Accompanied by a friend – Ashish – yet another victim of the pink slip, they embarked on an unplanned journey, passing through holy places – Haridwar, Rishikesh – en route to the Himalayas, the jungles of Orissa, remote hamlets, villages and small towns, the IT city – Bangalore, pleasure haven – Goa, et al.

Traveling light, without laptop or cell phone – they journey by rickety buses, general compartments of local trains, rented bikes and on foot, staying in small nondescript hotels and lodges, befriending strangers, meeting people they would have never met before, drinking tea from roadside shacks and eating food that would have been labeled “unhygienic” many times over.

Braving the heat and biting cold, unexpected rains, staying unshaved and unwashed – they encounter villagers – farmers and simple hill folks, truck drivers, hotel helpers and caretakers. And a vast number of sadhus! Claiming to have supposedly ‘renounced the world’ – they go about smearing themselves with ash, emulating the third of the “Trinity”, smoking chillums and demanding money or trying to think of ways to make some. This particular group or industry has never put a freeze on hiring even during the bitter Himalayan winters. And they have never been pink-slipped! Rather they are pink slip proof.

Incidentally, this ancient Vedic faith has always stressed upon “Karma Yog” or the “discipline of action”. It has never advocated ‘renunciation of the world’. Instead urged us to always do our duty or uphold ‘Dharma’, to the best of our ability – on righteous principles. Of the four paths to realization, Karma Yog is the science of achieving perfection in action. To quote Shri Krishna’s immortal words from the Bhagavad-Gita (Chapter II-47):

“Karmanye Vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana,
Ma Karma Phala Hetur Bhurmatey Sangostva Akarmani.”

Meaning: “Thy business is with the action only, never with its fruits; so let not the fruits of action be thy motive, nor be thou to inaction attached.”

How simple and how relevant, even today! That the Bhagavad-Gita is universally renowned as the jewel of India’s spiritual wisdom, it is because of Karma Yog.

But I digress.

Which of the people that Aditya and Ashish encounter are happy? Who are the ones that have been able to reconcile themselves with their circumstances? What is faith and what role does it play? You will come across these and some more… in bits and pieces in the book.

Suggestions: However their encounters with the truck driver (Harvinder), the nameless sadhu and the hotel helper cum caretaker Robert… make for an interesting read, though I feel there was scope for some more insightful narrative about the sense of vastness, mystery, power and the critical ingredients of our lives.

Certain events and encounters like the one in the jungles of Orissa (now Odisha) are underdone. There is definitely scope for some more content there and the characters, their situations and their conversations could have been better fleshed out. In the absence of which, the emotions that the author would have liked to convey have not come through that well. They seem somewhat barricaded, so to speak.

Ditto Malti. In her case, the metamorphosis is a little too rushed. She is vulnerable, hurt, lonely, shelter less, scared and scarred, and all of this can ebb or be overcome only gradually. We miss that process, that journey.

Even the co-explorer – Ashish – becomes irrelevant, a mere ‘tag along’ after a while. Additional dialogue to him and more conversation between him, Aditya, the nameless sadhu, Harvinder and Robert would have helped. It may have provided a different perspective. Some conflicts too would have been refreshing… say between Aditya and Ashish.

The author has chosen the impersonal ‘telling’ route over the more interesting dialogue or conversation format. It’s best not to ‘tell’ your readers what your characters feel. Show them through action. But that’s very hard to do, and takes practice. Ruskin Bond excels in this genre but then he is a class act. It’s so much easier to ‘tell’ how the characters feel instead… but it ‘takes away’ too and gets monotonous after a while, leaving the reader unable to postpone the niggling feeling that the author was perhaps in a hurry to complete the book and maybe, just maybe had a page limit in mind too.

The production quality of the book is average but the book jacket cover is quite attractive. However I feel that the titles of the chapters (e.g., ‘Captured’, ‘The Escape’, ‘Lost Somewhere’, ‘Still a rat?’ etc.) reveal too much and rob off the charm and suspense of the following pages. It somewhat dilutes the interest. Not done.

At only 144 pages, Somewhere @ Nowhere makes for a breezy read. The chapters are short… much like the pages of a diary and give the impression that one is reading the book faster than one actually is. However, some tighter editing to prune out some versatile and advanced filler words and phrases like: “and all”, “or something”, “stuff” and doing away with the one obvious flaw: the somewhat prosaic and sometimes rather clunky writing… would have greatly helped in making the readers’ journey smoother.

With the kind of events weaved into the narrative, a lot more could have been done. With the right mix: some taut drama, conflicts, surprise elements, a few heart tugging moments and by cutting out the deadwood – filler words/phrases and perhaps the urge for a quick closure, this one could have turned out to be a very good read. A very good read in it’s own right – a much meatier, insightful and thought provoking read.

My rating: I am going with a 3/5 for Nikesh Rathi’s debut novel. It is not a run-of-the-mill story and stands out among the deluge of dreck camouflaged as romantic novels in our bookstores these days and at just Rs. 150/ is light on the wallet too.

