The bell does not toll for thee

Here again i come to muse ...the sight yesterday was heartwarming, complete strangers that otherwise amble by in sweet ignorance on other days were seen hugging each other in joy , thunderous clapping, almost rhythmic, was heard from the cafeteria as the runs to win dropped serially from 10 to 4, united in victory , divided in apathy ..such were the goings on at the workplace as collective eyeballs were glued to the most mouthwatering face off between India and Australia yet on TV live from Ahmedabad. The mass fervor triggered off when the National Anthem played out at the beginning of the match.It unfolded many times over through the course of the match in a sudden cry, a quicker pulse or a skipped beat . How startling the camaraderie , how wondrous the joy when mundane boundaries of designations, roles , teams and processes were forgotten in the name of one binding force - INDIA .I had the strangest feeling that the mass hysteria generated magnetic vibes which somehow managed to pass through in a supernatural sphere to the boys in uniform prompting them to perform .

Cut to today, after the initial euphoria , little else is different. It is business as usual. What is with the short lived patriotism i ask ,why do we cheer in an inane cricket match , display all the misplaced fervor and passion and then inch back along life like nothing happened?Why do our collective heartbeats skip as we wait for the ball to cross the boundary or that bat to swing or for that "NOT OUT " sign to emerge and then merrily sleepwalk through all the other national maladies afflicting our lives?Why do we not cry hoarse at the roads that never get built or the ones that do and crumble almost instantly?or the water supplies that run out before summer barely arrives ?Why do we not question where our tax money goes while the Hasan Alis of the world hoard their black crores?Why do  we watch in horror as scams after scams tumble out like skeletons in the closet one minute and then as tardily switch to the entertainment channels?Why do we let a frivolous few control our lives at large and not take charge of  issues that beckon us ourselves?Why , in our minds , are we so disconnected with each other ? Why don't the deaths of our soldiers or our policemen affect us? Why don't the rampant rapes and murders of women in our country spur us?

Surely , when John Donne wrote this, he didn't mean us .

No man is an island, entire of itself
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main
if a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were,
as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were
any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls
it tolls for thee.

No , my dears , he didn't mean you and me , no other man's death outside our family diminishes us. We don't think of each other as part of one country, forget the continent .No, we are not involved in mankind and no you don't think that when the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.

"Tumhare Chehre Ke Jhuriyon Mein Mere Jeevan Ka Saaransh Hai"

Was up watching the 1984 movie Saaransh on Zee Classic late last night.Unlikely, most of the time that , an 80's hindi flick would keep me up all night considering, that according to me, it was the decade of cliches in Bollywood.You may beg to differ but 80s were a decade that saw little experimentation barring a few notables like Masoom ,Ijazat etc and were largely marked by brazen dialogues mouthing "main tumhare bacche ki maa banne wali hoon" or some such , garish song and dance sequences (remember the jitender and sridevi number "tohfa tohfa laya laya") matched by equally flashy outfits .

Saaransh ,on the other hand had me completely glued . A compelling story of an ageing couple in suburban Bombay trying to come to terms with the death of their only son, Ajay,in a mugging incident in faraway USA.With no income coming in for retired Headmaster Pradhan (Anupam Kher) and his wife,Parvati (Rohini Hattangadi) , they sub let the room that once belonged to the son to small time actress Sujata(Soni Razdan) involved in a discreet relationship with the spineless Vilas, son to a local politician crime lord.She soon transforms from a stranger to a confidante.

Anupam Kher and Rohini H's performances are so real and their grief so all encompassing that you find yourself  nodding in total agreement when she says "Hamara Ajay wapas aa raha hai ", reacting to the news of  Sujata carrying her love child whose paternity Vilas retracts from claiming under duress .Suddenly , the old couple is thrown into a scuffle with all and sundry ranging from the local goons employed by Vilas's father to the corridors of power,basically the world in general exposing , along the way, cracks in society's attitudes to single women, corruption and economic disparity, all in an effort to bring Sujata to justice.

While Pradhan is doing all this to find reasons to keep living , Parvati is selfishly protecting Sujata believing she is,in fact carrying her son, Ajay .One cannot grudge her conviction in the punar-janam of sorts because Rohini as Parvati is brilliant in her role as a grieving mother alternately bordering on insanity.It is hard to believe this was Anupam Kher's debut film, so accomplished is he in the craft that one can't help but feel moved when he attempts to pull Parvati from the depths of despair as he tells her "Tumhara anth hai. Mera anth hai .Magar jeevan anthheen hai.", loosely translated to mean, you will end someday and so will I but life itself is endless. It has to go on.

And that's the way it is!

The deciding moment is here , the voice in my head tells me , now is when all the forces of the cosmos combine to make all things possible, take that step, enroll in that dance class, go to that fitness programme at PINK, watch all those Oscar nominated movies, finish all those books you've been trying to finish for a while now( right now at the end of DORK , somewhere in between The Reluctant Fundamentalist and vaguely at the begining of  The Liar's Poker)...show some spirit woman!

The job that you now do only for the paycheque, the CV that you've been meaning to perk up with that certification for god-knows-how-long!, the people that you need to shut out and those that need to be welcomed, the friendships waiting to be renewed, the trips that you've always been planning but not taking (reasons too insignificant to be bloggable).....only one tip for these.....YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO!....

Just so that the above homily is not brought to nought , listen to this song for some additional adrenaline rush:

Better Get Livin'- Dolly Parton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKeulwZ3sGE&feature=player_detailpage