Puri trip

With barely a week in hand, there was no recourse but to plan a trip to Puri, the safest and most traditional haven for Bengalis from time immemorial. Since our last trip was almost 15 years ago, we felt that a jaunt down there was the best we could do at such short notice, specially as the traditional hill resorts were in the grips of various sudden protests and demonstrations with the inevitable road blockades. With our group consisting of senior citizens, the trip had to be planned, comfortable and compact. The new Scorpio was only a few months old and needed a long run after the Gaya trip. So we said "Hell with train tickets, touts and reservations" and started off on Tuesday 23td December at 7.30 Am after the traditional Kolkata fog had dissipated a bit.

We zipped to Kolaghat in fine style,  where a huge traffic jam greeted us on the approach to the bridge.We had taken the left lane and were soon sandwiched between 6 immobile trucks. An enterprising tea seller, considered our mournful faces, shouted at Ganesh(our driver), to quickly turn around, reverse directions and then take the right lane meant for down traffic. "Passsenger cars are allowed through, "he stated. Then in typical innovative Bengali style, he waved and screamed at some lorry drivers, cleared a thin gap in the obstinate line of lorries, goaded a muttering Ganesh to weave in and out, and then tilt the car precariously by the kuccha roadside into the opposite lane. We streaked through, but settled behind a 100 such enterprising cars. The Kolaghat bridge was being repaired(should have been at least 5 years back), and cars could travel one at a time in only one direction. The tea seller merrily waved to us from the opposite side--a Good Samaritan who merely thought that helping people was as natural as breathing or eating.

We swept through to Kharagpur following NH6, took the turn to Belda and zipped to Balasore with ease and style by 1PM. There was a hitch as we entered Orissa, as a group of seedy officials from Orissa Motor Vehicles showed us a Xeroxed government order and demanded Rs 1050 for the Scorpio for 6 months permit to travel in Orissa. We protested, we pleaded, we threatened, we sighed---but we paid this unjustified and probably illegal tax as we had to reach Puri before night.

We stopped at Balasore where we  devoured our egg sandwiches (Pluto gulped down a couple in 5 seconds!!!), swilled down  some Coke and moved on. The road upto Simulia was horrible as they were being repaired with numerous diversions and potholes, but once past that the NH6 widened out and  sliced through the countryside in 4 and occasional 6 lane width. The landscape was flat and unremarkable, unlike Bihar, but the sun was muted enough not to cause any discomfort.

We cruised through Cuttack, had some tea at Bhubaneshwar, before entering the road to Puri after asking a few bystanders. More road signs would have been helpful--but our country NEVER lacks knowledgeable and eager-to-help strollers!!!! We went past Dhauli, and then Pipli, marked by  10 by 10 shops selling colourful cloth handicrafts.

We reached Puri at 5 PM and had to pay an Entrance fee of Rs.20!!!! All in all we spent Rs 265 as toll fee for the entire stretch. Again the helpful byestanders guided us to New Marine Drive and Hotel Prabhupada near the white Lighthouse.

Pluto got out, did his circular jigs, sniffed at the potted plants and wagged his curled up tail. Ganesh breathed a sigh of relief. We marched in with our 18 pieces of luggage ( Bengalis to the hilt are we!!!), only to be told that one of our rooms would be vacated 2 hours later.

The cool sea breeze started flowing as the sun set to the right of us--its rays glinting on the sweat of the fishermen bringing the last catch home. The lights went on, and the lighthouse lamp started rotating, its light bouncing off the incessant waves patterning and then smoothening out the sand on the beach.

Puri awaits for the morrow, but more later.

The story within a story

The terrible Mumbai tragedy is already getting diluted. The Taj has reopened, and so has the Trident. The resignations have been given, and the responsible politicians have been sidetracked and sent behind the backdrop.The candles have been snuffed out, and the TV Anchors have stopped hyperventilating. Only the concerned families live with empty eyes and shattered psyches listening and living the cliche that Time heals the wounds. The bloodstains have been washed, the horror stories have stopped doing the rounds, the SMSes have stopped, and the emails have died away. Only the politicians sit in their rooms and plot and plot the different strategies that would get them through the elections which are just a few months away. THE ELECTIONS!!!!! The greatest hype and dupe event in our Democracy, which exists in its corrupted present form not by its own inherent quality, but by the absence of a credible alternative.

What is the unfolding scenario? What could be the deals that are being made? Is our own government's strident statements a posture? Is our government seriously contemplating  pinpoint attacks on Pakistani terror camps? Or are they trying out a solution by which they can shore up the civilian government in Pakistan and Mr.Zardari--and at the same time get a trump card with which to bring the elections home? What is the scenario being contemplated by the Congress party?

