A week of Discovery - Thru Art

Last week I saw “Meanwhile Elsewhere” - for the first time something done by Mallika Sarabhai and her troupe which I always wanted to see. Based on Invisible cities - Italo Calvino. It was an experience to be cherished, like a magnum opus which u want to experience and not judge (like we do after all plays - movies - books). For a change I did not want to - I just wanted to experience the colors, the music, and enjoy the movements. 

2 movies which RE- defined SLOW & WHAT CAN A LESBIAN RELATIONSHIP BE

THERE ARE FOUR FLOWERS & THERE’S THE WORLD

The first movie of Achal Mishra I saw was Gamak Ghar and I fell in love with his film making. Slow, great photography like poetry which lingers on an image or a face, real & local conversations ’s and a touching story told without much fanfare. Most artists are local and unknown faces so it’s almost like you take a handycam and shoot a movie - but in his hand it becomes a painting. Then I saw Dhuin and now this…
A documentary on hindi writer Vinod Kumar Shukla who is 88 years old and has won numerous awards and has collaborated with Mani Kaul for his movies and wrote scripts etc. 

This is what MUBI says and it captures the essence 

“A meandering brook of moments from two afternoons spent with Vinod Kumar Shukla, his wife and son at their home in Raipur, saunters between the mingling geographies of past, present and future drifting in and out of pauses - to ponder, to reflect, to reminisce and to share..”

Manav Kaul is the interviewer and he does it being almost invisible and away from camera just posing few thoughts. Few lines and statement which I still remember after many days

“I don’t go anywhere. I have been in the same house. I look at the same tree daily but each time I see a different tree, a different pattern of sunlight, different sounds which surrounds me and a different thought comes to me. Do we really need to go anywhere ?

His son “I can’t write much & I don’t speak much maybe thats why I keep taking photographs daily so that each photograph is a a story or its trying to say something.”

It actually reaffirmed many things - yes I love and want to enjoy reading the newspaper under the morning sun in the balcony with a cup of tea..I want the moment to linger on with no next thing to be done or looked at. Doesn’t matter what anyone says and thinks.

MY MOTHERS GIRLFRIEND

LGBTQ+ is about multiple colours, vibrancy and multitudes which these colours define the iconoclastic nature of the movement. And generally associated with young and bold. And maybe rich and infamous. This movie looks at the other side

It’s a 15 mn short film about 55 - 60 lower middle class mother of a grown up son (a taxi driver) in love with another women. Her son happens to see her mom celebrating her birthday in a beach when she supposed to be in a temple. And later she watches them at her house together. 

Its sensitive portrayal of real - true - selfless n caring love which also has passion. The photography and screenplay is beautiful - it captures the moments between the women but Mumbai as well. The mix of close up shots and expressions takes the movie to a different level.

It’s a slow - short & touching movie.

Threads that hold us

“The only shield Kasmiri muslims seemed to have against the systematic cruelty of those governed them was the solace of their religion and the shelter of their close knit families. Family unit are close knit in India too, of course. The family unit is the rope of which the whole world swings. But in Kashmir it had a different import altogether. Grief, loss, anger, fear shame - families were drawn close by these threads of acute suffering” 

Recently for whatever happened or didn’t or maybe I read or saw something. (Like Orundhati for me writing comes first as a visual to me) A photo of glider came to my mind -you know people / group of people who jump from plane and form a circle or whatever. And I was thinking family is like that - if one link breaks the circle is never complete. On families ( religion & Kashmir) - Arundhati Roy - Mother Mary Comes to Me.

It’s been upheavals - emotional highs and lows - breakdowns and exhilarations - lot of love and lot of hate for last 1 year when 4 adults formed a family after a break of 10 years. In those 10 year - kids who went to boarding to college became adults and came back to the nest to start their career. 

The rope had loosened, the threads had come out & the quality of threads had changed, it was different material. Now the threads were all hanging and doing its best to form a rope. 

I didn’t know what else to make of it. Family was my cornerstone. I remember this workshop on Stephen Covey principles. They asked us to draw an image of my dream. I drew a family of four holding hands with everyone smiling. 

While I worked hard and reached a place where I was getting a salary which very few get in today’s world, I did my best to manage the family, make time - be  there, support there when needed. I still do the same but things changed. I cannot understand them they don’t understand me - there are frequent misunderstanding. I feel more isolated than being part of the family - a lone ranger among 3 musketeers who are joined. 

I know the kids try at least they have the belief that things will change for good. Between adults we have given up long back. 

I am hoping the thread will be made soon.

Till then, I guess we just hang in there.