Blown Away!

Not so long ago....


Spilt wine, sunglasses and the leather jacket

It is 11:35 PM, there is wine on the floor of the study and AC/DC just finished playing for a non stop 60 minutes. Travis gets up from his couch and slowly walks towards the mirror inside the bath room. Everything is gloomy and warm as he realizes he is wearing sun glasses and a leather jacket.He does not remember why, but pockets the glasses, takes off the jacket and looks at his own eyes in the mirror. It is very quiet, so he can hear the sound of his breath. After a few moments of eye to eye contact, his dry lips separate from each other and he just smiles!

The same old pasta

Edna opens the door and welcomes Travis with a big wide smile. He returns a half hearted smile and slumps into his rocker. Edna walks into the kitchen.

“Glad you decided to come back home for dinner” she says while arranging the table. “It is so cold outside and its better you come home early and stay warm.” 

Travis looks at the wall clock as it ticks 7:15 PM. 

“Did you get the fruit cake?”  Edna seeming very curious.

 “Uhhhh” Travis sounding irritated. 

“Thats fine, forget the cake. I made pasta today!!” excited, looking at him from the dining table.

“Uffffffffff the same old ” he mumbles and throws his wallet and a pack of Marlboros from his pocket onto a table in front of him. 

A few minutes of silence. 

“Hey, just come and sit here with me and forget the food for a while.” She does not respond and continues to set the table. “Edna...........darling ?”

“What do you want to talk about ? Your work or the ‘same old’ pasta?” she commands. “And you promised you would quit smoking” She topples a chair onto the floor, walks into the bedroom and slams the door.

Travis gets up from his seat for a minute and sits down staring at the clock!

The first drink

It is 8:30 PM and he takes off his coat, walks to his bar and picks up a Pinot Blanc and a glass along with it. Marches to his study and locks the door gently behind him. Relaxes on the couch and gulps a big portion of the wine straight from the bottle.

Goddamn you

“Hey Peter, how is it going man ?” Travis talks on the phone trying to be cheerful. 

“Bingo, you called at the right time buddy.” Peter whispers loudly. 

“Is it ? Listen, about tonight...” before Travis says another word, 

“Yes it is still on but the time is now 7:00 PM. The place is still the same. You, me, Sandy and her friend. All you need to do is eat and keep her friend company and I do my talking.”

“Hmm,hmm....” Travis sounding doubtful

“What ?” Peter asks

“Well, did not have a great day , why don’t just you and me go together and have a few peaceful drinks ?” Travis says sensing trouble

“Come on, you promised me a week ago” Peter disappointed

“I promise, I’ll do it next week. But for today, I need my friend” Travis trying to patch up.

“Goddamn you! And what about me? I don’t understand what goes on in that mind of yours. You had a bad day, I get it. I had many such but tell me if I ever spoiled your plans ?” Peter not at all happy.

A few seconds of quietude

“I’m very sorry” Travis shaking his head

“Very well then.....” “beep, beep” Peter hangs up

Travis rubs his forehead with his left hand and holds it there for a while. 

He checks his wrist watch , it is 4:40PM, makes another phone call “Edna, I’ll be back home for dinner. Uhh, but I’ll be late”

“Yeah, all right, I’ll get it on my way back” says that before hanging up.

AC DC

He wakes up suddenly as if someone jolted him. The time is 10:05 PM. Walks to the trendy CD tower rack and points to the row labelled ‘Bow to the 70s’. “Zeppelin, Stones, Floyd, Aerosmith, Beach Boys, Deep Purple, AC......” he reads within himself. Stares at the AC /DC album and looks up at the music player and then around the room.

He starts moving the things in the room and Edna wakes up due to the noise. She smells craziness in the air and goes back to sleep.

It is 15 minutes of heavy work, and panting, he takes another big gulp, and closes his eyes. Pours the rest of it in the glass and sits down. The time is 10:30 PM.