The following could be a plausible story.

India makes a demand for 40 terrorists. The real ones they want are Dawood and Masood Azhar. Pakistan would never give them Dawood.He is too powerful a man, eminently able to bring down the government. Dawood alive and kicking is very convenient, because he can be blamed for anything. That would dilute enquiries , hide the real culprits behind the scenes, and still continue to keep the D-Gang and its channels alive. So the man targeted is Azhar.

Azhar is an international terrorist and wanted in 3 countries. Moreover ,he is the man the NDA government released in exchange of the aircraft passenger hostages. What better prize than that of Azhar--released by the NDA and brought back by UPA led by Singh and Sonia. Can you imagine the hype, the telecasts, the trial,the posters, the wall writings, the slogans  , the speeches, the photographs!!!!!! Enough to decimate the BJP led NDA in the next few months. Sonia could be " Desh Ki Mata " Rahul 'a Yuvraaj"  ......etc. Stories are being sufficiently  planted, specially in the  National Media Channels.

USA after ensuring that the Nuclear Deal had effectively silenced India, now wants only a raised posture. The credit of  brokering peace will fall on  President Obama when he assumes office and Indo-US interdependency will be at a new peak.  The Left had gone (prompted by China), so the USA could be a little expansive. There are therefore no bars to this relationship getting cosier. USA wants the UPA government to stay. So, it will do whatever it can to get Azhar.

Let us see how the story unfolds, but there is no doubt in my mind that Azhar is going to be set up  so that the Congress can cling to power.

Tintorettor Jishu

Sandip Ray has an unenviable task. For his films to be commercially successful, he requires a saleable character like Feluda, a story or some such connection of his colossus-like father Satyajit Ray, and a fickle audience who expect intellectual delicacies as well as entertainment. In this turmoil, he can only show glimpses of his cinematic sense, wry humour and old world Bengali charm--amidst an overwhelming desire for giving what sells. The net result is a thread of confusion running through the film, ending in a climax car chase scene and conclusion which resembled very bland left over watery soup.

And yet, there are areas of sheer visual delight     ( the inaugural shots of the Neogi home--the Jhargram Rajbari), the teatable discussion beside the majestic lake at Bhagwangarh, the introduction of Hong Kong etc.. There are subtle moments of Rudra( Shilajit )turning the No Smoking sign around on Somani's table before exhaling, the sudden storm as Feluda views the painting of Tintoretto, and the DVDs of old Hindi films at Paresh Pal's Hong Kong residence (his wife is a Bollywood film buff), which in turn explains the presence of the Cine Blitz film magazine from which Feluda confirm's Shilajit's identity as Nandakumar or Naba's brother.

But the story first. Feluda and his Topse and Jatayu help Naba Neogi(Bhaskar) when his car breaks down. Naba insists on them returning to his ancestral home (Jhargram Rajbari). A 14 year old Golden Retriever called Thumri has been killed--and they want to know why. At home, there is Naba's father Soumyasekhar, a lover of Classical music (2 excellent soundtracks of Gohar Jan and a Thumri are used--and the second dog is called Kajari). His brother Chandrasekhar had gone to Italy, married an Italian girl and had received this fabulous painting of Jesus Christ by Tintoretto, the famous Renaissance artist. He had brought it back to this house where he worked as a portrait painter and hung it in an unguarded room on the rooftop(how convenient!!), before disappearing years ago leaving behind a son in Italy called Rudrasekhar. Bhudeb Singh(the familiar Rajaram Yagnik) of Bhagwangarh in Chattisgarh, and a friend of Chandrasekhar wrote an article in India Today, putting the value of the painting at a whopping Rs.2 crores. This attracted the attention of Hiralal Somani(Biswajit Chakraborty) an unscrupulous businessman who wants the painting at all costs, to sell it to a Hong Kong based multimillionaire Art Collector.Meanwhile a researcher called Robin(Tota Roychoudhury),is a guest at this ancestral home, ostensibly to research on the life of Chandrasekhar. Another person (Shilajit) claims to be Chandrasekhar's son Rudrasekhar and lays claim on the painting. He avoids meeting anybody in the house, and has all his meals in his room. A robber is stopped by Feluda. The old clerk in the house smells a rat and is killed. . .

