"NFDC  DOORDARSHAN Present" "A Shyam Benegal Film" "Seventh Horse Of The Sun" "Amrish Puri" "Neena Gupta lla Arun" "K.K. Raina" "Pallavi Joshi" "Rajeshwari Sachdev" "Story Dharmvir Bharati" "Screenplay  Dialogue Shama Zaidi" "Art Direction Nitish Roy" "Costumes Pia Benegal" "Make-up:" "Vishwanath Govekar" "Editing Bhanudas Divkar (A.F.E.)" "It's as if the sounds of these mohallas are ringing in my ears, their particular smells fill my nostrils" "In a mohalla like this one, I spent my childhood" "Every evening some friends and I would meet at Manek Mulla's place" "Music Vanraj Bhatia" "Manek Babu was a colourful character" "Photography Piyush Shah" "He was a few years older than us" "We regarded him as a sort of guru" "Direction Shyam Benegal" "Manek Babu lived alone" "His Railway Mail Service job left him a lot of free time " "For young people, why only young people, it is everyone's wont to talk politics" "And when politics tires, there is always love and romance" "Manek Babu had a fund of stories and poems, though he may never have written a single word on paper - ever willing to regale us with them ln love; melon with the knife, or knife with the melon," "it is the knife that suffers" "A person whose character is like this knife - sharp and straight must never get involved" "But in literature, love stories are the most successful" "Romance is essential - but..." "But in everyday life if you see there are at most 10 years for loving ln those 10 years, we eat, work, keep body and soul together, study, read books, listen to music," "go to the cinema, meet friends" "So little time left for love why love stories then?" "You have heard of Rabindranath Tagore" "He wrote... ln my soul resides a longing woman it is the woman who narrates the story over and over again in different ways" "There are many kinds of longing women the accomplished longing woman, the crude longing woman, the mature, the obsessed, and so on... I think he is obsessed with women" "What did you say?" " Nothing" "What's this?" "Sitting in my room readingotherpeople'sstories" "Devdas ?" "Sentimental junk" " No moral...nothing to uplift us" "A good love story should uplift society" "Why?" "What has social uplift to do with love?" "What do you fellows know about love?" "It's not just romance, deep emotions, mystery" "Love is based on socio-economic relations in our society the turmoil of class struggle" "Class struggle!" "that's really heavy... instead of lecturing, why don't you just tell us your kind of love story" "My kind of love story?" "Let me see..." "This is called Being true to one's salt" "In the old house next to ours there was a shed ln the shed there was a cow ln the house a girl" "The girl was called Jamuna" "What the cow was called, I do not know" "She's like your mother." "Did you bring my book?" "And you...treat her like a nobody" "Tanna..." "Tanna..." "What happened?" "How I wish my mother was alive" "Was she kind...your mother?" "Yes, just like you" "Silly, you mustn't say such things..." "What will happen to us, Jamuna I worry about you" "Are you hungry?" "Shall I get you some malpuas" "Where are you taking malpuas?" "They are meant as offerings lt's time you stopped meeting Tanna" "You are no longer children, you know" "You are old enough to get married... I've told you before..." "Talk to Tanna's father" "He is a good boy" "The boy is good." "But the family is horrible" "How he was born in that dreadful family beats me..." "Besides, their sub-caste is inferior to ours" "How can we give our daughter to them?" "I will not marry anyone else" "If I marry, it'll only be Tanna I swear on God, I'll die first but I'll go to no one else's house but his!" "Finally, both father and mother agreed to let Jamuna have her way" "They say Tanna must live with them as a live-in son-in-law" "And they'll give no dowry" "Crazy!" "As if Mahesar Dalal will agree!" "His only son - imagine him taking no dowry" "Back from school?" "Manek, did you give the cow a chapatti this evening I fed it in the morning I have to study. I have exams tomorrow" "You know that the cow has to be fed morning and night" "Otherwise my vow will be broken." "Go right now... lf l fail, don't blame me" "Scared?" "It's me..." "Let me go..." "Sit down" "Talk to me. I get so lonely" "What shall I talk about..." "Anything..." "About my school?" "No, something else..." "Then what?" "Something that's fun" "Jamuna, I've exams tomorrow lt's still early, sit" "Jamuna, I'm hungry, I must go" "Hungry?" "Wait." "Don't go." "I'll return in a moment" "Now eat" "Mother's gone to listen to discourses at the temple" "I don't like sweet puas" "You like salty ones...just like Tanna" "Yes... I'll make those for you tomorrow." "You'll come tomorrow?" "The discourses will go on for 6 days. I'll be all alone" "Don't forget to bring the book" "Your Devdas" "The clock sounded two strokes" "Devdas called out, 'Paro' ln a choked voice Paro asked 'What?" "'" "Mother and father are totally opposed to it...do you know?" "Paro nodded and replied," "Yes, I know" "Tanna, come down..." "Where the hell are you?" "Come down quickly" "Here, eat these" "Jamuna, was there a function in your school today?" "School?" "Mother took me out of school a long time ago I pass my time reading books you bring me" "But such nice clothes you are wearing..." "Don't stare!" "It is real German organdy" "Uncle brought this from Calcutta for my dowry" "Look, there are little flowers on it. lsn't it not." "Yes." "Very nice" "But Tanna, he didn't even look at what I was wearing" "He simply ran away I feel so lonely" "He doesn't even dare talk to me" "You've not eaten any puas I must go home" "Eat, otherwise they'll go waste I don't want to eat. I must go" "Shut up and eat" "Say something, Manek" "Why did you and Tanna break up?" "Tanna is a coward I got my mother to agree" "But he is so afraid of his father" "Tanna is awful" "Tanna is not bad." "His father is awful" "Ever since his mother died and Mausi came he's had a bad time... lf he's so