Padmaavat

 I am not/ was never fond of history. History is for somebody who loves to live in the past and abhors what's happening in the present. I always want everybody to concentrate on the present because the future gets shaped by it and the history gets laid down. So when so much hoopla was going on about Padmaavat; I at one level was amused and other, felt irritated. So much energy, so much material was spent on something that was 'Past', its occurrence itself, nobody is absolutely sure of. In spite of all these big questions in mind I went to see 'Padmavaat' with a clean slate, and I loved what unfolded on the Imax 3 D screen in front of me, that not only did tell the story of courage, integrity, grit, lust but above the all the inner beauty of a really beautiful queen of Mewad, Rani Padmavati, also known as Rani Padmini.

I really did not understand after seeing this version, to what really the objection was! The valour, the spirit, the strength and the values along with the ego of Rajputs comes out so vividly that I could not see any reason not to like it. The story, well may be based on a ballad by some Muslim poet,[ Malik Mohammad Jayasi], but in essence, it very well could be a depiction of those times as there are ample citations in the contemporary history about the exploits of Sultan Al-ud-din Khilji, and so why Mewad be the exception to that! 

I don't understand why the zealots do not like to see their icons as a common person in flesh and blood like you and me! All the Marathi historians too committed the same mistake. They liked to believe that all these greater than life heroes did not have normal life beyond the sword and the wars! How would they have reacted when they did not like the recipe served, or when they had a mildly upset stomach? Did they discuss all the time, the war and the political strategies within the confines of their bedroom when alone with the wife! Or did they all the time speak with that [? put on] vigour which in day to day life seems absurd! Novels after novels, play after plays were presented in the format, that ultimately it started getting stupid! 
In the same vein, why Rani Padmaavati should not be happy by doing a few steps of 'Ghoomar' in the confines of her domain along with her friends! They were not that old then [in those times] when were married off! And I don't think Mr Bhansali has crossed any limit of decency while picturizing this song! Not a single vulgar move or gesture, that's the hallmark of Bollywood! Deepika too, does justice to the 'Ghoomar' fully, by not imbibing on her part any mood or expression, not befitting the queen! Her mannerisms at times are mischievous but apt for any lady in that age, totally in love with her beloved! If at all one has to raise any objection[ In my opinion, senseless, objection for the sake of objection ], it is to this number.  But as said earlier why Rani should not have her own private pleasures in, as simple thing as doing traditional Mewad dance!

The only jarring thing was outdoor sets. They look too synthetic! Indoors, our craftsmen are masters in erecting the royal magnificence! 

Ranveer Singh scores only because the part is extremely loud and full with insane regalia. Shahid, on the contrary, is restrained but has much less to do than look decent royal Rajput! The one who looks every inch a beautiful but humane and regal queen of Mewad is, Deepika Padukone. She has filled the part with so many nuances that you stand for her in ovation! As a person too she seems to have her head firmly on her shoulders when she retorted to morons by simply saying' Take the picture in totality with reference to the context'

So true! How can you force today's values on the happenings of the past? Rather than accepting the sex slavery of Al-ud-din Khilji for her and of soldiers for her kith, kin and friends the decision of Jouhar was the only option as it was the order of the day! To drag it down to the vaginal level is not only inhuman and biased but plainly moronically stupid. In short, the pig head did not understand the essence of dignity, honour and respect! Some fool categorized the whole junk being definitely partial to Nay speakers! To everybody its own! 

For me, it was an experience worth a watch and I may say, it's the best from Mr Bhansali so far!

Sundarbans

Deep down inside I, basically am a wanderer, so do not like to be tied down to watertight itinerary. And Sundarban is just for people like me. It topples your cart at the first go. 

It so happened that kids were having Republic Day holidays, so the search for sites near Kolkatta, which could be covered up within 2-3 days, was done. It gave very few results. Darjeeling was vetoed out even without giving it due consideration,  as it was impossible 'To Do' it, in stipulated time. My son is a great fan of wildlife so it was zeroed down to 'Sundarban' for its galore of wildlife. Notable among-st it was the attraction for famous 'Royal Bengal' tiger.

Initially, my opinion about the nomenclature was, 'Another pompous arrogance' of Bengalis, as they always put themselves above the rest, for being [ or they assume ] more 'Articulate, Cultured and dignified !' 'Bhadra Lok'! In other words, 'Snob'? But it turned out that 'Royal Bengal Tiger' is really class apart in the species for a variety of reasons. More about it later.

As everybody knows, 'Sundarban' is situated on the marshy delta, created by the confluence of three major rivers of North India and Bangla Desh. Ganga [ Ganges, Padma ], Meghana [ Mostly from Bangla Desh] and last but definitely not the least, Brahmaputra. In fact, this marshy, water-laden topography starts from Kolkatta itself. Kolkatta has water bodies all over. Maybe, every 500 meters, either there is a small pond or a big lake. It goes from small canals to rivulets, to at times big rivers! [ So The abundance of mosquitoes and high incidence of Malaria !]. Water accompanies you all the way to 'Sundarban' because there are not less than 100s of rivers in Sundarban alone! I don't know or can't say specifically, but it seems that maybe, Bengalis are averse to name ' Ganga'. Right from their own Hooghly, which other than Kolkattans consider being the continuation of Ganga, none of the rivers from the area has the suffix 'Ganga, like we have here, in this part of India, say 'Panchganga. Vainganga Dakshin Ganga' and so on! 