It is 8:15 AM

He lifts his head sleepily from between his hands resting over a pile of paperwork . Next to him is his laptop which has been powered on all night. He looks at his wrist watch and it is 8:15 AM.

“Oh crap!” and then rushes out of the study. “Why the hell didn’t you wake me up ?” he shouts out at Edna who is sipping coffee in the drawing room. 

“Wow, did you doze off in the study ? I thought you had left early today as you told me you had to be at work soon.” Edna confused. “I’m sorry.”

“Well, only a miracle can take me to office by 8:30 AM and you do remember my dinner is outside today” Travis says dressing himself up.

Still in 20th century

The time is 9:30 AM and Travis barges into a conference room with at least 10 colleagues already sitting there.”Sorry, I’m late folks” raising both his hands. 

“Can you give me just 10 minutes. I’m ready with my presentation” he whispers to his boss while sitting next to him.”

His boss raises his eyes and talks in a voice audible to everyone in the room. 

“There is no need for that. When we saw you didn’t make it on time, the new kid Barry stood up to the occasion. We like his idea and are ready to go with it”

Barry stands up and addresses the meeting. “I thank you all for listening to me. I’m new here and will work hard to live up to the expectations of this company." He says with extra confidence and sits down while giving a sly smile to Travis.

Everyone in the room starts to leave. Travis stands outside waiting for his boss and when he comes out.

“Sir, this project was so important to me and I haven’t literally slept for a week. You have to give me a chance.”

“I don’t like your attitude Travis and only partially liked your ideas in the past. This is an advertising agency and you have to keep pace with what is going on RIGHT NOW around the world.” says the boss very firmly. “To put it in simple words, you are still living in the 20th century..and this is not! If you need another chance, you got to keep up!”

The boss walks away but Travis is still standing.

Blown Away

The study looks totally rearranged now. The big desk and the chair are pushed to the corner. The couch is moved to the center and on one side the wine glass sits on a table. On the other side is a lamp. The old fashioned speaker is kept a few feet in front of the couch and the lamp is now glowing.

He hits play and the first song to play is ‘Thunderstruck’ (ofcourse)

The volume is at Level 10 and he closes his eyes.

(wahahahahahahahahahahahaaa....)

“What do you want to talk about ? Your work or the ‘same old’ pasta?”

He increases the volume to 30

(Thunder , Thunder, Thunder..........)

“Goddamn you! And what about me? I don’t understand what goes on in that mind of yours”

Volume goes up to 50

(The base guitar) 

“To put it in simple words, you are still living in the 20th century..and this is not!”

Volume goes to max now

(THUNDER!!)

That's it! No more voices in the mind, No more compulsions, No more rules, No more senses.

Its just pure magic in the air and glare in the room!

Oh yes!

PS : The above poster has been hanging on our drawing room wall for more than an year now. It says in bold letters,  “Steve Steigman The Weaver Gallery”. Me and my roommate were always proud of it, as it somehow made the room along with us look very cool! 

The above story is a tribute to the photographer who clicked this shot, the hypothetical person Travis who posed for it, and of course my room mate Dev Satija who shares the same passion towards the picture as I do!

What about you ? The comments section below is all yours :-)

Munna - Shai - Arun - Yasmin - MUMBAI

When someone shows you a Van Gogh, and want your opinion on it, they would say "What do you think?". They wouldn't ask if you like it or not. I believe that a piece of art is to be thought through intensely to get down to what the artist truly wanted to convey.  Only then we enjoy it. This could be true with movies too.

Sadly, I'm not an expert in any kind of art so almost all the time I declare a movie good or bad. This time however it was different. When I saw Kiran Rao's Dhobi Ghat, I did not feel like flagging it with any adjectives. The pulse of the movie somehow left me short of any words I could use to describe it. So I tried to understand what the artist Kiran Rao might have had in her mind while making her piece.

