Conversation: Pyaasa

This film had a happy ending I was not expecting.
A poet is a saint. A saint that I want to be.
See this film to know the life of Devkota. (Devkota is a Nepali poet whose life and thought have greatly influenced me. His grandson once suggested I watch this film…)
Life really has no meaning a priori… it is up to us to give it meaning, and value is nothing but the meaning that we choose.(Jean-Paul Sartre)
“He lost. He ran away from the world,” Shiv said about the film’s climax when the poet denounces the world and asks a ‘prostitute’ to accompany him into the oblivion. This was the first time I was meeting Shiv. He was making a drawing while I and Ashish were glued to the screen.
“No, this wasn’t a defeat,” I replied sedately. Apoorva would have been surprised—I was not screaming like I used to when I talked. My calmness is testimony of my own growth and also my understanding of man. “Why did our sages live in forests? Why did Budhha leave his palace? After you find truth, you don’t need anything else.”
But Ashish was screaming from the bathroom, I thought he wanted me to turn on the water pump. It demanded Superman-ears to hear him yelling, “Towel, towel.”
Shiv mockingly responded, “We are talking about serious things and you interrupt for a towel?”
I gave him the towel and returned to his room.
“I know a person. He is brilliant. He is in the philosophy department (in some university) and knows a lot. But he is being ‘used’,” Shiv introduced the subject perhaps because he thought it would intrigue me.
“Used? Is he being exploited?” I asked.
“He reads and makes summaries/notes from many heavy books (for students?) so that they can succeed in their exams. (For) those who waste their academic year not working…”
I saw Ashish entering the room.
“He has um, a website on youth,” Shiv continued as I listened attentively. “Today’s generation has become hollow inside. They are not on the right path and they are not getting the right guidelines…”
Ashish nodded in agreement.
“I will take you to meet him. He needs people like you,” Shiv said after I showed some interest in meeting the professor (?).
“I think I can be of some help to him. I am reading philosophy these days and I want to write on it. He can also help me with that,” I replied candidly.
On Friday, I had gone to meet a Chinese embassy official at Chanakyapuri. After shaking hands with me he said, “I was looking forward to meet you for the last forty-eight hours.” He handed me a few books on Confucius, Sun Tzu, Mencius and Lao Tzu and Tibet. “I don’t have time to read these books. But these are from my shelf. They are very practical; you can apply them (the principles) in your daily life.”
“You are very young,” he didn’t forget to tell me.
I said I wanted to read Chinese poets.
“But you don’t know my language,” he pointed out.
So I’m set to learn Chinese. “You can come for tea in the afternoon,” he said before bidding adieu to this “young man”.
Today, I drew a “cubist” style sketch before we watched the movie. Shiv suggested coloring it. I had just pencil in mind, and when he said that I was so happy. It will look great in color. And I cooked “daal” for the first time (in my life I guess) to serve him.
“I wanted to live alone. But now I will take you with me,” Ashish had said just a day before. So now, I’m in the cooking department of our apartment. “Nice daal,” both agreed.
Avneesh is teaching me photography. His works have greatly impressed me. And there is one guy who is very caring and brotherly- Amit.
With such people around, my world is a beautiful place. Sometimes, we need to accept the world as it is. Be benevolent no matter what. Make those who live around you happy. That is what life is. That is what Pyaasa confirms.
Now that I’ve seen two Guru Dutt films-Pyaasa and Kagaz Ke Phool-I don’t need to see his other films because they are all "masaala" movies, someone told me. I think she is right…
But I want to see others as well. His Kagaz Ke Phool and Pyaasa are similar in many ways... I want to study him more. Next is Aar Paar. After that (and maybe a few others) I will write a traditional review about the man and his works.