Once upon a time....

This is the home of my grandparents. It would be more appropriate to say that this WAS their house. Neither of them are alive today, nor does the house now belong to any of their descendants. The house was sold off almost 20 years ago. Usually old buildings in Pune (or for that matter anywhere) have a standard fate, that of being razed to the ground and a new apartment complex coming up at that place. But this one has had to face a different twist of fate. For reasons outside the purpose of this note, the house (& adjoining Bhanuvilas movie theatre) have remained in a state of limbo for nearly twenty years.

This is the home where my grandparents lived, brought up their 11 children, witnessed the ups and downs of life together, saw people come and go for over 50 years. I have spent all my summer vacations here. Every wall, corner, window, broken door-frame - everything - is a living memory for me. Countless moments of joy, growing up with cousins, being doted over by aunts and uncles, and the omnipresent feeling of 'being at home' that my grandparents exuded.

I do not intend to go on a nostalgia trip here. That would be a never-ending venture. All I want to say is - I have paid attention to living beings - people, pets, plants. I have a habit of maintaining inanimate possessions very carefully - books, old pens, old pictures, my grandfather's pocket watch, and so on. But I don't think I have paid enough attention to structures which have sheltered me from the forces of the world. I may have taken them for granted, in fact. Seeing pictures of my family home has brought about this stark realisation, do I love my home enough when I am in it?

This wada at 343, Narayan Peth, Pune and the adjoining Bhanuvilas Talkies will also become a part of history sooner or later. They can't remain like this indefinitely. But I shall forever be grateful to this place for showing me what a home is all about. Most of all, this space provides me with the answer to the existential question - where do I belong? Yes, I belong to this soil, this is where I came from, this is who I am.

My grandpa must have sat in this very place when he dreamt of the countless business ventures that he started. And then seen many of them go bust, one after the other. Through all this, my grandma would have kept the home fires burning, often by selling one by one her family heirloom jewels, must have sat here and written those letters to him. The letter would reach him when he was in jail, where he spent half his working career, just because he decided to follow a path that Gandhi showed. Yes, this is where I have come from.

Every time a space beckons to us, tugs at our heart and asks us to stay back, we resort to saying the good old इदं न मम. (This is not mine.) But a day comes when you take a pause in the race, and say to yourself, "Yes, this IS mine."

Kabir must have realized that "this is not mine" when he said उड जाएगा हंस अकेला . Yes, a day will come when I too, will fly off. Like my grandpa, my grandma, my father, and now my mother has. This bird will fly away too, not knowing where its destination is, but surely knowing where its roots lie. And therein lies a surety that we often seek.

(Note - All photographs by Aniruddha Bhate. I am sure he doesn't mind me posting them here. His roots lie here too, after all.)

Another classic from streets of Pune

Here's another one in the long and (always growing) list of queer signs in Pune. I saw this outside a shop and as has often been the case, could not resist posting it here.

For the unfortunate souls who do not understand Marathi - I can only make a weak attempt at translation. I say so because the classic Puneri expression of काढून मिळेल (Kadhun milel) has no parallel in English.
Nevertheless, the notice proclaims two services available at the shop. One - you can sell scrap newspaper (colloquially called 'Raddi') and Two - you can get a PAN card here !!!
Wow, now I have to admit that this is entrepreneurship of a different level. No matter how much I racked my brain, I could not see the connection between these two business propositions. So I presume that this guy truly believes in diversified business interests. But being a Puneri, he had no qualms in proclaiming both COMPLETELY unrelated matters in one single desultory flick.
On second thoughts, I see that both these businesses have a common link, in that both have something to do with paper. I now sincerely hope that the two businesses are really distinct !

Swine flu in Pune

The outbreak of Swine Flu in Pune is all over the news and I am forced to think - has anything changed at all for me and my life in Pune so far? On an absolutely phenomonological level, the ansewr is NO. So then, what does it prove (if at all it does)

1. That I am an ignorant fool.
2. That swine flu is not really THE big danger that it is being made out to be
3. That one need not panic. There are realities about H1N1 virus and swine flu that one should calmly consider and take appropriate action.

