Chutzpah like none other...

Picture Courtesy: Mausam Champaneria

“ To be or not to be ”

Hands down, the most ENJOYABLE movie I have watched this year. Yes a bit slow but the real Vishal Bhardwaj one. 

I always think that if I would not have been an engineer, I have gone for BA literature with Shakespeare as my main subject. Even if, if..then has put me to the least coveted option, I finally have somehow somewhat managed to learn the Shakespeare tragedy especially from VB movies, wikipedia and few articles. Ya I have never dared to start learning Shakespeare dramas may be because of it's length. Bizarre huh...!!   

Anyways... Before starting anything, I would like to show my courtesy to my cousin, Mausam, for his courtesy to me, for the extraordinary creation, which I - without courtesy of asking him - have put as the face of my blog. Ya the poster above that you obviously have mistaken for some googled image is actually a drawing. I am sure he won’t mind for using it. 

You must be thinking that I am writing about this movie after a long time of its release but after watching it for the second time I couldn't resist myself. Talking about movie.. The main idea is to show the calamity in Haider and his mother’s life. The story unfolds with Haider feeling betrayed, by his paternal uncle Khurram, for luring his mother to fall in love and ends extenuating the most famous Hamlet quote “To be or not to be”. The thought is truly justified from Haider’s character. Even if it could have been better, the psychic character of Haider is vindicated by Shahid. One more interesting part of the movie was its plot which set amidst the insurgency-hit Kashmir conflicts of 1995 and civilian disappearances. Ya because of that many a times I found the movie getting a bit diverted from its main idea of familial tragedy but on the other hand the Kashmiri mentality can rightly be learnt from many scenes and dialogues. The satire which depict a guy who is hesitant  to go inside his own house without search is truly comic but the heart-rending one. 

The tipical Shakespeare signature, as was there in Omkara and Maqbool, is there in this movie too. A critical woman character that throughout is veracious but the actor(in this movie Haider) finds it to be erroneous. Ghazala played by Tabu has various shadows. At one point she is the helpless woman because her husband is picked up by authorities and her house is blown up in front of her eyes. She is a half widow as they address the women whose husband are missing. But at other point this half widow is not just sitting and crying but also trying to enjoy her life with her brother in law.

Apart from Ghazala and Haider, other characters are also well justified. Khurram played by Kaykay is impeccable. The only problem with Haider is it's length. It could have been much shorter with as much impact. At one point I started feeling the movie too slow. But these are tiny ripples on this filmy lake. All in all, Haider is superb, witty and violent tragic-magic. It’s a sure shot winner!

May we would have the Indian adaption of one of Shakespeare's better-known play, which is still regularly performed in the theaters "The Merchant of Venice" soon. 

The fire-born princess...

"Revenge is not always better, but neither is forgiveness; learn to know them both, so that there is no problem." 

The great Mahabharata has always been the most interesting topic to read. Many of the characters are the fields of research. Whether be Karna, Draupadi, Bhishma, Duryodhana or the most fascinating and my favorite Ashwathama.

Beautiful, brave and controversial, the heroine of the Mahabharat, Draupadi has made Mahabharata an out of the box epic.

The woman who heartily loved Krishna and had crush on Krishna but always known as the best friend of Krishna, Draupadi had once asked Krishna to marry her when “swayamvara” was arranged. Krishna had told her that he would get up and marry her if the hardest task given to the princes present is not achieved by a single prince. But Arjuna did the needful. It was the day that underway the destitutions in Draupadi's life. She reached to her mother in law for blessings and got gifted with exceptionally unexpected gift; the blessings that totally changed her life; the blessings of polyandry.

The idea of one woman having many husbands makes most men feel inadequate, not least her husbands. Little wonder then Draupadi is one of the most popular and controversial heroines of Hindu mythology. A woman who knows her mind, speaks her mind, refuses to be cowered by her husbands, asserts her will and admonishes them when they fail her. A woman who bravely scolds even Krishna and asks about the problems she had faced for her entire life. A woman who satirically reminds Duryodhana that he is a son of the blind. She is, in many parts of India, a goddess, worthy of sacrifice. 