Having said that, here are my perceptions on the movie Dhobi Ghat. I first explained the characters in 'The Players'; how they meet in 'Forming their teams'; their dynamics in 'They start playing' & what happens at the end in 'The Results'

The sequence of scenes and the dialogues in them may be incorrect, but I believe I conveyed the right message in each.

Please do leave your comments on your perceptions of this post!

The Players

Arun - The Kid. Just like a kid which gets the mother busy into thinking of new ways to handle it, he opens Shai into his world and unknowingly gets her hooked onto him.

Also, like a kid which is curious of new toys, he ventures into the world of Yasmin with the same anxiety.

Shai - The Bridge. Her interest in photography led her to the dhobi Munna, but her heart is actually looking out for Arun. She bridges the two extremes Arun and Munna with different parts of herself. By the end of the story she is the only character which does not give anything to anyone. She does not have to!

Munna - The Mystery. The most complicated character I can say. He knows his status in the Indian society and somehow makes friends with Shai who is from a totally different league. What he feels and how he behaves to this experience is totally out of my grasp. Throughout my narration, I only have an idea what he might have felt. I’m not totally sure.

Yasmin - Love. Her utmost love to the unknown brother makes her creative to use her new video camera. She does not know who will see her ‘motion’ letters. 

Forming their teams

Shai meets Arun for the first time. Ice breaking.

“Come here to get some fresh air” Shai says sipping her wine and shrugging her shoulders. “So you hope to find that in Mumbai ?” giggles Arun while finishing his champagne.

Arun and Shai part ways due to a misunderstanding.

Arun not making eye contact  “I’m sorry about what happened yesterday night”. 

“Its all ok” confirms Shai looking straight at him and then leaves.

Munna talks to Shai for the first time

“Yeh kurta to neeli ho gayee hai. This is fucked!” retorts Shai at an embarassed Munna. “Madam ji galti ho gayee hai, theek karke de doonga” Munna says firmly. “Leave it, pata nahi aglie baar kis rang me layega” Shai says disappointedly. Munna however takes the kurta with him to work on it.

Arun finds out there is someone called Yasmin after he moves to his new apartment

“Meri pehli chitthi”. “Meri doosri chitthi”. “Meri teesri chitthi” Arun says to himself looking at the labels on 3 video tapes.

Shai gets Arun’s new address from Munna

Shai impressed with Munna’s work on the spoilt kurta, offers him a cup of coffee. Agnes, Shai’s maid says “Yeh memsaab ki shirt nahi hai.” handing over a blue shirt to Munna and he says“Arey ye to Arun ji ki hai”.

Shai with a twinkle in her eyes “Tum Arun ji ko jaante ho?” Munna nods. “Mujhe bata sakte ho woh abhi kaha rehte hain?” Shai questions. Was Munna jealous here ?

They start playing

Munna's own attempt at making friends with Shai
“Aap meri portfolio picture le sakti hai” Munna says to Shai looking at a bunch of camera lens at Shai’s home. Was Munna growing confident of himself?

“Mein try kar sakti hoon”Shai replies back with a smile.

Shai does not want Arun to know so she secretly captures Arun from a neighboring building under construction

‘Click’, ‘Click’ “Doing fine, getting some great snaps of him”  Shai on the phone with a friend adjusting her lens.

Munna trying to make an impression on Shai

“Mein aapko kaisa lagta hoon?” Munna asks inquisitively and waits a few moments before he says “Photo mein”

Arun gets the first strokes of Yasmin

“Yeh gulabi chudiya kitne ke hai? ” Yasmin while taping the same. “Madam, 75 rupees” says the shopkeeper. Yasmin tries them merrily on while showing them her camera.

Munna and Shai eat pav bhaji at a restaurant and Shai finds out from Munna that Arun is a divorcee 

“Uski biwi kaisi thi?” Shai asks Munna with great interest

Yasmin shows the cake she made for her brother and has a piece of it. Her eyes demonstrate her love to the brother. Arun smiles as he rests his chin on his hand while watching.

