A Random Story

Yesterday night was a bit special, as we all have to go back to our regular chores after a week long holiday break. I wanted to get my daughter to sleep early so that she will be getting up in time, and as usual she was expecting a story, without which she will not close her eyes. I started randomly - a story - I started making up as and how I felt like.

It was November and a lovely sunny day in suburbs of Madurai. Back in India, it is mostly sunny and hot and however from November till January, it will be mild and pleasant. An 8-year old boy called Akshay lay by the stream a mile away from his house listening to the sounds of the countryside. The birds were singing, the cows were mooing, the lions were roaring, and the sheep were .....

Hang on, did I say lions? Yes I did, and they were heading straight for Akshay. And also I thought you knew I said earlier that we have all big 5 animals in Madurai.

Akshay stood up and saw the three fierce lions coming across the field.

He heard a noise behind him, and, looking round, saw a Himalayan black bear (bigger and stronger than grizzly) stomping towards him. On his right there were a large number of tigers staring at him, and on his left, in the stream, was a crocodile, possibly a hungry one.

There was no escape as he was approached from all sides . Akshay didn't know what to do. He thought for a moment and realized that the only way out was going downwards, so he got a spade and started to dig. But he couldn't dig fast enough - the lions were rapidly approaching, the black bear was just a few feet away, the tigers were starting to move, and the crocodile was snapping at his heels.

Suddenly, a spaceship flew down from the sky. It was huge and shaped like a big fluffy Puri. A small door opened at the bottom and a streak of bright pinkish light beamed out of that door. It focussed right on Akshay and within seconds, he was sucked into the spaceship and then it zoomed away into deep space.

"Phew, that was a close shave" thought Akshay.

Now he was flying (or travelling) through space at a speed of five hundred miles an hour. The spaceship was driven by two aliens, both called Dave. They were green with large red eyes and yellow horns. One of them was wearing a T-shirt with the words "I've been to New York and ate hot dog" across the front. The other one wore an identical T-shirt.

Akshay was pleased to have been rescued from the animal attack, but was a bit unsure about where these two Daves were taking him.

It was quite hot in the spaceship, so Akshay asked if the heating could be turned down. Unfortunately, neither Dave was quite sure how the heating system worked so one of them opened a window instead. This was a big mistake because space is a vacuum and quite capable of sucking things out of spaceships. This is exactly what happened to the two Daves - they were sucked out of the window, never to be seen again.

Akshay did shut the window immediately and had to sit down at the controls, as no one was there to drive it. He'd never driven a spaceship before and was going to have to learn fast, otherwise he'd be in big trouble. He remembered the toy his dad gave him on his 7th birthday, which was a remote controlled airplane with a joystick and a couple of buttons to control it from the ground.

He saw a red button with the letter R on it, and pressed it. The radio came on playing Living on a prayer by Bon Jovi. He immediately started singing along with that, at the same time explored other buttons. Pressing a button marked W started the windscreen wipers. He realized, that his dad had used it only when it was raining outside. Since it wasn't raining then, he immediately turned them off by pressing the W button again.

Eventually he taught himself how to control the spaceship using the steering wheel and gear stick. It was exactly same as the toy he used control except, he being inside the spaceship. He spotted a button called ‘Waze’ and pressed the navigate option and selected ‘Go Home’, which brought the spaceship down to Earth. Akshay landed the spaceship his back garden just in time for dinner.

He told his mother about his little adventure, but she told him to stop telling lies and get on with his dal and roti.

Forty years later, Akshay was 48-years old and he went on holiday to Orlando, Florida with his family. While relaxing on a beach he saw two objects falling from the sky. They landed on his towel, and, on closer inspection, Akshay realized that it was the two Daves! After all this time they had finally fallen out of space and back to Earth.

The two Daves were delighted to see Akshay, and Akshay said he would look after them. Now, although the two Daves looked the same, they were in fact completely different. One was clever, and one wasn't. Let's call them Clever Dave and Not-so-Clever Dave.

