Surreal

For a long time,I argued with my friend about this movie 'Avatar'.
The movie,by James Cameron, is about a wheel-chaired man,Jake Sully who replaces his brother in a mission on a distant moon,Pandora.At Pandora,Jake meets an army colonel and learns about a greedy corporate head,who connive to drive away the native humanoid "Na'vi", in order to mine for 'unobtanium',which is lavishly scattered beneath the tribal habitat .
What follows,is a fight between the extra-terrestrials and humans,that is,the good and the evil forces where ultimately the good,win.To my mind,for the first time in any movie,aliens have been represented as a 'good' force.
After watching this,I tried to convince my friend that James Cameron,had surely been inspired by the famous Ogoni Nine case.My friend refuted since the credits did not mention anything.
Maybe not exactly.But,there is a similarity in theme.After all,cinema is a reflection of reality.
But what if reality begins to reflect cinema?Nasty things coming a full circle?A bit disconcerting,to say the least.
Not too far from where I live,in nearby Orissa,at Niyamgiri hills,things may look very familiar to millions of Avatar fans.
A reputed company wishes to mine for bauxite in these hills.The government is willing to oblige with customary clearances.Our political as well as corporate leaders have agreed that only industrialization can provide the real path to salvation for this wretched country.
However,a small thorny bush has come in way of their envisioned path.
Niyamgiri hills are considered sacred by a certain Dongria Kondh tribe,an indigenous group inhabiting these wooded areas,so they are putting up a hard fight to safeguard their gods and livelihood from being blown up.
Our leaders,find the tribe's unyielding stubbornness, most retrograde to their own plans.
Ah,these people and their queer ways!What's a few hundred already miserable lives on the altar of progress?
Quite interestingly,the word progress has an asterisk mark.Its definition,too, is provided by the government.Interesting also,because in this dark age,men fight to keep Gods alive.
The plot thickens, now,since the government has unleashed CRPF (armed forces) on the tribal people and labelled them as terror-mongering Maoists.

There is no director,no screenplay,no special effect,no animation for this story.So unlike the movie,ultimately the spontaneity of the real-life actors will unfold the plot to us.And because this is not cinema,we are yet to know if good(in this case 'god') triumphs,we keep our fingers crossed,we hope for a win-win conclusion instead of a win-lose one.
Shah Rukh Khan was so right!Don't we all like "happy is ending"s?

The last years of my teenage lay in my drawer.

I found a few things of interest in my drawer,when I opened it to look for a misplaced visiting card.

A mauve coloured envelope.My sister had written to me from USA after I had passed my first ever,public examination.She had sent me a very private,emotional letter and a cheque to buy a watch.As I hold the envelope I remember how I had treasured every word,and how violated I had felt when a nosey girl from my class,who had come to pick up some class-notes from me,sneaked into my room,opened this drawer labelled 'PRIVATE DO NOT TOUCH',and read this letter.I still have not forgiven her.

A table calendar.Custom made,with full blown photographs of me on every page.A surprise from my contentious boy.

An old bill,from a restaurant where we ate nine years ago.At a time when we slept in college dorm and could spare only 800 bucks for a whole month.This bill alone, read Rs.520,you can imagine what a rare luxury it was for us.He had taken me there,just as a surprise,without any occasion.That evening,as I sat there,I had felt no less than a princess.That is why,I had asked for the bill and after much persuasion,did he give it to me,to keep.

Another bill,this time the amount ran into thousands,was from an apparel store.I had bought him a dark coloured 'Sherwani',and he, a purple coloured 'Dhakai' saree.To do this,we both had to plan much in advance and save out of our meagre allowances.I still love to wear that first purple saree,although it is more than seven years old now.

A letter from mom.Written to me when she was abroad and I was going away from home,for the first time,to college.This was the only letter she ever wrote to me.We either talk over phone or in person.Nowadays she emails me too.

All of this happened almost a decade ago,and yet,it seems only yesterday.