Shaival Thakkar

The author talks about his time at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU, Delhi) and his fondness for Bengalis.

I am a Gujarati. However, when I hear disparaging things being said about Gujarat or Gujaratis, I am usually on the side of the people who are saying it. We have many faults; we’re too money-minded, profiteering, lack cultural activities, we’re found everywhere in the world (which can be really annoying!). And of course the communal riots of 2002 are a huge shame on Gujarat. Some of us might have heard the music of Richard Marx, some might know about the comedy of Groucho Marx but most of us don’t have an inkling what Karl Marx was all about! Being from a dry state, many of us go completely bonkers over alcohol when we finally find some [Oh my God, Alcohol! (Glug, glug, glug, glug!) Where were you all my life! (Glug, glug, glug, glug!)].Moreover, one really big pain that Gujarat has inflicted upon the world is the singing of Himesh Reshamiya who hails from Bhavnagar!

When I was in Ahmedabad, I was heavily influenced by a family friend of ours who happens to be a Bengali. After hearing his stories about Calcutta, trade unions and Socialism, I used to really look up to the Bengalis. And the same Bengali uncle had a young son, who like many brats of his age was fussy about food. Many times his mother had to mix rice and dal into small balls and feed him in order to get him to eat. Thankfully, he has grown up now and doesn’t throw such tantrums!

So when I went to JNU to get a masters degree in literature, I thought I had left the Gujjus behind in their Gujjuland and had great expectations from Bengalis on campus. However, my experience with Bengalis is such that I divide them into 2 types: 1) The kind, gentlemanly/ladylike, scholarly Bengali and 2) The mean-spirited, ‘naika’ (dramatic), pseudo-Bengali. The second type of Bengali really lives up to the ‘gaali’ part in the ‘Bengali’.

Usually when you mix two cultures, either something really good or something really bad happens. So when you have Bengalis who are brought up in Delhi, either they turn out to be great movie directors like Dibakar Banerjee who made ‘Khosla ka Ghosla’ or, to put it mildly, they turn out to be extremely difficult human beings. By difficult I mean, coming to campus only to party (which is cool), trying every method imaginable to hurt the good people around them (which is stupid), making life as difficult as possible for outstation students( some of whom have gone on to become IAS officers or are on their way to becoming researchers and lecturers). And then running back home to mommy with their dirty laundry, spending the weekend home relaxing and then coming back to spread fresh negativity on campus.

These difficult pseudo-Bengalis were so much in your face that it was tough to get away from them. And so the good people of my batch usually ended up taking them seriously. However, I used to imagine that after they were done spreading their ‘bad boy’ image on campus for the day, they used to go back home and were fed rice and dal balls by their mommies. So that image helped me in not taking them too seriously! Moreover, when it was time to write exams or submit term papers, I have seen them looking very lost and as vulnerable in the library as a deer caught in the headlights. Too bad the aimless testosterone and the misguided machismo can only go so far and not really help with matters cerebral!

Post Script PJs:

Q: Why can the Bengali intellectual never go hungry?
A: The Bengali intellectual can never go hungry because s/he always has a chip on his/her shoulder!

Q: Why can the Gujarati intellectual never go hungry?
A: The Gujarati intellectual can never go hungry because s/he simply doesn’t exist!

Classroom: Location of blood-baths between Shaival and Bengalis

Photos: Shaival Thakkar

The author does not intend to hurt anybody or any community.

In the next story, Shaival will talk about students (minus Bengalis) and other cultural facets of JNU and Delhi.

[The author met actor Joy Sengupta who talked about his vision for Indian cinema.]

Joy Sengupta wants to develop films that cater to an international audience and the local Indian masses.

Movies should have fierce locality and a global vision. Movie watching should be an experience. It should make you grow from within.

That’s subject to movie-making…

That too should be an experience. Otherwise we’ll have masala films like *** and *** and ***. I am tired of Indian cinema that has been run over by Bollywood

How?

Everywhere, Indian films are being recognised by the term Bollywood. It’s something similar to what happened in the late seventies and early eighties when Hollywood ate up films from France and Italy. Good French films were being designed on Hollywood ideals.

Even today, the French could be ignoring their local French film for a Hollywood feature starring some popular stars.

European cinema is superb and America has some fine Independent film makers. Jim Jarmusch is well known and Woody Allen gets good response in Europe.

Even there (Europe), the industry is run by Hollywood or Hollywood style films.

Have you been there and seen it?

(Nods) Yes.

What’s your ‘vision’ for Indian cinema?

Film development. To develop some films that are very local and yet have a global vision or global aesthetics.

Why develop and not make such a film instead?

Yes, to develop ideas and then to make a film on them.

Distinction in cinema can be simplified; there’s good cinema and there’s not good cinema… art and commerce…

Art and commerce are just… there’s good cinema or bad cinema.

So good cinema is naturally global, why the emphasis on global vision?

There are certain aesthetics that are global in nature. So the idea would be to remain local and carry the common global idea.

So aesthetics aren’t common?

No. There are some important common aesthetics…

Which aesthetics are not common to cultures?

I’ll give you an example. The film Children of Heaven tends towards neo-realism and children play a very important role in it. Now a filmmaker in India will realize the importance of the theme and make a film. He would source the theme from Children of Heaven and localize it to cater to the Indian mindset.

I saw a Japanese film where there is a long stage performance about Japanese culture and its subject is very alien to Indians. I liked it but some may not understand it. However, the idea that the sequence is important for the film and the filmmaker has not compromised on the quality makes it important and relevant.

Yes…

You’d say that the song and stage makes the theme common to Indians and not the performance or the idea behind the performance per se…

The song and culture would make it common to Indians.

But the Japanese filmmaker may not have made the film with the view to cater to Indian people

That’s where the idea of common aesthetics comes into picture. You have to include them to make the film universally appealing.

And that’s what you want to do

The talk ended soon thereafter with the idea of another such meeting.

Photo taken from here.

Kartikey Sehgal

[The author visits a pandal during the Durga puja festival and appreciates the effort to make it an artistic event. Certain unconfirmed names have not been mentioned]

Festival is the celebration of culture. You don’t have to be an anthropologist to partake the songs, dances and Gods during the ongoing Durga Puja.

In the last three days, I have listened to Bengali music and listened to Rabindranath Tagore’s idea of music and literature. I have listened to proud references to Bengali filmmakers Ritwik Ghatak and Satyajit ray. All of this in a simple pandal where the decorations are more symbolic than exaggerated; where the richness of clothes matters less than the will to appreciate art; where actor and singer Shekhar Sen‘s style of greeting takes you right into the festivities:

“Hello Kartikey. We have been praying to you. Only we Bengalis pray to you out here. Nobody else does”

The reference is to Lord Kartikey (Kartikeya) who occupies a place among the worshipped Gods.

The crowd was distracted during the performances, children wailed and some ladies discussed shopping. But this didn’t deter Shweta Sen, the event organiser, from reading out a self written commentary on Rabindra Sangeet and singing some Bengali songs. Shekhar Sen mellifluously sang a Bengali bhajan and a children song after explaining its meaning in Hindi.

We listened to paeans to Vitthal in the form of a Marathi song by a classically based singer, which was followed by two film songs by the winner of a music contest.

Today, I saw a classical dance, which was described as classical fusion by an admirer.

The ongoing program may not be exhaustive in terms of content or popular in terms of audience but it is an effort towards imparting meaning to a festival through good art. This is important considering that entertainment programs in the bigger pandals are highlighted mostly by remixed film songs and loud music.

I may visit the pandal in the remaining few days as well.

The pandal hosts artistic performances daily.