Rudra hangs a copy on the wall, steals the wall painting and tries to bypass Somani, but his goons kill him off. The killing is very hackneyed--the gunshot is masked by upping the TV volume. Very, very cliche and not in sync with the rest of the handling of the film. Somani now has the painting. Feluda detects the fake copy at the ancestral home by the night insects stuck to the wet freshly painted picture. He follows Somani to Hong Kong,where he meets up with Naba's contact Paresh(Paran Bandopadhaya), who runs an Indian Restaurant and loves snake preparations for dinner. After some insipid fights and revolver wagging, Feluda and his gang are captured by Somani. Meanwhile Robin arrives at Hong Kong and rescues them. Robin tells them that he has the original painting as he had already substituted a fake copy earlier. Feluda tells Robin that he had detected that Robin was not a Bengali, as he ate the meat preparation first and Sukto later.He then turns to the picture of a portrait of Chandrasekhar and in his computer, shows the similarity with Robin, who admits that he is Chandrasekhar's son and wants to donate the painting to an European Museum.The imposter Rudraprasad(Shilajit),was actually Nandakumar, Nabakumar's brother ,who had gone to Bombay to be an actor, and whose photograph was spotted by Feluda from the film magazine.The dog had been killed by Shilajit to prevent him from being identified by it as a previous resident in the house.Is it possible for a father(Soumyasekhar), not to know his own son, even though he has poor eyesight?

Finally the multimillionaire detects that Somani had stolen a fake only and had sold him that.He gets after Somani. Feluda corners Somani and smashes the painting(fake one ,of course). Somani hands back the cheque. And everything is hunky dory.

The screenplay is not smooth but adequate.Though why Tota's role had to be added on to the original story is a mystery.Perhaps Sandip Ray ran out of ideas while rewriting the screenplay. He could have created some thrilling  incidents with a bit more twists and turns but chose the easier option of a new character.The edutainment part was there, and details about the Renaissance painters were woven in as per the original story.The painting hardly looked 500 years old, and the way Tota was handling it, keeping it in his suitcase, is inexcusable for a person who had studied painting.

This is a Tintoretto painting and the portrait in the film looked to be in a different style.

  There was a glaring faux pax. The millionaire could easily have stopped the 3 million dollar cheque given to Somani, from being encashed ,by a simple phone call to his bankers--and not endangered lives by this car chase. Moreover are deals like this ever handled by a cheque ?It is always by fund transfers from bank to bank.

The music relies on Satyajit's original score, and Sandip thankfully kept it going and resisted the temptation of adding a song.

Barun Raha and Sasanka Palit took some glorious shots with interesting and innovative camera angles. The lighting in the night scenes were disturbing, and the contrasts and brightness were uneven  in some places. The Editing was on a whole satisfactory without being extraordinary.The director and editor were always cutting after an actor's reaction--which is fine unless it is repeated ad nauseun.

The star of the show is undoubtedly the audiographer Anup Mukhopadhyaya. Off screen voices, sounds of simple activities, music from another room, the crisp recording enhance the viewing pleasure. I would even call it Award Nomination category straight off.

Sabyasachi (Feluda)was brilliant in parts, hard, terse, tough and believable while throwing punches. In a few scenes he seems jaded and worn out. Is he now getting too old for the part? Why he still doesn't have a mobile phone is inexplicable. Parambroto(Topse) is also outgrowing his part. He is too tall and too smart. Left with very little personal moments, he merely supports his role without endowing any surprise or innovations.It is time to look for another Topse. Bibhu Mukhopadhyaya(Jatayu) is adequate but has to pay attention to his dialogue delivery, as many of his words were jumbled up and not decipherable.Biswajit Chakravarty(Hiralal Somani) speaks in the same way as Utpal Dutta's outstanding Meghraj, but is unable to convey the full effect of villainy. The rest were good but there were no outstanding performances nor were there any scope to do so..

Tintorettor Jishu is a clean, family entertainer,fast paced with a more cerebral Feluda.The attractions of Hong Kong were not utilised.There are glaring holes in the action scenes like the car chase where lack of budget and technical expertise was just too self evident. The classical assured slow camera movements to establish a character was missing--as there was more reliance on dialogue.The screenplay just did not have the necessary depth or wit. What saved it was the magic of Satyajit Ray's original story--simple,subtly humourous, the emphasis on the correct pronunciation(Italian, French or English), and the presence of lurking danger.

The Nandan crowd were muted in their response.Naturally, the film promised a lot, raised our hopes in the first half but fizzled out like a long opened Pepsi can when the credits came down..The pace was good and ninety minutes went by in a flash. I did not sleep during the film,but the conclusion was so obvious and standard, that it left a bitter sense of unfulfilment which rankled and lingered on. Luckily, the best seats in Nandan costs only Rs.70!!!!!

