I am firmly of the belief that it is always our 'estranged
faces that miss the many splendoured thing.’ The Universe is perpetually and
incredibly busy spinning in and out of black holes and untiringly trying to
talk to us and show us things. It is obviously as persistent as we are
dimwitted.
But in all our lives there comes a time (quite a few if you
are a willing and quick learner) when the Universe loses its patience, holds
you by the scruff of your neck and makes you see. Or yells out its message at
the decibels of a jagrata loudspeaker in South Delhi. And once you do manage to
hear and see, you can never be the same person as you were before.
Of course this very excellent theory is based on my personal
experience. And though robust research would not count self admission of
changed attitudes and perspectives robust enough I shall tell you anyway – that’s why I am
writing this blog.
Some time ago, the immensely popular Bollywood film – Kabhi
Khushi Kabhi Gham was showing on TV for the ‘n’th time. And being the ardent
film buff that I am I was watching it with my daughters for the ‘n’th time. I shall tell you only as much of the films
story as is necessary for this blog.
A rich boy meets a less rich girl. Both are attracted to
each other and also equally aware that when it comes to marriage (most
Bollywoood films head in that direction) the girls family will not be
considered equal to the boys family. Moreover, the boy’s father is grumpy,
arrogant, cold and distant and the boy naturally hesitates to tell his father
who he wishes to marry.
The girl’s father on the other hand, is a widower, an amiable
and virtuous man, a good and loving father and provides his two daughters with
a spontaneous and boisterous upbringing. He owns a picturesque and profitable sweet
shop in Chandni Chowk– an ancestral family tradition of this Dilliwala family-and
completes the stereotype of the vibrant and vivacious Punjabi household.
To cut a long story short, the untimely and sudden death of
the girl’s father pushes the boy to take a decision and he informs his father
of the girl he wishes to marry. As expected, after the standard melodrama and
histrionics, the boy is disowned by his rich and bad tempered father. But the boy
stands by his true love and leaves home to marry the girl he loves. Years
later, we are told he takes the girl and her sister to far away England, sets
up his own business and provides very well for his wife and her sister.
Now every time I had watched this film earlier, I would go
misty eyed at this part. The course of True Love would always bring tears to my
eyes – how brave the boy – all alone yet so honourable in love. How dignified
the girl in her sorrow. How heartless the world. But this time the Universe was
ready for me. At this point of the film, it caught me the scruff of my neck and
screamed. And instead of going misty eyed, I thought – but – what happened to
the sweet shop in Chandni Chowk?
This thought sauntered in and took up residence in my head.
The tears disappeared rapidly. Hitherto unknown thoughts made their presence
felt. And now, instead of the linear direction of True Love, numerous multi
dimensional and parallel versions of possibilities was what I began to see. Let
me describe a few:
Version 1:
Grief struck at her father’s death, the girl realizes she
has been foolish in neglecting to learn about the business. She sells her
chiffon sarees and pearls on OLX, raises enough money for an MBA course, puts
the faithful retainer in charge of the sweet shop for 2 years and decamps to
Singapore, younger sister in tow, to obtain the MBA degree.
5 years later, she wins a prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year
Award and her sweet shop gets added to the list of Places to Visit in Delhi on
The Lonely Planet.
Much richer now, she marries the faithful boy and joins his
business as an equal partner.
Version 2:
The two sisters are heartbroken with their
loss. They go to the reading of their father’s will with a heavy heart but sit
stunned as the few lines are read out; “ I have done my duties as a father. Now
you need a mother. Since you have none, go to the Eternal Mother – at any of
her pilgrimages – She will show you the way.”
The obedient girls did what Babuji told them to do.
Makemytrip gave them an excellent deal for Kolkata so off they went. After visiting Kalighat, they wandered around
the city and it seemed to them that every second shop was a sweet shop. And what
a collection of sweets! A hundred ideas sprung up in their minds in that
fertile soil of many generations of ‘halwai’ genes.
One day, as the elder bit into a Baborshah, she asked the
younger – “Are you thinking what I am thinking?”
The younger, giving due respect to the succulent malpua she was
eating, nodded vigorously.
Seven years later, the sisters’ new food tourism project won
them the Business Innovation of the Year Award. The girls were 7 times richer
than what they started out with. They also
had amongst the two of them seven new admirers and the older was in the process
of choosing between the new and the old.
Version 3:
Intrigued by her son’s commitment to his unusual choice of a
girl friend, the boy’s mother decides to meet the girl herself. As soon as she
enters the colourful, warm, welcoming home behind the sweet shop, she is
acutely aware of the absence of women in her own home and life. As the two
girls fuss about her, she slips into a dream, thinking how easy life would be
if there were more women with her.
Quietly, surreptitiously, a clever little voice that was
waiting exactly for this moment, whispers inside her head, “There could be, you
know – all you need to do is work!”
Seven years later, the two girls and the boy’s mother own a
hugely successful sweets catering business. It wins the Business Diversity
Award as it employs only women. Its transport department has only women – women
drivers and delivery girls. The milk men are milk women. They bank with an all female bank branch. All
the chef and cooks are women. Women customers get wonderful rebates. At the award ceremony, this unlikely trio
holds aloft the trophy and exclaims – “Celebrate Women! We do!”
The father and son, sitting in the audience, one still
grumpy and the other ecstatic, clap their hands.
Version 4:
Wandering around in what feels to her like an empty house,
the girl realizes the enormity of her misplaced priorities. Instead of singing
in lonely places, she should have been helping her father. Instead of dancing
at the victory of the Indian cricket team, she should have been building her
business. She decides to take charge and organizes a memorial service for her
father. After the memorial service, she has a dream. In her dream the white
clothes of the people, the strings of green leaves and marigold flowers (her
father’s favourites) merge into the Indian flag. She realizes that her faith in
the Indian Cricket team was misplaced patriotism.
She changes her wardrobe to designer khadi, revamps her shop
to sell traditional Indian sweets, made the traditional way. Seven years later,
the shop has seven franchises in seven different cities. In seven seven star
hotels they conduct traditional Indian sweet making courses. The two sisters
are featured on the cover of Time magazine, “The Sisters Sweet” And the lover
boy, being allergic to khadi, designer or otherwise, has had to exit this
version.
You see, after the Universe has done yelling, you don’t quite
hear the same. Shah Rukh Khan and
Kajol will no longer be the same for me. But I don’t mind, because in their
place spring up a thousand ladies and gentlemen all doing the many splendoured thing.....