However, Somewhere @ Nowhere should have been a longer journey with some more content added to it. There was ample scope for it too. But, for a debut author it is a fairly good attempt. I would say that the book held a lot more promise than it actually delivered. Whether it contains some bits and pieces from the author’s own life… my guess is as good as yours. But I feel Nikesh can do much better. It may be a good idea to revisit the storyline before the book gets into its second or perhaps third print run. It will feel complete then.

Details of Book: Somewhere @ Nowhere/ Author: Nikesh Rathi/ Pages: 144/ ISBN: 812231130X/ ISBN-13: 9788122311303, 978-8122311303/ Publishing Date: 2010/ Publisher: Cedar Books – Pustak Mahal/ Binding: Paperback/ Price: Rs. 150/ (Rs. 143 on Flipkart)

Photograph: The book jacket cover of Somewhere @ Nowhere. Picture courtesy: link.

A few months ago… a film curiously titled “Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey” (KHJJS) hit the theatres. Helmed by the acclaimed Bollywood movie director Ashutosh Gowarikar… there was reason for hope that Gowarikar, who has, over the years, marked out the ‘Historical’ as his preferred territory will not simply make another kitschy Bollywood Hindi Masala/Musical film out of Masterda’s life. He has sung his eulogy to Mughal India in Jodhaa Akbar (2008) and expressed his patriotic fervor in Lagaan (2001) and Swades (2004). Also according to reports, he was adapting the movie from the 1999 book ‘Do and Die: The Chittagong Uprising 1930-34′ by veteran journalist Manini Chatterjee.

But that was clearly not to be. With ‘KHJJS’ he made his grand return to the genre of the ‘Historical’ after his brief stint at a potboiler – an epic 200-minute-long documentary on arranged marriage called ‘What’s Your Raashee?’ that managed to boil one thing for sure – your blood. With his latest film Ashutosh seems to have the plot and the patriotic fire fails to touch the souls. In ‘KHJJS’… he makes a hash nay massacres one of the most inspiring stories of our freedom struggle (the Chattogram uprising) – and successfully reduces it to a dull, painful 165-minute-long abomination… proving the dictum that history is never boring, only the teacher is. First he doesn’t seem to believe in editing, and then his treatment is so banal and dull, that it puts you to sleep… albeit a disturbed sleep complete with nightmares.

We forgave him for re-writing history with ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ for casting the dishy Hrithik Roshan as the Mughal Emperor Akbar… who at 5 feet 7 inches, stout, with mongoloid features and a very loud voice was far from eye candy material. We even overlooked/excused the title of that movie itself – ‘Jodhaa Akbar’. For (according to several accounts) Jodhabai (a Rajput princess) and the daughter of King Bharmal of Amer was one of the many wives of Akbar’s son Prince Salim aka Emperor Jahangir and the mother of Prince Khurram aka Emperor Shah Jahan. Akbar maintained a harem of 33 wives… one of which was the Rajput princess Harka Bai – the mother of Prince Salim aka Emperor Jahangir. Nevertheless we managed to digest Gowarikar’s ‘theory of relativity’. We loved ‘Lagaan’ too but then it was faux history.

What we cannot and will not forgive and forget is this drivel called “Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey” – passing off as a well-researched saga of our freedom struggle. Where the main protagonist, the fearless ‘Masterda’ Surjo Sen (played by the insipid and listless Abhishek Bachchan) cannot even pronounce “Chattogram” properly calling it “Chotto” gram instead. Where the perfectly made-up (17 year old, fiery revolutionary and bomb expert) Kalpana Datta, essayed in all her plastic glory by Deepika Padukone (with her flawed Bengali accent and clad mostly in a saffron coloured saree) who even when caught in the blast of a bomb still looks as clean as she is in her Liril ad. (Errr… was Liril one of the sponsors?? Oof Yu Maa!!!) Incidentally… Kalpana Dutta (1913-1995) was a member of the armed resistance movement led by Surjo Sen, which carried out the ‘Chattogram Astragar Lunthan’ aka the ‘Chittagong armoury raid‘ on April 18, 1930. (‘Chittagong’ is the anglicized version of ‘Chattogram’). In the film you can never forget you are watching Deepika Padukone trying her best to portray Kalpana Dutta as Deepika Padukone!

Ashutosh and his team has made a total hash of Pritilata Waddedar‘s (essayed by Vishakha Singh) radical feminism and heroic martyrdom, with the depiction of her as a love-lorn woman who commits suicide, with no pressure of death, just because she wants to join her dead love. A romantic story I personally am hearing for the first time here. It is a total subversion of what she stood for. They even insinuate a romantic angle between Surjya Sen and Kalpana Dutta – yet another product of the fertile imagination (creative license?) of the esteemed director and his team. Methinks… the viewers should have a license to silence the misuse of creative license.

At the start of a sequence where Pritilala (Vishakha Singh) goes on a crusade of bloody revenge on the British for her (supposed) lover’s death, there is a scene of her in a dark room with her shadowy but emblazoned face and the picture of goddess Durga in the background visible. Gowarikar’s use of the stereotypical, formulaic evocation in Hindi cinema of the goddess to denote a wronged, angry and vengeful woman is not only garish in its aesthetic taste but also seems like the revolutionary was lead more by personal revenge than wrath against the colonizers. Must say… it was Gowarikar’s script tease!