Unfortunately, there is no one perfect answer. The sad and unfortunate death of a 14-year old girl in Pune due to this flu cannot be ignored and her family will no doubt agree with option no. 1 above.
So what is the danger, if I have to look at it objectively for myself? What is the risk that I will die in a road accident tomorrow compared to dying of swine flu? The former is clearly a higher risk.
Does that mean that I should simply ignore the risk posed by this flu and continue life as if nothing has happened? That would be foolish, going by the magnitude of the risk.
Consider this - Pune has been put under the 'epidemic act' - which is not something that happens every now and then. WHO has declared swine flu as a pandemic, which is also not something that WHO does every now and then. The largest proportion of cases is students. Which puts a very LARGE population at risk. How can I be sure that the kid next door has not contacted H1N1 from his friend who met his cousin who attended a birthday party of a friend who had played football with his friends where the kid that he bumped into has a younger sister who is in the same class as the girl who has had fever and a running nose for the past week, AND whose uncle came back from USA some time back?
A virus that measures a few microns in diameter has got an entire city in its grip. It exerts a power not just on our nasal cavities and mucosal membranes, but on the minds of a few million people. Very soon, it will be several million. (WHO estimates that in the next two years, there will two BILLION cases of swine flu worldwide.) It is time to wake up...
Some realities about this illness that I have learnt from the media

1. The symptoms of swine flu and our well-known 'usual' flu are very similar. So just the symptoms are not sufficient to give a warning.
2. The test can be done only at two govt. centers - namely, Aundh hospital and Naidu hosptial.
3. While there is no vaccine to get immunized against the virus, there is (thankfully) a medicine available. It is called Tamiflu.
4. It gets transmitted through contact.
5. Only 1% of the cases tested positive are fatal. (How does it matter for the family of the deceased? For them, it is 100%....)
6. Overall general hygiene and cleanliness can keep it away. But I don't think a face mask and a hand sanitizer kept in the pocket can really make you immune. They may contribute slightly towards the cause, nevertheless.....

All this does not answer one question. If I do wake up with fever and a running nose tomorrow morning, will I be clear about what steps to take?

Man who planted trees

I am going to see a one-act play today evening, despite having seen it thrice before. It is called 'Zade lavnaara manoos' by the students from Fergusson College in Pune. Earlier this year, they staged it for the Firodiya Trophy inter-collegiate competition and bagged a host of prizes.
The story is based on the French novel - Man who Planted Trees by Jean Giono (published in 1953 as the original French title L'homme qui plantait des arbres). It was translated in Marathi by Madhuri Purandare and the play is a stage adaptation of this version.
The story follows the narrative of a person who remains anonymous throughout. It traces his journeys and meeting with a lonely shepherd, Elezeard Bouffier, who single-handedly goes on planting trees in a desolate land, unmindful of the world around him, and without asking for anything in return. For many years, people believed that this was an autobiographical account by Giono, till in 1957 he declared that Bouffier was a fictional character. As per Giono, he simply wrote it because "The goal was to make trees likeable, or more specifically, make planting trees likeable."
Whether truth or fiction, it is a remarkable story indeed. And the stage adaptation does full justice to its narrative quality. The play is embellished by some superlative music and choreography, not to forget the innovative use of other art forms like painting and also origami.

I have the line of credits by heart but will refrain from giving the credit to any one person. It is truly a team-performance and no individual contribution can be compared over one other.
I hear that the tickets are sold out but if you are really keen, you could try your luck at Bhrat Natya Mandir tonight at 9.30 pm. If you aren't one of the lucky ones in the hall tonight, well, just pray that the group will stage it again very soon.

Horsing around

Yesterday five of us went to the Pune race course, thanks to a friend who had got passes to the Johnnie Walker Event. It was my first time with horse racing, and most likely, will be the last. Not only because I lost money, but I realized I don't belong to that world.