Akshay said he would drive them to a shop to get some decent clothes. Akshay got in the driving seat of his Tesla P85D, Clever Dave got in the passenger seat, and Not-so-Clever Dave got on the roof rack. When the car started to move, Not-so-Clever Dave fell off the back of the car. He had to chase after them, but as he wasn't very good at running he decided to catch a bus. He climbed on board the number 7 bus and sat on the driver's lap. The bus followed the car all the way to the South Orange Avenue Florida Mall.

In the shop inside the mall Clever Dave put on a nice black suit and tie. Not-so-Clever Dave put a shirt on his legs, some socks over his ears, a hat on his feet and some shoes on his shoulders. He thought he looked smart, but he actually looked quite ridiculous.

Then they went to Olive garden to have a meal. Clever Dave picked up his knife and fork and ate his food. Not-so-Clever Dave picked up his food and ate his knife and fork! He even said it tasted delicious. For pudding, he had the tablecloth and a lady's purse.

Not-so-Clever Dave had a lot of trouble adapting to life on Earth. He couldn't understand why people had to pay for things in shops, so he kept getting arrested for helping himself.

One day, the two Daves were making a cake for Akshay's 49th birthday. Clever Dave was mixing some flour and sugar, while Not-so-Clever Dave was mixing some eggs and dynamite. When Not-so-Clever Dave put the mixture in the oven, there was a huge explosion and both Daves were blasted back to space, never to be seen again.

Akshay was sad to loose his friends, but tried to get on with life as best he could.

Another forty years went past and Akshay was now very old. One day, he was doing some gardening when he saw an airplane flying past. There seemed to be something hanging from one of the wings, so he got his binoculars to have a better look. Suddenly, whatever it was came free from the plane and started to float down to the ground. It turned out to be two things, not one, and both of those things were Daves.

Akshay was delighted to see his old friends again, although it was a shame that Not-so-Clever Dave had landed on his flower bed. They went into the house and got something to eat, because both Daves were hungry after floating around space for 40 years.

Akshay mentioned that he wished he were young again, because being old can be a bit of a problem. Then an amazing thing happened. Clever Dave produced a pack of Magical Wishing Powder and sprinkled it over Akshay.

Suddenly, Akshay was 8 years old again! It was November and a lovely sunny day in suburbs of Madurai. Back in India, it is mostly sunny and hot and however from November till January, it will be mild and pleasant. An 8-year old boy called Akshay lay by the stream a mile away from his house listening to the sounds of the countryside. The birds were singing, the cows were mooing, the lions were roaring, and the sheep were .....

Yes, thanks to Clever Dave, Akshay was able to live his life all over again. This time though, he dug a bit faster and escaped from the animals through a tunnel. In his second life he never met the Daves, but he always had happy memories of them ...

As I finished my story to my 9 year old daughter, I wasn’t quite sure, if she had slept or not, I probed her.

“Did you understand the story??”

I felt as if she was nodding her head. I wasn’t sure even then. I pushed further with a question.

“What animals were attacking Akshay?”

She murmured “Tiger, Lions and a bear” she paused and “and a crocodile”. 

I was a bit surprised and extended my examination.

“What were the aliens wearing when he first met them?”

“Red T-Shirt with New York on it” - I started wondering, how did she come up with the red color! I continued,

“Where did Not-so-Clever Dave sit on the bus?”

“On the driver’s lap and he went to the florida mall” - She was very determined

“What did Not-so-Clever Dave mix into the cake?”

“Eggs and a dynamite” she smiled with her eyes closed.

“Do you think aliens really exist?”

“Yes” - she went into deep sleep. Now I’m completely awake and started thinking about the story I made!

A Movie, History & Bliss

Last week during my year end vacation, when my wife told to go for a hindi movie - my reaction was same as before ‘Ney!’; She is a keen watcher of all movies let alone new hindi movies. She was determined to go irrespective of my inclination. I, with the very intention of making her happy, decided to go with her. She mentioned that it was a movie based on Indian history - and that was my only interest and expectation at that time.

