the reel-world to the world of comics, the Bachelors’ Club is colourful to the last alphabet, the list comprising of a complete Who’s Who of all the worlds.

While we have right from Sir Isaac Newton, Helen Keller, Florence Nightingale, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Franz Kafka, Vincent Van Gogh to our very own Lata Mangeshkar, Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, Dr. B C Roy and Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy – we also have George Clooney to Al Pacino, Sherlock Holmes to Tintin – all the accomplished achievers are right there in that club.

And while we are re-reading the names, let me add a small disclaimer – the fact that all of them were/are unmarried does not signify that they were/are against the institution of marriage. This is only to prove that marriage never is the only/sole purpose or objectivity of life. Life can be much more worthwhile during our lifetime.

But again, as I look at this strange institution called marriage, I gape in awe at the stupendous stupidity-trap we have created as human-beings. Human race has always felt the urge to bind him to rigid rules, sometimes bordering on insane logics even. The intransigent crowd is too much bent on giving name to relations.

Al Pacino once said the right words – “Why have I never proposed in the past? I hate to say this, but marriage is a state of mind, not a contract. When I think about the law and the marriage, I ask myself ‘When did the cops get involved?’ “

This has to be the order of the day. Society needs to understand, we have to get used to the notion that it’s basically love which holds us together. Not 4 walls and 1 ceiling.

Culture Curry :

                                                         "Cultural Veggies" over "Junkies" 

Few days before, I happened to watch a recent box-office dazzler of one of the most sought after hotshots of Indian film Industry – Salman Khan in ‘Ready’- the film that promises endless ‘Dhinka-chikas’ to the audiences India-wide if not, worldwide Indians.

Aneez Bazmee , the director with 39 titles as a writer and 11 titles as a director, came out with a movie that evidently contradicts the recent trend of ‘intelligent’ cinema in India. The audiences flung the theatre to get rained by dialogues that will keep them away from the prosaic insecurities – so that they can keep their brains at the doorstep of the hall and laugh the hell out at every scene.

They inherently support what Mr. Warhol(a NYT reporter) said,” What I “think” is boring” – they don't want to think when they are into any sort of entertainment.

But, does it symbolically represent the fact that Indian audiences are suffering from cultural fatigue, and are not willing to grab the “cultural vegetables”?  Do they really want the theatres to be a cornucopia of “junk foods”?

The statistics of Hindi cinema this year claims ‘Yamla Pagla Dewana’ to be the highest grosser of this year – and ‘Ready’ if it continues its rage for one more week, it is going to be the undisputable grosser at least till Diwali , no doubt .

 Thinking is boring – so, Sajid Khans, Farah Khans, Bazmees industrially make movies to entertain. And, if you are entertained, you won’t have time and head space to think how crummy, shoddily directed, badly written and inane the movie looks. And, so, the images keep zipping, the dialogues keeps on trying a  laugh-riot and actor dancing at serene locales so as if to reassure you that the money you spent for ticket is well worth all this clamor that started months ago still it buzzed in the ears.

But, the stay is momentary. I, and I can well assure you all, still plug in the DVDs of Golmaal(the old one) and at least Hera Pheri(Priyadarshan) when we want refresh ourselves with the rolls of laughter. Are they boring? Or, can you enjoy them keeping your brains getting frozen in the refrigerator? – Hopefully, not. And, never entertainment meant mindlessness. And, mindlessness is never entertaining.

 So, is ‘thinking’ boring? – looking at the larger trend, the inference is confusing.  

Though, looking at the box-office revenue earning, the answer seems ‘yes’. But, if you believe in positive notes, and if you believe, looking at the growing economic actions, India and China can be the best bet over US dominance, the evolution is evident – the era of ‘intelligent’ movies is on and is here to stay.  The sophomoric shock-humor is a short –lived fad as an entertainment buffer.

And, the hegemony of the big-budgeted star-struck dramas is cornered by the supposedly new-age ‘intelligent’ slick films – it is a style derived for the long –term evolution of Indian cinema. ’Junk-foods’ are never an option !!

From the desk of a Guest Writer:

Naukadubi – Tagore Revisited

Prosenjit and Raima in a still from Naukadubi

Rituparno Ghosh is a gem of the twenty-first century Bengali Film Industry and of course one of my favourite directors. His films have got a different taste and take the viewers to a different height.

His recent directorial venture 'Naukadubi' (The boat wreck) was able to get my attraction to the fullest. It has been inspired by the original work of Rabindranath Tagore.

Recently in an interview Rituporno said that Noukadubi is not a very popular work of Tagore. But he still chose this story; and has proved that it is popular in its own ways.