But Draupadi is not the only polyandrous woman in Indian mythology. Her mother-in-law, Kunti, knew many men: four gods (Surya,Yama,Vayu and Indra) besides her husband, Pandu. But unlike Draupadi, her association with the gods was not public knowledge. It was whispered in corridors, not announced in courts. And they did not really count as they were not husbands, just child providers. Whatever it may be, the action was polyandrous.  The scriptures refer to other women who had many husbands: Gautam-clan Jatila who married to seven Saptarishis and Hiranyaksha's sister Pracheti who married to ten brothers. Thus there was more open attitude toward polyandry in Vedic society.

In early societies with high infant mortality rates and short lifespans, polygamy was preferred to polyandry. When a man had many wives, the family could have more children than when a woman had many husbands. This is one of the reasons why women were usually kept away in seclusion and safety, a practice that eventually led to the throttling of women rights.

In temples, one does see gods with many wives: Shiva with Gauri and Ganga; Vishnu with Bhoo-devi (Goddess of Earth) and Sri-devi (Goddess Lakshmi); Ganesh with Ridhdhi and Sidhdhi. This is either accepted rationally or elucidated using metaphysics. But there are no images of the Goddess with multiple husbands. Usually her doorkeepers, such as Kala Bhairav and Gora Bhairava, are described as her sons or servants. The idea of the Goddess with more than one husband is unacceptable. Even suggesting it is sacrilegious. 

Draupadi with her five husbands and an entire epic revolving around her stirs the imagination - makes us think of things that we otherwise dare not think. How did she rate her husbands? Did she have preferences ? By what criteria? Nakula was the handsomest but Bhima was the most passionate and Arjuna,he was skilled but insecure. Did she actually like Arjuna the most as depicted in at the end of an epic; the thing finally led her to the door of hell?

One hears of co-wives fighting over their husband's affection. Did the husbands fight over Draupadi? The epic does not explicitly discuss this, but the possibility of jealously tearing the brothers apart is repeatedly alluded to. The sage Narada warns the Pandava brothers of conflict that can destroy their bond. Narada suggests that they make careful bedroom arrangements to allow equal and exclusive access to each husband for a limited period of time. Any brother who enters her chamber when she is with another husband will have to perform penance. Arjuna does stumble in once while she is in the arms of Yudhishtira and so has to go on a pilgrimage to atone. During this 'pilgrimage', he ends up with three more wives. 

Kunti asked Arjuna to share Draupadi with his brothers. Did Arjuna felt hesitated to share one of the most beautiful woman with his brothers? If so, why didn’t he utter a word? Did Draupadi feel bad with this thing? Epic even doesn’t discuss the thing unambiguously. May be Arjuna was the most cultured guy and it was not good to oppose mother in law in the vedic time even if you feel something wrong.

Every brother has exclusive rights to Draupadi's chamber for a year, and then has to wait for four years for the next turn. Why one whole year? Perhaps because it gave Draupadi enough time to bear a child for that husband without any paternity issues. She bore each of her husbands a son. 

Before she moves to the next husband, Draupadi walks through pyre to regain her virginity and purity. Such rules were never placed before polygamous husbands. But Draupadi had a rule of her own for her husbands. The same rule as was applied by lord Rama in Ramayana.

She makes it very clear to her husbands that they cannot bring any other wife into the same house. Thus all the Pandavas have other wives, but these wives stay with their parents and the Pandavas have to travel out of the city to visit their other wives in the four years that Draupadi is intimate with the other brothers. The only exception is made for Krishna's sister, Subhadra, who marries Arjuna. 

Stories are told of how Draupadi came to have five husbands. Explanations are needed for a culture desperate to explain such a discomforting practice. One story goes that in her past life she was a sage's wife; her insatiable sexual appetite led him to curse her that in her next life she would have five husbands. Another story tells us that she asked Shiva for a husband who was noble and strong, skilled with the bow, handsome and wise. Since no single man could possess all five traits, Shiva gave her five husbands, each with one trait. 