On the Right Track

After my last post, the following is a heartening development. Not only  were my pleas heard, but they were also acted upon. Needless to say, my post was not read by the concerned persons, but the overwhelming groundswell of Public opinion which it represented, has touched positive chords. This is not a cry for revenge(which is momentarily satisfactory and futuristically untenable)--this is a shout by the hitherto silent majority that will no longer be cowed down or dictated to by fanatics who have long since sacrificed the processes of reason and coexistence.This is a report from rediff.com.

The terror attack that shook Mumbai last week has awakened the leaders of the Muslim community like never before. On the anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid, a few Islamic scholars and leaders launched a movement called 'Muslims initiative against Terrorism' .

Kamal Faruqui, well-known leader and founder member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, had organised a seminar to launch the movement in New Delhi ,where each speaker emphasised that it was time to stand up and be counted.

"If Muslims will not speak now, it will be too late," they said. The speakers included the Mufti Mohammed Mukarram from the Shahi Fatehpuri Mosque, eminent thinker and journalist M J Akbar and President of Jamait Ulema Qari Mohmmad Usman, among others.

"All over India, Muslims are coming out on the streets to condemn terrorism. We love India. We belong here. We must express our love of India in this crisis. We all are one and let others know that. We express solidarity with the victims of the terror attack and their relatives. We want to tell our country that we have nothing to do with terrorists or terrorism," Faruqui told rediff.com.

Addressing the audience, Faruqui said, "Indian Muslims must come out of self-denial. We should accept that there is a possibility of the involvement of some Muslims. But we love India. We have nothing to do with these terrorists. It is our duty to fight these terrorists. We must not fail in our duty to strengthen our own beloved country."

Many speakers talked about the alienation of Muslims, deprivation of the poor community and the profiling of Muslims in the society after every bomb blast.

Mufti Mohammed Mukarram from the Shahi Fatehpuri Mosque advised that the English and the Hindi media should be brought closed to the minority community.  He stressed that children should be educated about Islam by imparting the basic understanding of the religion.

He told the audience that leaders of the minority community had initiated dialogue with the leaders of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

He informed the audience that Itihas, a non-governmental oraganisaiton based in New Delhi, is taking students of public schools to mosques to familiarise the children with Islam and its culture. The children asked all kinds of questions, including the meaning of Jihad, he said, and added that they return satisfied after hearing the word's real meaning.

Such heritage tours will slowly but surely spread the real culture of India, believes the Mufti.

Importantly, he said, "I have heard that the terrorists were avenging the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the Gujarat riots and other issues. But, we (Indian Muslims) have never asked for any kind of help from outside India. We don't ask for help, we don't complain to outsiders. We are living in a secular country. Whatever we want to say, we will tell our Prime Minister, our Cabinet ministers. It makes no sense to talk about our issues to outsiders. Why are others coming here and taking up our issues? We don't need them."

"We live in India. We live with pride and we are proud Indians. In the last 50-60 years, Hindustan's Muslims have never looked forward to another country and we will never look at them. The incident in Mumbai has been very painful. We will fight back against terrorism. Today, Indian Muslims are distressed," said the Mufti.

Jamait Ulema President Qari Mohmmad Usman said that India should punish the perpetrators of the terror attacks and never forgive them. He also raised a pertinent question � why was the government not making those responsible for security accountable for their lapses?

"For the sake of peace, it is very important to make people accountable for our security," he said.

The new initiative, which was started by Javed Anand, has been spreading fast. The organisers have planned a public demonstration at the India Gate in New Delhi at 3 pm on Sunday.Let us watch and pray for this movement to survive--for on this depends whether India will survive!!!!!

Similar demonstrations to condemn terrorism have been planned in 16 cities across India, including all the metros, Faizabad and Bhopal.

There won't be any slogans or speeches in the peace march, but the participants have been asked to come with placards, which will carry the following slogans.

1) Enemies of our countries are our enemies.

2) Terrorists are enemies of Islam.

3) Do not blemish Jihad.

4) Terrorists and communalists are cousins.

5) Close terrorist camps at ONCE.

6) We strongly condemn organisations like LTTE  and Jaish-e-Mohammad, Indian Mujahideen  etc, which are using Muslim names.

The voice of war must be stopped. The voices demanding fanaticism MUST not be allowed to blank out the voices for reason and rationality.

Let us light this candle in our hearts....