Yasmin tapes the Ganesh immersion festival with great excitement.

Arun rests forward on his elbows and watches keenly.

Shai accidentally runs into Arun for the second time and who knows the last time too.

“Do you have time for a coffee?” Arun raising his eyebrows. “Yes sure, I have time for a coffee” Shai says hesitantly but feeling happy inside.

Munna finds Shai at Arun’s place and is angry. 
Shai runs after him. “Munna, tumne promise kiya tha ki hum wo movie jaayenge. Maine uske tickets bhi kharid liya” She talks to convey that she cares for Munna.

Yasmin introduces her bai, bai’s daughter. 
“Yeh hamari bai Vanitha hai” says Yasmin as Vanitha feels very shy in front of the camera.

At the movie theatre, Munna feels Shai’s arm with his own and breathes heavily with a sense of satisfaction. Shai does not notice. Is she the first female he ever makes physical contact?

Arun builds the character of Yasmin

Arun smells Yasmin’s ring and the locket of her necklace. May be it was Yasmin’s fragrance.

He washes the necklace, wears it around his neck and looks at himself in the mirror. For the first time he does not see himself.

Munna and Shai have whisky together late in the night and talk a lot after which Shai passes out. 
Munna comes close to Shai to kiss but just leaves. Did he just feel he was crossing his limits ?

Yasmin writes words in the sand as the waves of the ocean wash them off in a few moments. 
“Yeh samandar kitni baatein leke chup rehti hai. Main isko kuch bhi keh sakti hoon” Yasmin lifts her camera to show the blue Arabian Sea.

Arun has no words to say. May be he skipped a heartbeat

Salim Munna;s friend making fun of Munna while looking at the portfolio pictures of Munna clicked by Shai. 
“Bata de use apni dil ki baat. Aadha nanga to dekh hi liya usne tujhe” Munna blushes

Shai while trying to get a closer look at night rat killers finds that Munna does that job too. 
He runs away before she catches him on camera. “Munna, Munna” Shai shouts but he is off. Was he embarrassed here about his rat killing job ?

Shai runs into Munna again and chases him down as he tries to escape from her. They sit on a roof top and talk. “Saala painter, uspe dil aa gaya na aapko ?” Munna says.

Shai and Munna talk for a while before they part ways.

Before Shai and Munna part, “Call karte rehna, milna kabhi kabhi” and her car leaves

The Results

Yasmin to Brother and herself

Yasmin’s bubbly enthuasism is no longer seen on her motion letters as she seems very low by the end of her last letter. ‘Ye meri aaakhri khabrein hain. Allah tumhe sukh aur salamat rakhein.’ Arun is stumped and in disarray. Yasmin has already become his dear sister by now. He thuds out of the room and starts weeping as if he lost someone very close to him. He decides to move out of this apartment.
But he does not leave with empty hands. What he carries with him is a good portion of a lovable person called Yasmin.

Munna to Shai

Shai’s car races into the traffic and Munna the most complicated performs his unusual as he is indeed mysterious. He runs frantically on the crowded streets, many vehicles blocking his way but ultimately ‘Clunk, Clunk, Clunk’ he knocks at Shai’s car window. 

“Munna ?” 

I still don’t know what he is going to do,and then suddenly he passes Arun’s latest address written on a piece of paper to Shai. There are absolutely no words to say here.  It feels like everything is said.

Munna smiles and a tear rolls down Shai’s eyes.

Arun to Yasmin and himself

Arun in his latest apartment, tears down the bubble wrap covering a canvas. What he reveals is not just a painting of Yasmin because it is not difficult to just copy someone's features whom you have seen. But what he reveals are textures of the lovable Yasmin. Yasmin not just recorded a few lovely words for her brother on those video tapes. She infact recorded her true self.