It's a short journey of around 100 km only but takes longer time than expected, even though it's a state highway, SH No. 3. It has only two lanes and passes through many densely populated towns and villages. The road journey ends at Godkhali Ferry Jetty as there are no roads beyond and one has to travel in a boat! 

And here the itinerary took a spin downwards! Due to the extended weekend, the roads were jam-packed with holidaymakers. Our tour operator alone had 5 buses full of tourists! We reached Godkhali 90 minutes late due to frequent traffic jams! As there were no prior arrangements for who would ride which boat,  chaos ruled the roost on the wharf! And I realized that for a full throat-ed quarrel, language is secondary because when fought with full volume, all the verbal duels sound same and Bengali does not lag behind!

One funny thing has to be mentioned! Once off the jetty, most of the boats anchor midstream! Mid steam in capitals! It's to segregate the tourists according to their hotel reservations!  So we were asked to jump from one boat to another, that carried other travellers to our hotel! The ordeal did not end but continued for three more hours. As per the brochure, the boat ride was to be of only for an hour or so but our boatman had decided to have a race with a man walking on the banks, in a reverse way, "Who would be slower!" When confronted, the speed increased but did not overtake the man on the bank! By the time we reached 'Sajnekhali Pakhiralay Sanctuary,' it was dark, as dusk descends earlier on the east Indian horizons! There was 'No Lunch',  only biscuits were served in a journey of 5 to 6 hours since breakfast, naturally, the tempers rose, but well,  if you don't want to pay heed, you don't! Our pleas fell on deaf ears.

Everybody whom we had met a day earlier, when told, that, 'We would be visiting the  Sundarban', had said, ' Oh good, but you won't sight the Tiger !'

And the next day it was vastly apparent that the prophecy was going to be true! There were more than 10s of thousands, eager Tiger watchers waiting on the jetty for their chance! Reminded me of Bhushi dam revellers, with  15th August holiday falling on Saturdays!

To have the glimpse of the royal cat, your watertight itinerary is useless. You have to stay put for hours just to have the whiff. And with those thousands, it was well nigh, next to impossible!

Why Sundarban Tiger is Royal? Straight from the mouth of the guide. They are taller,  better looking with shining colour and bright stripes, stronger and much more ferocious among-st the species. And they drink salt water! Probably that's the reason for their being different! They can swim for miles crossing the river, to catch the easy prey from nearby human habitations. There are nearly 30 or more human deaths every year by tiger attacks!

The way you traverse the jungle terrains in a jeep, here you ride a boat. The only difference is, open Jeep hardly accommodates 5 to 6 people, here boat was teeming with people, ours had more than 35! Thus there was a fat chance to sight the tiger. We decided to do away with few spotted dears here and few wild boars there! The exception was a lazy croc resting on the mud bank listlessly!

Birds! Plenty lost the count.! Kingfisher soothed the eyes while this sparrow-like Robin took away the heart with its cuteness!

The biggest bird of the area a type of heron was just a sight to look at!

It abounds in flora and fauna. The mangroves having more than one species was news to me. In Mumbai we have only one type of plants in mangroves, maybe a few more but in Sundarbans there are more than 20 species of them with their breathing roots jutting out of the muddy soil to seek oxygen. Sundari plants from which the jungle gets its name abound in number! The jungle does not have many tall trees the way normal jungles have. The average height of trees here does not rise above the bush level.

What is breathtaking in Sundarbans, is the sight of waters! At one point there is a confluence of FIVE rivers! Prominent amongst them are Bidya and Matla. Reminded me of dialogue by Vidya Balan from 'Kahani' .' Vidya, Vidya, not Bidya'. But here, it's definitely 'Bidya'! Though the sea, Bay of Bengal, is far away, the vastness of the water body, reminds you of the sea, that takes your breath away!

We visited three spots via boat but it was disappointing due to maddening crowds. Maybe our timing was wrong but if you have more than enough time on the hand and patience to stay a put, Royal Bengal tiger should be a treat to the eyes.

Disillusioned as we were, we cut our trip short by a day and returned to Kolkatta earlier and it was a wise decision, We could spend quality time with our kids that was much more precious than the sight of Royal Bengal Tiger!

The City Of Joy

Oh, Calcutta! Extremely controversial play, even more than today's 'Padmavaat' when it was staged on the Broadway for the first time when we were in teens. Never watched, obviously, but got etched on the mind, for the fact that all the performers used to be stark naked, absolutely in their birthday suits. There was a lot of noise raised by 'Bhadra Lok' from then Calcutta but Broadway being Broadway, it did not pay any heed to the high pitched protests but continued on and it became the biggest hit of all the times! Time plays all the tricks. Today on the main road of Cal, stands a posh restaurant by the same name, 'Oh! Calcutta'!

