TALE OF A HUMBLE BROOM : JHADUNAMA

Hello friends, I am a broom and this is about me.. I am sure you all know me but none of you would have ever had the time to think about me. I lie somewhere neglected in your dark storerooms or maybe behind those damp bathroom doors…. sometimes even carelessly lazying away in that space beneath your staircase.

Early morning as you rush with your kid to his bus stop, you might have missed me, working hard in the sweepers hand, raising clouds of dust as i move by. But if you are amongst those who travel to school in posh cars behind shielded glass windows, then you dont need to worry. My dust is never going to bother you....and if you are amongst those who never get to go to school........then ....well...I have managed to collect a treasure for you in that dustbin near the crossing. Day long you shall rummage through that pile looking for broken pieces of glass, copper wires and plastic bottles.

I know friends your lives have gone topsy turvy in last few decades......internet, facebook,bigboss,quick to order pizzas,live in relationships,speed dating, virtual marriages....who would have even thought of these some 50 years ago!   . Although at a much slower pace, even my life has changed quite a bit.....Earlier i moved like a king on the carpet of dry gulmohar leaves, which covered the lonely footpath..Now its more polythene than leaves...A few leaves still rustle by as I sweep but their voice gets drowned in maddening cacophony of traffic.

But who said I just clean.Ive more adventurous avatars too ...miles away from this city lets go to that sleepy little village where nobody knows of speed dating and virtual marriages. In fact they are still living in the era of “Honour killings”. Here you shall meet the “ojha baba”-the witch doctor who claims to ward off diseases and spirits with one swoosh of broom. Here I am more revered than any modern medical tool.

Not only witch docs……I am also an adornment of witches at least in those fairy tales. The witches fly far and wide on these long broomsticks that too sans any fuel!

Oh how fervidly mr Mallya wishes….he had a fleet of broomsticks rather than a fleet of aircrafts.  And how fervidly I am wishing that glamorous air hostesses shall mount me rather than ugly witches.

But apart from these fairy tales and legends, my life is all work and no play. Nobody cares for me, nobody thinks of me. The housewife  toils days long dusting and polishing each corner of the house , but all in vain. No  credit comes her way. The manual scavenger who carries your shit on his head still live confined in isolated slums meant for these “doms”. You loath even interacting with them…The  five year old rag picker who runs doubled up under the load of his gunnybag….is not groomed enough to mix with your kids. The crow that picks dead rats and lizards from your garden is the dirtiest bird….They are all there , taken for granted ,always

So, it was important to tell my story …the humble broom’s story

THE TALE OF A HUMBLE BROOM

VIDYA AND HER NOT SO DIRTY PICTURES

Watched dirty picture yesterday. There was a "dignified" lady sitting beside me....who muttered under her breath "what is this woman up to!". This simple comment led me thinking...about vidya and the trajectory her career has been following. In many ways quite an extraordinary journey, this ordinary girl from kerela ,has undertaken in our supremely gender biased film industry. Blessed with a traditional indian face this damsel has nothing "traditional" about her choice of roles. She loves subverting stereotypes and i love her doing so....

PAREENITA- THE MARRIED WOMAN (2005)"an ode to shankuntala"
Even as akshay kumar and john abraham were grossing moolah ,for fooling around an army of girls in garam masala (another big hit of 2005),there was this new girl on the block....who with her big red bindi and waist length thick locks..made sure that parineeta would always be remembered for her performance rather than the male lead or the director.
Inside closed doors they exchange vows of togetherness.This simple gesture hold a lot more sanctity for lolita  than an entire gamut of rituals for social acceptance of marriage, but her trust is soon betrayed. In many ways lolita is much like shankutala...who marries dushyanta in secrecy only to be forgotten and betrayed later...For both shakuntala and lolita marriage was beyond the drama of social sanction...both pay for transgressing the patriarchal order...and both seem unapologetic about it.

As a newcomer one needs deep sensitivity and lot of guts to attempt such a role..vidya did it and with much elan.Her classic looks only added charm to this classic period drama.

PAA- THE SINGLE MOTHER
A contemporary woman who is brave enough to give birth to her child outside the sacred arena of marriage.She asserts that a kid without a father may be difficult to bring up but not impossible to.Rather than pleading before the male lead for acceptance, she makes the man go on his knees to beg acceptance from the family he  once betrayed. Once again vidya seems to be in contol ...rather than being controlled

ISHQUIYA-" KRISHNA"  THE ENCHANTRESS
In Ishquiya vidya is the femme fatale, the enchantress who makes  two men go week on their legs to achieve her ulterior motives.From the innocence of parineeta, vidya takes a huge leap to become a seductress in ishquiya. Krishna's philosophy seems simple....There is no wrong in a woman choosing to exploit her charms to get what she wants to.She is a village belle who knows how to fire a gun, how to deliver mouthful of abuses and how to make men dance to her tunes....Once again she is the one in control....the one who knows how to subvert the dynamics of power play.

SILK-THE DIRTY SIREN....
In an industry obsessed with zero figures...who else would have dared to pile up oodles of tummy fat and even that to be exposed without any inhibitions. In playing silk vidya most dexterously exposes the filth of

male duplicity layer by layer...in the process loosing her own sense of self. The dirty picture makes you ponder......Where does the dirt actually lie? Unlike her other characters, vidya as silk is not in control....she is here- a prey. But her vulnerability as an ambitious woman in tinsel town only acts to strip man off his garb of dignity and honour.