I was not a great lover of indian movie - a rationale built over a period of time. My expectations were not that great, but if the movie - as a creative media - could not satisfy the basic function of a good storytelling, acting and a screenplay ponders the ‘what if’, I’d treat that as a waste of time. In my opinion, Indian movies in spite of having a great viewership and a great fan following, consistently performing well under the average. However there were some movies that came out of the blue and nowhere blew my expectations. Couple of such film were Dil Chatha hai and Kahani. These outliers and were not strong enough to change my opinion that the indian movies as a package -a colossal waste of time.

My apprehension on this movie immediately changed as the colorful mastery of the director and the passionate cast and the gripping story started filling the space around me. As it started sinking in, I felt that I lived the true Maratha life, witnessed the mogul kings and the harmony of hindu and muslim culture prevailed during those days. I felt like walking through the fortress of  Shanivar Wada and the elegant and charming men and women of 18th century. When the movie ended, I could feel the pain in my heart - that a reflection of a good movie. Kudos to the director and the entire team who created and presented Bajiao Mastani.

When we are walking out of the cinema hall, my wife looked at me and asked, as if I liked the movie.

I nodded my head - with a strong emotions in my head, a sign of journey through a good content and a splendid narrative.

As I was walking back, I was also a bit ashamed of not knowing parts of the indian history - filled with inspirational stories, powerful characters and unbelievable values the people possessed and the harmony in spite of major conflicts within. I started to do my research to find out what part of the movie was fiction and what was the real and recorded history. To my surprise, it was 99% true and 1% would have been the dramatization and the storytelling fillers. I felt sad that history in our vast country was recorded in local languages and remembered and recognized only regionally. All I knew from the great Maratha empire was Chattrapati Shivaji and his son Samabaji; I wish these types of movies many be one such creative media to get the history to the people.

Shivaji was one of the most prominent and remembered of Maratha kings, however the pinnacle of the mart empire came only four generations later. The history then had powerful players such as moguls and new entrants such as British India company, Portuguese and Afghan army from Peshawar. I was surprised to know that Maratha empire in its zenith covered more than 2.8 million km² - to give a comparison, the current day India according to the Word Bank is 2.97 million km²

After Shivaji, Sambaji and his half-brother Rajaram succeeded the throne, but could not make a great impact as a ruler. The Maratha women had also had their share when Trabai took over the throne in her son's name and ruled for seven years.When Shahu, the son of Sambaji, took over the control of the Maratha empire, things started changing. Shahu, who was helped by the Peshwa’s (equivalent of a prime minister or chief minister) - recruited some of the most talented people who took the empire to the new heights - one of them was Baji Rao Bhatt.

He was the main character of this movie. He had a great tenure as a military general, his virtues could easily surpass even Alexander the great. In approximately 20 years as the Peshwa, he waged close to 40 major battles and won each and every one of them. He was extremely talented fighter as well as a great military strategist, who sharpened the guerilla warfare which Shivaji himself started against Moguls. The irony was that he as an individual outcasted and down played by his own family & friends for a his affection, relationship and desire to give his second wife, a half muslim - equal rights and social status.

The story of this movie is based on a novel Rau by N.S Inamdar, a famous Maratha novelist - which brought out the human side of this great warrior Baji Rao. Baji Rao born in a traditional Brahmin family raised by his widow mother Radhabai became one of the most trusted generals of Chattrapati Shahu had a great family and adorable wife and son. The fate in his military campaign led him to help a Rajput Maharaja Chhatrasal and got attracted to his daughter (born to a Muslim mother- and raised as Muslim) Mastani. His affection to her and his openness of his relationship, his unabated love to his wife and his son, his misunderstanding with his own mother and brothers and struggling to cope up in the middle of his military duties was the central idea of Inamdar's novel and this movie.

We have to give credit to these historians and novelists - where they piece the information based on facts and evidences with a gripping narrative. Many a times, the truth may not correlate with our own belief and our understanding based on our past sources of knowledge - that should not shy us away from listening and open to the new views and contents. In that context - this movie and the creators had done the right justice to the history and the characters they had depicted. Recognizing and remembering our past in the right way is the best thing we can do to yourself and the generations to follow.

I’m sure this will be a movie which I’ll be adding to my list of all time favorites. I'm sure you will not be disappointed as well.