Kolkatta! The City Of Joy. Again a famous book by Dominique Lapierre, on which a movie of the same name was made by Roland Joffe'.Late Om Puri played the protagonist along with late Patrick Swayze. It also went the 'Oh Calcutta' way. But it definitely depicted 'Never say die' spirit of the city positively [ La 'Do Bigha Jamin' by Bimal Roy ], of course from the western point of view. Nonetheless, the book's title earned the city its nickname 'The City Of joy', like all the Bengalis, who have two names.  A Real one and a pet one!

When you visit the place the second time after decades, the changes you notice are obvious. So when we landed on Dumdum's Netaji Subhash Chandra Basu airport, India's new-found opulence, so far only reserved for airports, feels up your eyes to the brim. But what jaded the most, was  'Illuminated' display, 'Welcome to Kolkatta, the Cultural Capital of INDIA'. Arrey! What an arrogance! Every culture in the world is equally rich and profound, and changes, like language, every hundred miles. And thus India has a vast spread of cultures from North to South and from West to East, each one distinctly unique, regal and rich. Who gave Bengal the right to snatch away this cultural heritage of India to be wrapped up only in one colour, Bengali! Actually, the real INDIAN culture if you want to taste, nothing like 'Amchi Mumbai'! It's a potpourri of so many cultures, so much mixed up with each other, yet keeping everyone's identity intact, that in the truest sense, only Mumbai can be called  " The Cultural Capital Of Today's India"

It was pitch dark, as the plane has touched down at the unearthly hours of post-midnight, yet the road to and away from the airport was jam-packed and our Uberwala took more than 45 minutes to fetch us. That was the 1st lesson of Kolkatta. Uber and Ola both are extremely difficult to get, anywhere in the city and waiting period is never less than 30 minutes. You keep on seeing them on your mobile, but minutes together they don't move. To tide over the crisis here is a tip. Get the estimate from Ola/Uber and ride Kali Pili, in Cal, Nili Pili, they are always loitering around and are game to take any distances. So named as 'No refusal' Taxis. Do they really abide by that? God only knows, because we tried only once and it was damn a wise move! Unlike Uber/ Ola they don't navigate by maps/GPR, but as they know Cal roads like the back of their hands, they take you to the destination piercing every gully and turning around every nook of Cal in minutes! The roads are smooth, definitely better than in Mumbai and are beautified, thus soothing to the eyes. Every lamp post on miles and miles of road is wrapped up in electric LEDs making Cal 'Eternal Bride' made up for the big event!
Newer assets of any Indian city nowadays are her flyovers. And Cal abounds in them. Maybe it could be a reason why Amma Lalitha used to get elected in Chennai and Mamata Didi keeps on getting elected in Bengal. They changed their states definitely to better states! MAA flyover, of course, named after her, zigzags through entire proper Kolkatta for miles and miles and has umpteen number of entries and exits. At times it has more than 2 to 3 tiers one above the other. Last time I was warned, to start at least 4 hours before the departure from Howrah, as bridge used to have bumper to bumper traffic jam, that made a pretense of moving! Last week we made to Howrah in peak hours just within 30 minutes!

A mandatory photo if you are in Cal.
Glaringly opposite was the under-construction Metro from Garia to Dumdum. Pillars are erected, slabs are laid down in most of the places but stations look like relics left after a heavy air raid! We could hardly see anybody working on the site during our entire stay in Cal. On the last day, there seemed some hope. On the entire stretch of a few kilometres, I could locate 3 workers maybe 4, with their supervisor working on something that did not seem that important! It was told that the state of affairs is for last more than 5 years. Could not understand, why the establishment that could erect so many flyovers within such a short span of time, is not taking Metro that seriously? Is it or maybe, because the flyovers were funded by the State Government and Metro is being built by the Central agencies? No political hints, from my side!
I had not visited Victoria Memorial in my last visit so it was a must.

The elegantly built structure must have been built with Taj Mahal in the mind. In sparkling white marble though the building is breathtakingly elegant, does not take away your ire towards the exploiters who bled India economically and divided us on different fronts on which we still are fighting!
Another pleasant shock that Cal gives to Mumbaikars like us, is its affordability. My son has rented a 3 bedroom, nicely furnished flat for really a paltry sum. Apartment of those dimensions could easily fetch a rent in 50 ks in Mumbai! Crisscrossed the city in Metros, by Ferries, Buses and  Olas and Pili Taxis but the fares always left chuckles from the mouth. Rs 10 for two when you travel by bus for more than 10 km ??!! Did not eat much of street food, but it seemed hygienic and reasonably priced! Even the airport had much cheaper food as compared to Mumbai's!
Visited many so-called tourists' spots but some events just come and go, not leaving any imprint behind, either on the mind or on time. Except for the warmth of visit to my son and daughter in law, this visit to Kolkatta did not leave any impact, no vibe! I just visited Cal and that's all!