Audience

The premise was interesting, very interesting. A bank-heist caper set in the small towns and urban villages of Bengal in the mould of a genius criminal vs dogged cop drama. The output was fantastic too. Tense camerawork, authentic acting and locale worthy music brought together the story with impact and verve. "Bohurupi", a movie which I watched yesterday without even seeing its trailer or reviews delivered entertainment in spades for Baba and me. Not exactly a Childrens' Day movie though we watched it on the day, it pushed a message that becomes all the more clearer as you grow older, that for capable and sincere 'professionals' pushed into corners by unfair circumstances, the 'moral' choice is not default. Baba's end of movie statement that "Bangla cinema kothai pouchey geyeche... baaki der theke ONEK oporre [Look where Bengali cinema has reached... the others will never be able to catch up]" was the typical unwarranted over-the-top declaration without which Bengaliness remains uncertified. Nonetheless, I would recommend watching it. Worth your time.

But the reason I write this post is that all through the movie, I couldn't stop thinking about what would people on whom the movie is based feel about the same? The memorably portrayed independent pick-pocketeer Jhimli with a sharp tongue and seductive eyes. Would she feel represented through the movie or would she think that 'her' character was a simplified novelty meant for city viewers? The small town 'chor' [thief] guru Salim who is a master at his craft but only in the small world that he inhabits - he is no suave Danny Ocean whom international audiences (claim to) admire and (aspire to) relate to, chor or not. Would he judge the directors Shiboprasad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy for projecting expertise on themes they don't have it on? The bohurupis [quick-change folk artists who travel in troupes performing in town and village squares which are usually off the 'in' circuit] themselves, skilled in 'overacting' and melodrama of the kind that sells to a less urbane and therefore less cynical audience. Would they feel proud that audiences in Kolkata, and possibly the globe, would now know of them or are they also well aware that their caricaturish passionate performances which form the baseline of the film will not make its urban audience actually attend in person their rapidly fading world of street performances to support or to save it? But then again, through the centuries they have been master shape shifters/spies/survivors and for them success is not dependent on such fickle support driven by Netflix trends and corporate YOLO mantras. For them, a new story arc and a new beginning is one snappy costume change away.

[https://virtual-inksanity.blogspot.com/2024/11/audience.html]

Symbol

I recently read an article which quoted Rabindranath Tagore's observations during his visit to the temple complex of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. It said that he said that he could see India everywhere but he could not recognize her. Coming from an renowned internationalist like him, it would have been appreciated in the right sense. In today's nationalist times combined with the fact that I am no Tagore, I want to say that about Bangkok but I won't. In the rush to find common ground, we chose to overlook how differences need to exist too. That they put Lord Indra and the heavenly elephant Airavat on their city logo was completely out of Thai reasons. There was no equivalent Indian city example which I could think of which did the same. Despite being a tourist, the symbol was known to me. The thrill of familiarity felt in a connection need not be converted into ownership. 

05-Sep-2024 Indra in Bangkok

[https://virtual-inksanity.blogspot.com/2024/11/symbol.html]

Sync

It should look out of place but it does not. Steel and rubber fashioned on an assembly line set in the heart of an humongous iron shed. Fed by the lifeblood of plants and animals lost to the forces of geology millions of year ago. Maybe that's why owners refer to them as steeds or horses or beasts. A pristine mountain stream courses by powered by unfettered nature and gravity, an engine that requires no pistons. If there were a dozen of them, the peace quotient would have taken a nosedive and their riders representative of the callousness of the human being. But one motorcycle in the midst of nature? An equitable balance.

28-Sep-2024, Benog Wildlife Sanctuary

[https://virtual-inksanity.blogspot.com/2024/11/sync.html]

Utility

Old is slow. Old is stagnant. Markers of growth are shiny and cold. Air-conditioned spaces fuelling the furnace outside. That doesn't quite matter because if we all make enough money, we can always shift to another planet. Thoughts on the past are productive time lost. New ideas, new visions. Onwards and upwards. Let the rust and the vines find somewhere else to live. Preferably on pages of diaries and in dystopian TV series. While selling dreams of an imaginary perfect past, let's paint over all the real imperfections - those wandering steps that brought us here that could yet give us pause to wonder what exactly is the rush?

05-Oct-2024 Nostalgia IE

[https://virtual-inksanity.blogspot.com/2024/11/utility.html]

Both

Isn't it time to call an end to this either/or? Pack away notions of the binary-ness of the past? We have suffered enough stupidity and tolerated absence of nuance for far too long. Simplicity is not the same as harshness. Competing versions of the 'story' need to be compared not for choosing between them but for developing a composite. Bluntness is not honesty. It is dumbness. The extra mental energy spent in piecing together how powers (try to) bend history to their ends and how not to miss the beauty of the complicated human stories behind is well worth it. History resists dilution and weaponization. With a lil' help from its friends it can do a lot.

