The Human Jungle

Last night I saw ‘Jana Aranya’ again. Everybody else was fast asleep. I hooked up my small portable DVD player, put on the earphones, put the disc in and off it went. 

As a Ray fan, I hardly ever missed his movies, but this one came out in the mid 1975’s when I was ten, and this was a rare Ray movie with an ‘A’ certificate, 16 years or older. Why it got a adult rating escapes me because, the most “adult scene” in the movie would be a girl hurriedly covering herself changing as her brother comes into her room to tell her that people have been watching her through the open window. Other than that there are no kissing or bed scenes or even violence. True, the theme of the movie is very much adult and perhaps the most astonishing thing I discovered this time was a small piece of dialogue which I missed in my previous viewings. 

This is the only Ray movie where a character says a Bengali equivalent of a four letter word. If you don’t believe me, I urge you to see the movie again, the scene where Somenath goes to Sukumar’s house after earning his first commission as a middleman. Listen carefully what Sukumar’s Dad says when Sukumar taunts him.

I never understood the reason for calling this movie ‘The Middleman’ in english. I know Ray chose  carefully his english titles for his foreign audience, but Shankar’s story had the perfect name, and literally translated would mean the human jungle. That’s exactly the story was, a innocent human being slowly transformed into a primeval specimen for his survival in the corrupt business  world and finally even resorting to pimp his best friends sister for a ‘contract’. 

As we watch the movie we see gradually the downward spiral that Somenath takes and as the Rabindrasangeet ‘Chhaya Ghonaichhe Boney Boney’ plays in the background we know that the shadows of immorality have already engulfed him, and there is no way out.

To me, Jana Aranya is the darkest movie I’ve seen and probably the best from Ray.

The Hole in the Mountain

Sometimes something good happens on a really bad day. I was flying to Queenstown for a conference, and as soon as I landed in Christchurch for the connection, I knew things are turning to custard. Now, Queenstown is the place to be in the height of winter. It’s a flourishing tourist spot with wonderful lakes and mountains and is known as the adventure capital of the world. If you like crazy things like Bungee jumping and paragliding then you’ve to go there. Plus the ski fields are full of winter skiers and snowboarders. 

However, Christchurch airport was in chaos. People littered like a refugee camp everywhere. A look at the departure screen confirmed my worst nightmare, my flight to Queenstown has been cancelled, along with three other flights. Clambering up to the booking desk, I was told that there was low dense clouds in Queenstown airstrip preventing the aircraft from landing. No, they don’t think there will be any extra flights. Yes, they can cancel my booking and put me  on a plane tomorrow but the weather has been unpredictable. Bummer, I thought.

What’s my options, I asked them. They best they can do is provide a flight to Invercargill and from there by road to Queenstown. 

But I had no real choice, with some luck, I might catch the end of the first days sessions. 

So there I was, clamped between an American snowboarder, who’s probably hasn’t had a shower for a while and a giggling teenager who was constantly texting on her mobile. So I put my headphones on, turned on my iPod and started to enjoy the scenery.

And what a scenery it was!! The whole of the journey was through the Southern Alps winding through the valley. most mountains had snow on them, but the weather was brilliant, dazzling sunshine. I could see a few of the three thousand meter plus peaks including Mt Aspiring, gleaming ivory white in the sunshine. 

Then something strange happened. On of the mountains had only a snow cap and a dark grey expanse. But the funny thing was, there was a big hole in the middle of the mountain. One could see right through it. It was surreal. Now, I have seen hole in the rock formations in the Bay of Islands, and in the middle of the Sea. But this was a mountain with a huge hole in the middle. As the car changed direction, I suddenly realized that the hole in the mountain was an optical illusion. The hole was in fact a cloud, perfect oval shaped, stuck in the middle of that huge rock, like a perfect imperfection. It blended perfectly with the partly cloudy sky making the illusion so real.

I wish I had the opportunity to capture the image. But the funny thing is, I think it was better this way. This pure image should not be captured digitally with a camera. It should stay, pure and untouched in my memory. Sheer magic!!