The whole story revolves around four characters, Ramesh (Jishu Sengupta), Hemnalini (Raima Sen), Kamala (Ria Sen), Nalinakhkha (Prasenjit Chatterjee) – their emotional journey of love. This story pictured how the fate of all of them are torn apart by an ugly natural disaster and how they cross each other in different intersections of life.

All the four characters are very well portrayed in the sense that relationships have no boundaries in spite of the conditions prevailing in our society in that era.

We could see tender love blossoming between a law student, Ramesh and his friend's sister, Hemnalini, which later gets torn and tattered when a mysterious letter comes to Ramesh from his father. And he surprisingly comes to know that he has to marry Susheela who is a poor, uneducated girl. In spite of the commitment toward his love, Ramesh had to marry according to his father's wish.
After getting married Ramesh sets off for Kolkata on a river with his newly wedded bride – Susheela. But on the way they were hit by an ugly storm – changing the fate of all of them. After gaining conscience Ramesh could only see the bride and there were no one else alive or dead. They finally return to Kolkata in a train. But the bride keeps on wondering why they are not going back to Kashi but still trusts and honours the judgement implicitly.
In the course of time Ramesh realizes that his actual wife Susheela was taken by the storm and the woman with whom he is sharing his daily integrities of life is the wife of another person residing in Kashi and his name is Nalinakhkha Chattopadhay. Now will Ramesh reconnect with his love? or search for Nalinakhkha, Kamala's husband? Or follow his responsibilities as husband of Kamala?
A lot of incidents happen in the movie and each one is invariably connected to the other. At times it may seem confusing but at the same time we can see different dimensions and layers in almost all the characters.
As the story mainly revolves around Ramesh, Hemnalini and Kamala and their emotional journey of love, affection and responsibilities. Hemnalini remains loyal to Ramesh till the end though there was a change of heart for a short span of time where she thought that Nalinakhkha is the perfect man of her life and can relieve her from all her griefs.
The film has got in it some reflections of Satyajit Ray. Jishu Sengupta made me recollect the memories of Satyajit Ray and none other than Saumitra Chatterjee in 'Apur Sangsar'. Even Ria had glimpses of Sharlima in her. Now we might start thinking why haven't yet Rituporno thought of remaking 'Apur Sangsar' with Jishu and Ria (Trust me they would look wonderful).
Jishu was very natural just the way we saw him in 'Abohoman'. He has improved a lot as an actor and has the talent to rise much higher and moreover he has already set an expectation in the viewers mind with his performance in this movie.

Ria was the surprise package or we might say the 'Show Stealer'. With voice over by Monali Thakur, Riya Sen was an eye candy in this movie and has proved what she is capable of. She might not have had a great career in Bollywood but Tollywood has greeted her with arms wide open.
She has done complete justice to her role.She also deserves all the applause considering the acting skills which was required for portraying 'Kamala' – an uneducated village girl who sticks to her husband till the very end and remains committed towards him though he had no particular liking for her.

Raima was as graceful and beautiful as we always see her.

Jishu and Ria in a still from Naukadubi

 Prosenjit Chatterjee's role was short and crisp. He never got the chance to portray much in this movie. But he did complete justice to the role he played.
Moreover we are already aware of Prosenjit's talent from the film ' Moner Manush'. I must say that 'Lalon' has won over 'Nalinakhkha' and 'Arun Chatterjee'.
After his award winning performance in 'Moner Manush' the tag line used in 'Autograph' seems to be very true with a little change in it - “I am Prosenjit Chatterjee, I am the industry”.

The story line of this movie is very simple if we look at it from a cinematic perspective. But Rituporno's treatment and direction has made it an exception and wins everyone's heart. Music has been used beautifully. The choice of Tagore songs and the way it has been used in each and every situation took the film to a different height altogether. Dialogues always play a very important part in Rituporno's movies and there was no exception to it here as well.

Last but not the least, I adored the movie and hopefully others will also do so. And we are also waiting for 'Chitrangada' – the next directorial venture of Rituporno, and as always he will be the winner.

(the above review is written by Arundhuti Dasgupta)

from the Crow's Nest ...

The Detached

We die,
Welcoming Bluebeards to our darkening closets,
Stranglers to our outstretched necks,
Stranglers, who neither care nor
care to know that
DEATH IS INTERNAL.

We pray,
Savoring sweet the teethed lies,
Bellying the grounds before alien gods,
Gods, who neither know nor
wish to know that
HELL IS INTERNAL.

We love,
Rubbing the nakednesses with gloved hands,
Inverting our mouths in tongued kisses,
Kisses that neither touch nor
care to touch if
LOVE IS INTERNAL.
                                      ----- Maya Angelou.