William Dalrymple 4-Nov-2024 IE

[https://virtual-inksanity.blogspot.com/2024/11/both.html]

Scruffy

Expectations are how the devil gets his dues. If you set about fulfilling other people's expectations of you, your own expectations of yourself are likely to take a backseat. On the flip side, meeting your own expectations of yourself is not enough either. They leave you vulnerable to failing the expectations of what others think you should be.

This Sunday's Indian Express article makes a pitch for not seeking perfection and the ability to revel in the scruffiness of being. A noble cause and saver of anxiety pill bills that is. In seeking to hide flaws, we often raise greater suspicion on the lines of "Tum itnaa jo muskura rahein ho, kyaa gumm hai jisko chhipaa rahein ho [With a smile so broad, what sorrow do you seek to conceal?]"

Scruffy Way of Life, Sun, 03-Nov-2024, IE

But I cannot seem to separate the word from the image of a furry mountain mongrel, unkempt and untrained, slightly stinky but completely free. The article is structured around the obsession (of many of us) around presenting a idealized home when folks come calling. While I can honestly claim to have no such passion, the guilt that comes with having someone visit my house and just glance around is proof enough that I am not as immune to societal norms as I would like to be. Not that the next time a guest comes around they find my residence sparkling clean and maniacally organized but a temporary fever does at least induce me to organize a shelf or two to soothe my social conscience. 

[https://virtual-inksanity.blogspot.com/2024/11/scruffy.html]

Gentle

In typical Times of India fashion, this is an attempt to get away with the fluff. At a time when a 20% drop in the elephant population of India is likely to be reported soon, their focus is on Hollywood adaptations of elephants. We all know that Los Angeles, California is the original habitat of the Asian elephant and any stories emanating from there are likely to be the most authentic (NOT).

12-Aug-2024, World Elephant Day, ToI

Without taking away the importance of a Colonel Haathi or a Dumbo, particularly for an urban audience used to such 'cutification', the occasion presented the perfect opportunity to talk about the living breathing animals which are being choked for space by human activities and transportation structures. Friendly and wise they are but in the real world, any challenge to their sense of security and privacy leads to tragic consequences for both animals and humans when the elephants show their not-so-gentle side. 

Too much darkness for the Delhi Times, you say? I counter to say that there is a reason why Hollywood has made so many elephant characters despite being continents away from any actual wild elephant. These creatures are no less celebrities than the starlets that they choose to pack their Page 3 section with. The individuals whims, fancies and tantrums of elephants are packed with anecdotes much more interesting than the gym-look of a has-been. Where the juicy gossip and 'personal challenges' of tinsel town have such a strong viewership, a column or two on the surprisingly human like attributes of our planet sharers can go a long way in humanizing them the right way - flawed but well within their rights to be so.

[https://virtual-inksanity.blogspot.com/2024/11/gentle.html]

Slow

The National Book Trust (NBT) and its bookshop is a mixed bag. By virtue of its selection of titles and authors, it offers a refreshing alternative to the production line setups of commercial bookstore chains like Crossword. Because of the very same reasons, the gulf between the title's promise and the delivered text can be vast due to the author being a sarkari selection. The book "India Post: A Journey through Ages" I picked from the NBT's store in Dehradun is one such, purposefully written it would seem, to aggravate anyone with expectations of structure and story-telling. That it is (claimed to be) written to celebrate one of the most important applications of the written word makes the circumstances twice as tragic. Owning the book makes me happy for its existence but sad for its execution.

World Post Day, 10-0ct-2024, ToI

A Times of India supplement on World Post Day (10th October) looked at another aspect of the handwritten letter, its romanticization on celluloid as a medium of connection for lovers, soldiers, breadwinners and those displaced from home by their own success. The personalization that a handwritten letter brings and its physical journey from sender to recipient contributes to its value. The permanency of its words present a sharp contrast to the ever changing world that it navigates through. Even in the few days it had taken to reach its destination, things have been altered irrevocably but like every sensible person or thought it refuses to move at anything above its own chosen pace.

[https://virtual-inksanity.blogspot.com/2024/11/slow.html]

Morning Meditations

IMG: Dall-E 3

A sequence of tough days at work led to the eventual sleep-in. My daily almost dawn walk with the dogs was pushed down the sundial to more of a morning walk timeslot to allow me to dwell for a little bit more on the comfort of refusing to start a new day. The electronic drug-dealer in my palm served up UEFA Champions League highlights from last night. I partook of Bayern Munich steamrolling Dinamo Zagreb and Manchester City stuttering against Inter Milan mainly because swiping on to the next video felt like too much effort. The irony inherent in cheering for pinnacles of fitness and energy while representing the opposite end of the spectrum was not lost on me. It was still well within the definition of an everyman's early morning when the dogs' earnest confusion finally guilted me into abandoning my contract with sloth. The route was regular, the sniffs and woofs along the way routine but the advantage to a time-table, however externally enforced, is that it ensures that even the most shapeless of mornings eventually meanders towards a generally right direction.

[https://virtual-inksanity.blogspot.com/2024/09/morning-meditations.html]