As I walk down the corridor

I meet him every day. As I walk down the corridor our academic block. A sweet, healthy toddler trying to play around. His body covered with cement and sand. Unattended. He keeps talking to himself in some mystical language; trying to discover the world around him, like Columbus. His toys are bricks, stones, wires; all littered around as heavy construction goes on. He keeps playing. His mother keeps working; carrying a brick load over her head; keeping balance on the makeshift ladder. And in the afternoon, after leeching the last drop of milk, of his mother, he sleeps. Like a tired angel. Bare on the floor. With a small napkin under his head. This cycle goes on every day. As I walk down the corridor. And as his mother tells him to grow up fast. Grow up strong. As I walk down the corridor. He will grow up. Grow up strong. And one day he will run away; for a fag, for a job, for a girl. As I walk down the corridor, her mother tells him to grow up.

'Virudh' : whom should we stand against?

He (and his wife and his daughter-in-law) fought silently: with their lips tight; with complete faith of Indian legal system; with complete trust on human values. However, at the end, he killed the killer of his innocent son. The story did not stop here. The court went through all the evidences and the judge declared, “on behalf of the whole judicial system, I apologize to you”. And he was declared innocent. Claps! Claps!

This is the new Mahesh Manjrekar creation: Amitabh Bachchan-Sharmila Tagore starrer - 'Virudh'. It’s a neat, well-crafted movie. Technically perfect. Every shots seem to be so natural. And you definitely get dragged into the life of Mr. Patabardhan. (Even though I watched it in a CD, copied from the movie hall).

As they fought for the justice for their murdered son, this world turned naked: friends, police, court, lawyers, and politicians. And at the end, he picked up the gun. But with a different mental status: Not to take the revenge; not to spread hatred. Rather just to establish that his dead son was innocent and was murdered for this bravery.


Mr. Manjerekar (and every one who has shed their tears while watching this movie)!!! I have just two questions:

• Is the GUN, the ultimate weapon to establish justice?

• The eternal question of “justice for an individual” and “justice for the society”. Is it wrong for a poor, jobless, hungry man, to loot a shop, just to feed his hungry children?

Ohhhh…..am writing after almost 2 months of gap. If you still want to read the story of the movie, here is the link.

MST


In continuation of the last blog, here is something from Brazil. They call it MST: a movement of landless workers in Brazil. Economic status of Brazil is well known to people who are informed about the IMF sponsored global reform in economy. I am not adding any extra lines on that. I am not much aware of the political lines of MST. I just stumbled upon a photo feature on MST at the BBC site. It is worth spending few minutes over it. Happy surfing.