29 June, 2015

Piku: Holy sh*t!


I know my system quite well. A good night’s sleep and a glass of lukewarm water, is all I need to take a satisfying dump every morning. This activity is very different for different people. Some go to the toilet at any time of the day when the pressure is right and do their business like it’s no big deal. Some have a set pattern like the way I have. And for some, it is an insanely tough task. Tough to the extent that their entire energy in life is directed towards the amount of stool they push themselves to purge. They seldom feel the euphoria that arises after taking an adequate unload.

My mother (Maani) falls in this category. She has been suffering from constipation for the past one year. We are fortunate that it’s not a chronic one for her, but I know the distress she undergoes every single day for this one chore alone. The preparation for this starts from a night before, as she dutifully drinks a glass of warm milk with Isabgol, in all anticipation that she will be able to relieve herself well in time the next day. Sometimes, it works wonders. Sometimes, it does not. The times when it does not, we all realize it without her shouting it aloud. She tends to become a little sluggish and cranky. We just have to see her face to make out whether or not she had it easy that day. And, the times when it is effortless for her, we all revel in celebration. After all – ‘Insaan ka emotion uske motion se judha hua he!’ We know that better. Seriously!

Shoojit Sircar’s Piku is such a heartwarming real film. The fact that a little chat about bowel movement at the dinner table is not looked down upon as an awkward situation, shows the genuineness of this lovely narrative. I love every bit of this movie. Most importantly - the brilliant writing! Much like Vicky Donor, this one too has a well-shielded script that never becomes a stinky pile of shit, even though that’s the central theme of Piku.

The second most impressive aspect of Piku is Bhaskor Banerjee’s standpoint about his daughter’s marriage. He doesn’t seem to lose his sleep over Piku’s single status; rather he believes that –‘marriage without purpose is a low IQ decision.’ He is not against marriage but wants her to find out a good enough reason to settle down. And for him, Piku’s marriageable age isn’t a compelling one. What a progressive thought that is!

I don’t have the exact stats, but it is a known fact that most Bengali women tend to get married late in life. These women could be single, but lead an intensely happy and independent life. Just look out on purpose and you are bound to discover this lot of Bengali women around you.  I, maybe, a case in point too :-)

Piku took me through an emotional whirlwind. Different kinds of emotions emerged, one after the other. In fact, rarely does it happen that I feel for all the characters in a movie. Piku is special in that sense.

But I still have 2 points to make. Not that these would have made this already beautiful film a notch better, but they did cross my mind.

First - I thought the interval sequence was a smart insertion, but not the cut. Would it not have been better to cut the scene when Piku and her father found the knife and were figuring out why it was there, rather than to elongate it up to the point where there is a spat between Bhaskor and Rana over the knife – and Bhaskor throws a fit and sits on the road with his suitcase and demands the knife to be thrown out? Somehow for me, it lost whatever bit of suspense, it was intended to interleave. I never felt the need to judge Rana’s character after that entire sequence.

Second - I wish I did not have to cry when Bhaskor died. The movie must have served its purpose, but I so wanted him to take another cycle/rickshaw ride to discover the unexplored bylanes of Kolkata. This, again, without keeping Piku and the rest of the family members informed about his jaunt!
I wanted to see more of him and his antics. I wanted him to do anything interesting, except for never waking up from the bed - especially after taking a fairly satisfying dump of his life! Why couldn’t we see him eating and enjoying stuff that a regular bhadrolok does in Kolkata? (There is a lot more in Kolkata than just the roadside Kachoris!) We could have even liked seeing him play a football match with his old friends. Wouldn’t that have made it even more real?

Thankfully, there was absolutely no drama over his death. It was different from other death sequences that we have seen in films so far. But, I wish, some day Bollywood films move over the myriad adversities of life. In particular, those films where it looks more like a forced placing than the real flow of events.

On one hand, I say I love the movie and on the other, I have 2 important points that are critical of it. That’s fine. This thought was jammed up right there and I had to let go of it today.

P.S.
Please don’t look that constipated. You can release your emotions too! 

28 February, 2015

A half-baked cake


I baked a perfect heart-shaped raspberry cake today.
It came out soft, creamy, fluffy and spongy.
You ought to be familiar with its colour and aroma.
Much to your delight, it still reveals the same zest for life!

Its contour is colourful and confident
Its natural silkiness melts up the soreness inside.

This time the frozen berries on the top jazzed it up a bit.
And, the lily flowers on the tray have made up for the lost scent.

Yes, that’s the story of one half of the cake.
Let’s keep the other half for some other day.
As yet, it’s unprocessed and half-baked!

05 January, 2015

Residual Love





















You love green apples, I love red ones

You prefer continental, I like Indian

You hog and jog, I sleep and skip

You focus on the destination, I enjoy the ride

You listen to Gwen Stefani, I hum Ghazal notes

You adore winter holidays, I am a bright summer girl

You always get lost in my eyes, I can’t ever track your heart

Yet one part of me in you loves the red apples

Yet one part of you in me sings - ‘I know, we’re cool’


16 November, 2014

Laugh lines around my eyes – Smile please!

Some well-meaning relatives in my life have only one ambition to execute this year. They tell me that they can’t wait to shop like crazy for my wedding. And that, they are getting old and might not be agile enough to perform all the wedding-related chores by the time I actually do get married. Therefore, I have been told to seriously consider their plea.

Thirty and not a sign of settling down, is considered a big deal in a woman’s life. My parents, thankfully, don’t make it sound as big as the rest of the people in my life do. I have started hearing their sympathetic tones lately.
So, what should I do?

There are 2 ways of sorting this out -
First - I should let my parents do the groom hunt quite actively now and happily participate in all the activities. I should let my profile flash on various matrimonial sites and carefully choose to interact with the right prospective/s. Basically, I should open myself to the route of an arranged marriage system.

Second – I should wait for Mr. Right to come into my life. A dear friend KM had once pointed out – ‘Onnu, don’t you think, you live in a fantasy world or something? How long will you just sit on this and wait for your fairytale miracle to happen to you?’
My reply was, and is still the same – For as long as it takes.   

Is there still a third way of setting this up? I am yet to discover, if there is.
In my mind, I am in no hurry to settle down. But, when I put my mind to rest for a few hours, I wake up to this harsh reality of my life - where everyone around me is screaming aloud in 3 different languages – ‘when are you getting married? Kab shaadi kar rahi ho? Aei mey, kokhon beye korchish?’

Honestly, I don’t know. I really DO NOT KNOW!
I just know one thing it will happen when the Gods up there take time out to decide upon my future. In the meantime, I can only keep my attitude as optimistic as this sales executive at the Levi’s store, who claimed that I can never outgrow the perfect 26-inch waistline! Also, as realistic as the parlour aunty who recently asked me to replace my daily skincare products with anti-aging ones. Precisely, that’s the reason why it is not tough to keep my outlook well-balanced.

And, for some other strange reason, an acquired interest in the field of Sports, is currently defining me as a person.
It’s bound to instill in me the true spirit of sportsmanship, if nothing else. 

P.S.
I love aging. It brings forth a lot of maturity, humility, fun, and some elegant laugh lines.