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Wednesday, March 28, 2007
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Drama Team name: Sansriti
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Director: Debesh Chattopadhyay
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Main actors: Sabyasachi - Debshankar Halder, Indra - Rajatava Dutta
The remake of Rip Van Winkle, Winkle Twinkle played on Sunday, February 18, 2007 at the “Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata” and was sold out. The story of a man, Sabyasachyi Sen a naxalite from the 70’s, who had slept for 26 years, six more than the original Winkle and suddenly awoke feeling that he had just slept overnight.
The initial melodrama is slowly pushed into the background and what emerges is an ideological introspection of the state’s past, its struggle with the emergency rule and the values on which the whole naxalite movement was formed. It also portrays the present communists ruling the state and how far they have come from the teachings of people like Lenin and Marx and still naming their parties after these great statesmen. The protagonist wakes up to a society thriving on consumerism and capitalism and is further confronted by his own son who follows a different ideology in hope of perks and privileges for being a party member.
Sabyasachyi’s own conflicts are depicted in dream sequences and were handled with a delicate touch. Winkle is less moved by the changes in society rather he is encouraged by it. What he finds unbelievable, is to see some of his own comrades from the past having forgotten their basic principles from the past and become opportunistic or having held on to their social and communist values and become cynical and bitter.
The final scene between father and son shows that although times have changed and there is no clear demarcation of ideologies and all political parties having become open to “issue based coalitions”; the final human touch, the sentiment and the revolutionary in each of us is still, very much alive. The conflict still remains but what emerges is a deeper understanding between the two ages with its unique sets of values and principles. Some in the audience who had experienced the Naxal movement would have no doubt gleaned more from this satirical drama.
The experience was exhilarating and the jibe at today’s politicians and their nexus with common criminals and the media was attacked directly and was greatly appreciated. The applause said it all, the unique story line paving the way for a strong social message interspersed with subtle comedy and the intended pun coupled with forceful dialogues impressed each one of us albeit at different levels of understanding.
I would also like to express my gratitude to my friend, Kousik who invited me to this evening rather than a couple of rounds of beer in the nearby pub. All in all an evening well spent.
TS: Can we have more people getting involved in non technical blogs?
So here I was in eFORCE, adding folds to my midriff and all the fitness regimen..... forgotten in time. The hours of my day became predictable. I was learning a lot of things, in bits and pieces; and slowly again as if in a pattern, moved into things which came naturally to me. Organizing, coordinating and reporting
Rajiv (as he has told me he would like to be addressed) once told me amongst the plethora of things I was learning that he uses a notepad(not the MS Office version) and pen to mantain all his meetings and appointments. Frankly, there was something eerie going on here. I mean I was at a software development firm and my colleague says he uses a hard notebook for his engagements. He doesnt need it he says and if you know Rajiv, you would know he means it when he says it. I remember my days in the uniform where a notepad was all I had, to make note of everything from operational orders to administrative tie ups.
You get a new view of life everytime you think you have solved the puzzle. All our life we strive to make our lives simple and end up making it more and more complex. And does it actually change our lives for the better? or does it make us more selfish, selfcentred and entangled in a vicious circle of wants and means....... Dangerous thoughts????!!!
And I told myself, Vanderlust has hit me again.......Change is the only constant thing in life and suddenly I decided to hone my management skills further and add some weight to my CV. Why?? Note the impulsive pattern.............
Sorry to disappoint you Thanesh; the topics you wanted me to elucidate on are things I only like doing, not talking or writing about it. So have one for me everytime you have a drink and we shall square things up when we meet.
Till then........Ooh by the way guys am posting the next one too. Not as boring as the last two I hope!!
Thursday, January 11, 2007
I recently requested for my own blogsite and the administrator (in this case someone who wants to be called a .NET developer) actually hit me with the idea that maybe i should write something about life@eFORCE viz a viz life@Army
Well here I am trying to bore you all blind with a comparison of sorts. I have heard that you should never compare and that the grass is always greener on the other side etc. Its been a long journey for me.....for those of you always going onsite :) this might seem like a bit of a misnomer since I havent yet been out of India. A journey, I feel, can be physical, mental and some would like to add spiritual.
I was the typical college kid when blues and heavy metal were still in and doing the usual rounds of smoke ups and jam sessions and was graduating in English, not because of any inherent interest in literature but only because that was the subject which one could clear without much effort. I had lots of time for myself and my friends and life was rocking.
My dad once asked me what i wanted to do in life and my first reaction was " Do u have to do something?" LOL. Anyway that started my material quest in life. I always wanted to do something different and traveling was a passion for me. Getting lost in wilderness has always been my idea of a perfect vacation. An escapist that i am, I always wanted to be on vacation.
The man in OGs (olive greens) had always been my ideal and so i appeared for the UPSC examination for combined defence services and lo behold got selected. My parents of course breathed a sigh of relief that at last I would be doing something with my life. This started my career in the Indian Army.
Everything was hunky dory for a while and I basked in self acclaimed glory:) but after sometime it seemed that there was more in life than the army. I was never a good student and army required you to do well in courses and goes without saying that i failed abysmally. I enjoyed staying on secluded posts which were cut off during winters and going on operations with my team. The one good thing about the army was you had decisive seniors and loyal juniors so no task seemed impossible and no peak was insurmountable. Well impulsive that I am, I decided to quit and since I had joined as a short service commissioned officer it wasnt very diffcult at the end of my contractual service.
Well, here I was back in Civilian life without a job or any idea how to get one. I had contacted a few of my seniors who had also quit and were now working in the corporate jungle. And that was when i got a tip that eFORCE was looking for an ex army officer for their Kolkata office.
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