Water

Yes, I am still working on the story 'Missed Calls' that I had promised when I wrote 'Pandora’s Box' and it will come along soon. But for now, I want to write about “Water”.

Just last week Varsha’s husband was looking for some good music. We went to a music shop on MG road. While he was busy selecting what he wanted, I was looking around for movies and my eyes fell on the CD that read “Water”. Water – a Deepa Mehat film staring Lisa Ray, John Abraham, Seema Biswas, Sarla (Chuiya, the little girl) and others. Seeing the CD, brought back a conversation I had had then with a friend immediately after seeing the movie.

I remember telling him that the movie was good, and yet I was not happy with it. I remember telling him that it is an old story and was prevalent only in a part of India, West Bengal to be precise. Such things don’t happen any more now. I remember telling that that is not an India I want to project to the world. He told me of his grandmother’s story. She was widowed young. Her in-laws sent her to learn to type. And that is how she made a living.

Revisiting that conversation made me realise that probably at the same time when widows were burned or tortured, as the movie showed, there were also some stories where women were sent to school to help them make a living. I sat wondering why Deepa Mehta instead of showing a story like my friends grandmothers’ chose to show a movie like water. I mean why didn’t she show Savitribai Phule’s story, where Mahatma Phule taught her to read and write? Does she like projecting the evils of a society that is no longer existent?

And I am still trying to find the answers. I hate it when people make a living out of showing the ill’s of the society that I live in. Common, I bet there are things worth living for here. I bet there have always been small successes here. Why don’t we project them? If anyone can, then please give me some answers.