Yet, This woman with five husbands is dragged into court and disrobed in public. She wonders why this happened to her. Folklore states that Krishna had sent the perfect husband for her - one who would love and protect her all her life and be faithful to her. His name was Karna, but she rejected him because of his low caste. So, she ended up marrying a man who shared her with his brothers and failed to protect her when she needed him most. Some states that Drupada asked for the most difficult life for her Yaganaseni.

Whatever it may be but the Draupadi’s character is always an inspiring one for all women. The character that makes woman the sturdiest, the strongest and the toughest in any circumstance.

-(Inspired from an article published in the Hindu)

Freedom at midnight...

Review

“Freedom at Midnight is an excellent bitter-sweet recounting of India’s tryst with freedom and destiny..”

I still remember the day I started "Freedom at Midnight" for the very first time around six years back. Actually I got the idea of reading it when I was reading Gunvant Shah's Sardar Patel biography, which was having many references from "Freedom at midnight". I was searching for the book from around three months and finally got it from my college library. (Of course it was readily available at crossword in around 500INR which I was hesitating to spend at that time.) It was the first time that I was about to begin a book with more than 400 pages.

The moment I opened this book and read the first few pages, I felt that tingling sensation in the back of my neck that usually alerts me of something great about to happen, and I knew, just knew that I had come across something truly rare. And the more of it I read, the more I knew I was right—this was the most perfect piece of writing I had read , and quite possibly ever. By the end of it, I felt like my mind had been stretched so far, I needed a map to navigate back to the mundanities of regular life.

For anyone who wants to a peep into the history of India, with all its conspiracies and politics, "Freedom at Midnight" is the first book I would recommend, written by the dynamic duo authors Lapierre and Collins.

So far as I remember, the book initiates with a scene of big body of Winston Churchill going from the ten downing street. The book begins with the appointment of Lord Mountbatten as the last viceroy of British India, and ends with the death and funeral of Mahatma Gandhi. We may not know many things which are explained with too many confidential records. It characterizes the problems of the Maharajas and their eccentricities extremely well. The problem of the princely states, mainly Kashmir is written in great detail. The main portion of the book is of course, the partition and how India and Pakistan were created from the erstwhile British Empire. And if partitions are mentioned, how can one forget the horrendous riots? The book gives a full, often gruesome account of the Punjab riots, the religious fanaticism and tells us how Gandhi single-handedly ensured peace in Bengal. The riots and immigration of the Hindus and Muslims is explained in truly emotional way. I still remember my journey from Ahmedabad to Surat when I was reading the riots part of the book and was literally too much emotional reading it. What a narration.! The assassination of Mahatma Gandhi is explained in truly an amazing way. The book bravely explains the efficiency of Sardar Patel and failure of Jawaharlal Nehru at many points. If you really want to know the entire plan of the killing of Mr. Gandhi by the disciple of Vir Sawarkar, go for the book.

The duo writers have undertaken vast amounts of research. And this is reflected clearly in the book. They represent facts, quite biased at points, I must admit and in the process, strip down each legendary freedom leader that we have seen as gods to mere mortals. The accounts of Gandhi are completely different from anything you would have read in school and you see the Mahatma in new lights, some good, some bad. The book brings out the details behind every little event in India. Even you may feel at some point of time that India had diplomatically got Kashmir, which was still truly needed at that point of time.

All in all the book is a masterpiece which will propel you through the pages of history. Every part of this unique story is sheer genius, every facet of it truly unexpected and utterly mind-blowing. I would say just one thing.. Go For It.

Some of my favorite books...

I’ve been drafting my next blog post in my head for what seems like weeks now, (and of course after a year long time) so I’ll try to keep it short so that I don’t keep putting it off! Finally after a long I am writing about my favorite subject, the one I always make my friends bored of.. "My Darling books.."  

In true book junkie style, I have so many books that I have enjoyed very much and consider to be favorites of mine. Their stories have stayed with me, I have re-read them several times and will probably re-read them again at some point. I am including some of them here, in no particular order. 

I am going to link the above posters with views on them soon. I will keep you posted as soon as I am done with my linking part. Hopefully I may do it by this weekend only (so far as I am not indulged in some unwanted activities..)