Perhaps he was under pressure by Bollywood culture, etc to ‘conform’ and depict any Indian woman as the weak, long suffering, forever sacrificing, ‘sati-savitri bharatiya nari’… which actually is a result of the joint venture between vested interests and a horde of marauding conquerors who came in from the east and the west… in the last millennium or so. The female revolutionaries of colonial Bengal pushed the envelope and actually broke several barriers sending this ‘society created’ carefully and painstakingly built up ‘sati-savitri bharatiya nari’ image flying out of the window. These ‘society created’ images, social evils, etc also masquerades under the pseudonym – ‘our ancient culture and traditions’ – which (mind you) we all must uphold at any cost. And which our ever-increasing legions of ‘sons of the soil’ vow to do… at regular intervals. This also includes ‘women wearing jeans’ since the ‘ancient culture and traditions of India’ began at the very moment Levy Strauss ‘invented’ the blue jeans in 1873! Wonder why the history of the revolutionaries (especially the female ones) hailing from colonial Bengal – the seat of British power – is unknown to the rest of India… and why only the name of Rani Lakshmibai… the fiery Queen of Jhansi is bandied about?

The film was initially to be shot in West Bengal as it is nearest to Bangladesh (Chittagong is now part of BD) but the esteemed director chose Goa as he felt Goa was more similar to Chittagong than any place in West Bengal! Wonder where he learnt his geography! Akkebare bhugolete gol (difficult to translate, kinda means: total zero in geography).

‘KHJJS’ assumes its audience’s familiarity with the general history of British rule in India. The camera pans over lush green landscape and pans up to make visible a military plane, cut to a scene in a ground with young barefoot lads playing a game of football in spotlessly clean white ‘dhotis’ (called ‘dhutis’ in Bengali) and khadi ‘kurtas’ (called ‘punjabis’ in Bengali. Yes, Bengalis wear punjabis!) The boys look up to see the same plane pass by. Their game is interrupted when an ominous looking truck enters the frame and the football hits it. The British troops tell the kids to buzz off, as they are going to set up camp there… thus usurping the playground from the bunch of teenagers. They decide to seek the help of Abhishek Bachchan oops ‘Masterda’ Surjya Sen, a known revolutionary (and a school teacher) in those parts and offer him a deal. They say to him – “aap desh le lijiye hume hamara maidaan de dijiye” (tr: you can pursue your nationalist cause and free us our play ground). So Abhishek recruits the kids into a grand plan – to simultaneously attack the British armoury, cantonment, telegraph office and European club, where Indians and dogs were not allowed.

The very same kids, who wanted nothing more than their football ground to be returned to them, appalled by the repressive colonial rule and inspired by ‘Masterda’ and other revolutionaries later become valiant soldiers in the ‘Chittagong uprising’. What is amiss is the representation of the transformation process, forming an unbridgeable void in the narrative.

… And all the while their dhotis remain miraculously spotless throughout the game… untouched by the grime of the playground. This “historical” could have done with some dirt, a touch of daily reality of colonial India (or even colonial Bengal) and editing that does not just cut and paste the events together in a teleological narrative… but create conflict of perspectives as the events unfold. The claim of authenticity is made through the proclamation – “This is a true story”, which appears written onscreen before the film plunges into its narrative.

The narrative style is flat, completely lacking nuances in either the characterization or the drawing of the background of colonial Bengal. The British officers are all flat characters-painted pitch black; their sole role is to inflict violence on the innocent teenagers and the other revolutionaries. In the simplistic scheme of things a noble Muslim couple are introduced to nullify the damage caused by the Muslim officer who ruthlessly slaughters the young revolutionaries. It reminds one of the mandatory presences of ‘Karim Chacha’ – with a heart of gold – like character… found in Bollywood potboilers of the 60′s, 70′s, 80′s and 90′s.

What ‘inspired’ the casting for the main protagonists – Abhishek Bachchan as Biplobi Surjo Sen and Deepika Padukone as Kalpana Dutta… is the 8th wonder of the world. While some doubted Abhishek’s casting for Surjya Sen, Ashutosh had no qualms about signing him in, especially, after he saw Abhishek’s ease at handling the traditional Bengali dress of ‘dhuti’ – he was deft at it. Therefore, the humble ‘dhuti’ is the culprit… for this epic disaster that laid a massive turkey at the BO! *Wink* The only positive that this “casting coup” achieved was… both AB junior and DP were able to look eye to eye!

Hopefully ‘Chittagong’ starring Manoj Bajpai will do justice to ‘Masterda’ and our unsung heroes from a forgotten era.

Finally… Gowarikar had this to say about his latest offering… supposedly based on Manini Chatterjee’s book, “From the detailed accounts in the book I had to execute the script keeping the spirit intact and it was okayed by Manini.” Gulp! Ummm… on second thoughts let me be more generous to him and say that his intention is good but his understanding and execution aren’t.

Go for the book and avoid the movie/DVD/VCD at all costs.

Moral of the story: Don’t judge a book by its movie. QED.