बहात्तर मैल एक प्रवास

72 mail ek pravaas is a Marathi movie, which translates to “A Journey of 72 miles”.

image source: http://www.mid-day.com

I used to watch a lot of Marathi movies with my mom, and asked her to suggest me one. She suggested this one. It is based on a true story, and is a very touching movie of a poor young boy, who escapes his boarding school. The story painted of the poor people of India is very believable, and shot in the rural areas of Maharashtra. It’s a shame, that Bollywood represents Indian cinema. The local/regional film industries have stories and actors such fine that they can give even Hollywood a run for their money. I feel extremely sad when a stupid Indian movie like Slumdog Millionaire gets nominated for the Oscars. That’s really not what India is, and that is not how some of the finest Indian actors act.

Anyway, Marathi film industry is definitely one of the finest in India, but it is quite poor. I feel sad that there’s not enough done to spread the word. Even the internet has very less information about the movies, actors, and the songs. I am taking up to me to watch some movies, and review them here, as a part of my effort. I will also talk about them in social media.

Bahaattar mail ek pravaas is yet another beautiful story that talks about the delicate relationships, the hardships, and the wisdom of the uneducated, who have walked barefoot for miles, been cheated by their own people, seen their people die, and been accompanied by a stranger for a short while, who changed life forever. The hunger pangs, the cold, the aching feet are all felt by the watcher. It is a must watch. The language is very rural Marathi, and a little difficult to understand, even for a fluent Marathi speaker like me. Also, it is set in the 60s.

Here is one of my favorite songs from the movie, and I have tried to translate some of it for you:

Deva Sundar – God Beautiful

Ho deva sundar jaga mandi ka r manus ghadavilas
Hey God, in this beautiful world, why did you create man

ghadavilas ghadavilas ka r manus ghadavilas
create, create, why did you create man

ho Bheek magnya bhuk dili janm jalya dukh dile
You gave hunger so we could beg, birth was given to endure sorrows

ghadavilas ghadavilas ka r manus ghadavilas
create, create, why did you create man

panghray nay dil anthraya kay dil chalayala pay dil paayakhali kay dil
did not give anything to cover the body (esp. when sleeping), gave feet to walk, but gave nothing underneath (no shoes)
ghadvilas ghadvilas dukhamandi budvilas
create, create, drowned in sorrows

Thoughts from A Sleepless Night

You either think because you want to think, or you just think without  even knowing that you are thinking. The latter lets you into a wild jungle of speculations and questions, that you probably even don’t want answered. I often find myself wondering about this separation in nature of male and female. Some say there is no separation, it’s a continuum.

image downloaded from http://www.freeimages.com

Of course it was never always Adam and Eve. But at what point during evolution did male and female separation occur? Did it happen only once, and then carried forward with the species, or did it happen each time with every species? Obviously a lot of organisms continue to survive without that distinction. And then again there are organisms that have several genders. Did organisms of any species go extinct because of single gender?  Does such separation make the species stronger and smarter because there is more scope of chromosome separation within each gender and then more scope of healthy permutations and combinations? Is that why organisms with no gender separation have no smartness or possibly no “feelings”? But then what about the organisms with several genders?

Gender differentiation means sex. During the very early days of evolution, propagation must have been of utmost importance, so that the species does not go extinct. Simple division would increase the population but would not make it strong. Mutation can help, but how much can it? Is that why gender differentiation occurred? Anyway, since female bears the offspring in almost all the species, it means the male is pretty much moving around gathering food, protecting the house, and getting bored, thereby fucking other females. In fact, the picture was not even half-pretty in most probability when it all began; there probably was not even a house or a shed, if you may. Male just fucked and moved on. To be fair to this male, he was not even cheating. He was helping the population propagate. Old habits die hard. May be predators attacked the female when she was weak, and slowly it became the male’s responsibility to protect her. At least till she gave birth and the babies grew. After that, the female is also ready to choose another partner. Is this where the sweetness began to brew? With feelings et all? Now if evolution’s sole purpose is taking forward the species and keeping them alive (science can say that much, but not the “why”), what was the purpose of these feelings? Nothing tangible, but hormones can be held completely responsible for them. Anyway, what was the purpose of these feelings? Why could the offsprings not just be protected and then why could organisms not just move on? Selfish to the point, and utterly business-like. What was the purpose of compassion, kindness, love? Also, did females develop feelings before males did, because of the proximity to her offsprings, and the hell lot of hormones that she had to deal with? Did males start developing this only later?

Humans have evolved quite a bit and human population as we all know is exploding every second. There is a huge imbalance, and humans are displacing other organisms and natural occurrences as per their whims. More of a devolution huh? For any more imaginable evolution in human beings, we now need filters in our noses and uv-protection layer on skin that supports vit D. Yeah, that’s the kind of evolution we are talking about.  Survival of the fittest applies only to corporate leeches and thugs and politicians now. For the poor it’s not survival of the fittest. They live on the mercy of the rich people and drug rackets. When it comes to evolution of the human brain we are only building up on the past discoveries and inventions. The era of great scientists is over. Whatever was needed for an easier life seems to have been invented. We misused those inventions and now we are just piling up on them with new everyday ideas and small inventions with the end goal of every idea being making money. We either have a long way to go, or it’s the dead end. Since there can be no rewind, the only thing that can now save us is love.