It was definitely fun, being in a group of five who were all rank amateurs in the world of racing and betting. All around us, the ambience of Page 3 had come alive. We sat looking around, sipping our cocktails and studiously trying to make sense of the cole. This book is far more complicated than a railway time table and we couldn't understand a word of it.
Slowly we got around to understanding about mares, fillies, jockeys, owners, trainers, jackpots, tanala and what all. By the 3rd or 4th race, we were even vehemently arguing amongst ourselves about the next favourite. Of course, any experienced better privy to our conversation would have fainted listening to our 'expert comments'. Our favourites usually got decided like this - "Wow, that black horse looks really nice, I like this one. Yes, but that brown one looked more alert. Really? OK then, lets bet 20 rupees on each of them"...
One of the results was truly hilarious. There were six horses running, and since there were five of us, we decided to single out the one whom we thought would NOT win, and then individually bet on the rest of the five. The idea being - make enough money collectively to have a drink in the evening. So while studying the horses' history, we found that one of them had had an arthroscopy done. Since we had a surgeon amongst us, he was duly called upon to unravel the mysteries of arthroscopy. Hearing him, we were convinced that this horse would be no match for the others. And guess what, THAT VERY HORSE WON THE RACE! So much for our study.
This clearly proved two things. One - we know nothing about horses and racing. Two - the vet who performed that arthroscopy must be damn good!
I am back from the races, 260 rupees minus. Moral of the story - when it comes to gambling I really need to hold my horses !

Hundred percent India!

Here's an interesting notice seen at numerous places in Pune. Translated into English, it would mean - Courses for Spoken English with 100% guarantee. In the event of failure, full money back guarantee ! So what exactly does 100% mean? Typical of India, where we live happily with ambiguity in every aspect of life. Often 100% doesn't really mean "truly 100%" in India. But we understand the sentiment behind the statement and let it pass.

It WAS scary....

Don't ask me why I was awake at this time. The point is, I was - fully wide awake. And there was this earthquake a few minutes ago. It went on and on - the cupboard shaking, the glass pane going thud thud thud. It continued in this fashion for so long - I almost decided to get up and run down the stairs to stand out on the road. Just then - it stopped. I dont have a TV so can't watch any 'breaking news' (sorry - pun not intended, really) so am now going to sleep in a tense state. I hope this wasn't a big one somewhere else, and I felt only its remote tremors out here in Pune.....
I checked CNN and some other news channels on the net - there is nothing on them so far.

And now we all wait......

I began this blog by writing about a short film (One Square) that was made by three of my friends. Swati, Prasad and Swapnil have done it again. Their new short film, 'Kya aam aadmi surakshit hai' has been shortlisted in the 3rd ICE film festival. It was screened today morning at City Pride, Kothrud. The joy of seeing one's creation on the big screen was writ large on their faces. I could share all the excitement as I also played a little part in the making of the film. After a month of hectic running around, shooting, post-production, editing and endless long nights of working, the film is now in the hands of viewers. It feels like we have just come out of a major exam. And now, we are also awaiting the results - today evening - 7 to 9 pm. I myself find it difficult to suppress the excitement.....

Something about the three of them and this film. After the shooting was over, they found that a HUGE portion the footage had got damaged and there was no way they could have completed the film with whatever was left. Refusing to give up, they decided to shoot it all over again. And their perseverance shows in the quality of the film. Salaam !!!

1 Square - A parable of solitude

The world of films lures many. Most of these people are fascinated by films but think that the actual world of film making is beyond their reach I know of three friends who all share a passion for cinema. One fine day they just got together and decided to make a short film. Working on a shoestring budget, they managed to gather a team of people. The cinematographer responded to these three people via Orkut. The lead actor, a student in FTII, Pune got attracted by the script. All the shooting was done in the room of one of these three friends.

The result is 1 Square, a short film of 20 min. Their single minded focus, commitment to quality (and the ability to stay awake non-stop for several nights!) were also rewarded. This film got the 2^nd prize for Best Film in the ICE digital short film festival in 2007.

The story is a touching saga of a young man in search of another person. As the events over a single evening unfold, his search turns from that for someone to that for almost anyone. As the note on the cover of this DVD says

“The easiest person to convince is always yourself. Except, when your 'self' starts asking questions that one does not want to confront. The faster one runes away from these, the faster they overtake us and face us at the next crossroad. This evasion goes on, till one stands still, listens to the silences within and befriend the vast empty recesses of the mind.”

The film does ask you several discomforting questions. Do I value what I already have? Or do I just keep chasing something which I think is valuable? And what happens when that something does not reciprocate my thoughts? So I don't like what I get; and don't get what I like?

Not resting on this first success, the three of them are working on another project.

You can contact Prasad, Swati and Swapnil at iamzero@googlegroups.com