Eyes – 2

Not in the best state to sketch, but had to. First I did not have a sharpener, then I did not have a good eraser, then I remembered that I do not have all the kinds of leads that I would like to have. One of the pencils was so bad, the lead came right out of it, completely. I sketched mostly with it because it’s the darkest and the best. Got to buy a pencil kit.

After, my head was not in place. St. Patrick’s parade was not very saintly, and my friends told me that it was very memorable. I do not remember anything after a point. Anyway, I decided that shaky hands, stupid pencils and erasers, stupid big head won’t be the reasons to not sketch.

I googled for baby eyes. None looked innocent enough. The artists had put in a lot of effort, but the eyes just lacked something that’s difficult to point at. After much changing of keywords I finally came across a couple of nice sketches, and went ahead with one. Here’s my attempt:

You are too curious, baby. One day you will have learned enough.

Eyes

I want to concentrate on eye sketches, and master it. It is my strength, and my obsession that misleads me. It will give me some confidence to start off that way.

I was bored at work, so I stole some stationery from office and began practicing. I guess I will have a lot of eyes all over the place for some time now. May be after that I will move to nose, hair, lips, fingers, etc. I can write alongside, to make it better. Of course, it will help me with writing too, then.

Here’s some good eyes for today 🙂

Had she not forgotten to shut them, she would have heard the words right..

Painting Day

I had an opportunity to earn some good money today, by going to work. Such opportunities are great for anyone, especially for someone so pathetically broke as I, if you ask me. But the weather is too good to do something stupid like going to work to earn. Besides, I am always broke. If not, I find ways to get broke. It’s not been so good in a long time. I met my best friend this weekend and we spent time like we used to – sit and stare at people who walk by. yawn. do nothing. feel not an iota of guilt. feel the most content.

I woke up early and all I could think of was painting. My new brushes had arrived a couple weeks ago, and god they look sexy! The brushes I bought before them turned out to be all flat. The brushes I got from home have hair like a lousy kid’s hair would be like if it was burned partially, and then not washed for a month after that. I don’t really know what happened to them.

I have been thinking of writer’s block as a boon these days – a breather. It’s a way of telling the system to take a break. To take it easy. That has worked wonders with ideas, though not with writing. I am not going to look at it as an opportunity to write better after a break. I am just going to relax.

About painting. Daylight is very important for painting, and there’s not been enough of that for a long time. Also, there’s everyday calling like a job to attend to. Which means, if I think of being patient and go through the painting over say, a week, I will need some time every morning, of no rushing. That’s not going to be possible. It’s okay to not be so patient, and to try to finish the painting the same day, under such circumstances. It’s much better than abandoning the painting, or being frustrated for weeks for not being able to get the time. Weekends are pretty unpredictable for something like painting.

I thought I would paint something off of the internet, to concentrate more on how I paint, than on executing an idea in my head. I will copy a couple times, and then find out my problem areas. After that I can read up about painting. The best thing is, there can be no rules of how to paint. I can read and throw away the rules that do not work for me, and learn something from something that’s useful. Anyway, I painted a woman’s face, and I really want to work on human figures. I did not want to concentrate on any other body parts, so I found a painting to copy.

Here’s what:

To be frank, whatever’s good is only because of the awesome brushes. I botched up the nose and lips could have been definitely better. I like what I did with the eyes though but I have definitely painted way better eyes than these before. I was pressed for time, subconsciously. I finished this within 1.5 hours, which is not good justice for a painting. I can try to fix the nose but I am not going to do that. I will practice with other paintings. Will move on to some bolder and more difficult ones when I think I am getting better.

It’s a long day ahead, and I am not complaining because it’s really beautiful, and I do need a lot of time for a lot of things. See you soon, when I have something more to share 😀

PS: There is not enough time to do all the nothing we want to do – Bill Watterson

Right and Wrong

He was wrong. But she was not so right either.
She was probably wrong. He definitely was wrong.
She was probably not wrong. He definitely was wrong.
She was not really wrong this time.
She was totally right. He was totally wrong.
He was right when he had no right to be so. She was right but wrong. Then she was wrong because she had all the right to be so.

PS: Nothing can ever be wrong. Nothing can ever be right.

MadMen – Season Three

Not even halfway there, but I can say that it’s turning out to be awesome. The urge to write about MadMen is because of three things, in that order:

1. Episode 5, The Fog. I can call it one of my favourites, or may be just the favourite. The hallucinations that Betty has, and the inner turmoil, everything is perfectly executed. I never knew that it could be possible to depict something so strong, so subtly. One would only think that somethings cannot be shown on TV. And then again one could imagine and make it happen. This episode is mind-blowing. The way Betty thinks of her dead father, and Don, when sick. The way they are there, but not really there. The way she struggles with what is eating her up slowly. The way Don meets the police officer, and the conversations take turn. Everything is just perfect. Too good! That’s all I can say about the episode.

2. Key characters like Pete, Peggy, and Joan are shaping up. They are humans, and have several sides to their personalities. It is awesome!

3. With them showing the British coming to their office, and their way of doing business. I don’t think anyone could have shown it in any better way. But that is not what triggered me to write about it. They are sending Lane to India, because they have business there. It could not be anything related to Sterling Cooper, but I was listening to the playlist of Madmen, and there’s a raga they play in one of the future episodes. It made me wonder if they really are going to show India some time. I am not sure how they will show the old-age India, if they do. Thinking about it excites me. Adding one and one gives a two most of the time, and sometimes an eleven. It can get really weird and give you an eight or something. But I am not betting on anything. It’s just some harmless anticipation.