scared why does he lead me on making me hope..." "Tanna has made a big mistake" "No!" "The world is like that" "Do you know what Devdas wrote to Parvati?" "...Parvati, for two days I've been thinking only of you" "Mother, father;" "nobody wants that we marry lf l were to make you happy, it'd mean giving my family such a blow which they're unable to bear" "This I cannot do" "See it's just like Tanna and me" "Only his family is worse than Devdas'" "But Tanna is not like Devdas" "He is such an oaf." "A real clown" "You'll come every day to feed the cow?" "Sister-in-law will come from tomorrow. I have exams" "Look Manek, you've eaten my salt" "And those who don't honour their salt their sins pile up, because God above notices all we do and writes it in his big book" "Then what happened?" "Did you go?" "What could I do?" "Had to feed the cow" "Sister-in-law insisted" "Jamuna would force me to sit and listen to her about Tanna" "And then she'd weep" "One day while talking of heartless Tanna she put her head on my shoulder and cried" "Why did he abandon me my life is like a dried pond... I'm a fish out of water..." "Oh Tanna. I miss you so..." "She was talking like they do in love stories and behaving with me like I was Tanna I was very annoyed and wanted to leave that instant but I had eaten her salt and God above watches everything and writes it in his big book..." "Soon I found myself talking like they do in love stories..." "Jamuna, my Jamuna, how pretty you are... I'm a wicked girl I was so lonely but I meant no harm..." "I swear I'll never come near you again" "The next day she came again" "She was waiting for me" "Manek I told myself, go home" "Do not go any further" "That way lies perdition...stay away from her" "But I went anyway." "Couldn't help myself" "Neither could she" "We'd meet everyday" "is that all?" "How did it end?" "You chaps are going to make a name for yourselves..." "Do love stories have three, four endings?" "There is only one end the heroine gets married to someone else and the Manek Mullas of this world are left standing like fools" "What a tame end .." "Bogus" "Where is the moral?" "How does this prove that love is dependent on socio-economic relationships and class struggle?" "That's obvious...if everyone were rich enough to own a cow, we'd have had one as well, and I wouldn't go to Jamuna's house and eat her salt, and then have to honour that salt!" "The moral therefore, is own your own cow" "Yes, certainly." "Our cattle wealth will increase and so will the nation's health" "Rivers of milk will flow in our country" "What's the matter..." "Did you know Jamuna?" "Have I revealed a family secret?" "What's there to laugh?" "It's a sad story" "A story of poverty, lack of dowry, of young girls being married against their will ln every home there's a Jamuna who cannot marry a Tanna because her father cannot raise a dowry... ls that a laughing matter?" "But Jamuna was happy in her marriage, very happy... I'll even tell you how it happened" "What is this?" "A horse shoe" "Correct" "This horse shoe is the symbol of Jamuna's wedding bliss" "And it is the title of this story..." "The horse shoe" "When for a long time a suitable match couldn't be found for Jamuna, her mother took to prayers, and her father to working overtime in the bank" "Then one day a distant relative of theirs," "Roma Bibi arrived" "Mother of Jamuna..." "Come Roma Bibi." "Seeing you after a long time" "Do you ever care to remember me?" "Will we ever forget you?" "Come...sit" "Tell me, how are you?" "Just look at the way she overflows her banks, like the Jamuna in monsoon spate" "Just like her name she is..." "You have not arranged her marriage yet?" "What can we do Roma Bibi?" "The prospective grooms from our caste ask for too much dowry" "And I'll not marry her into some outside caste" "Better that both mother and daughter jump into a well rather than do that" "Such inauspicious talk mother of Jamuna!" "May your neighbours fall into a well" "May Tanna and Mahesar drown all those who can't stand to see others happy ln times of distress, it's only one's own people who come to the rescue" "Now this here is my nephew" "His horoscope" "All alone - no mother-in-law no father-in-law, no husband's brother's wife, no sister, no brother" "His grandfather left him vast property - large house, horses, a tonga" "Your daughter'll live like a queen" "This is the boy" "Boy!" "He has already had two wives die on him" "And you want to make her the third?" "He must be my age" "You'll give your daughter to him?" "Are you crazy?" "What does it matter if he is old" "Men and walls - age matures them" "Simply because I can't raise a dowry ...do we throw her in hell?" "The rich zamindar groom they had got for Jamuna - l saw him too" "That mature wall was a paragon of health and beauty " "With hardly a tooth in his head, and a few entrails in his belly," "With half his hair gone - but money hides a variety of sins" "Look." "This mohalla has not seen such a procession" "Look, look at your bridegroom" "Oh my God!" "I am lost" "He is awful." "And so ugly " "Don't speak like that" "He'll be of good heart." "He'll love you dearly" "A few weeks later, Jamuna came to see her parents" "How are you, dear?" "How is our son-in-law?" " Fine" "How is father?" " Fine" "Did you notice Tanna?" "I do not wish to see him ln a few days, he is to be married" "The girl is rich and pretty too" "Leave the trunks here - and take some rest" "On the bed" "Keep that down" "This room is very comfortable" "Now go and rest" " Alright..." "OK" "Rest the horse as well and get yourself some tea" "What news from your in-laws?" "What do you wish to show me..." "Such wonderful saris you have now" "This is for you, mother" "For me?" "What was the need for this, Jamuna?" "Why not?" "He simply insisted that I take a sari for mother" "He chose the colour" "He's very large hearted, your zamindar saheb" "You were so right, mother I'm truly happy" "He's so simple and kind, he doesn't know how to say no to anyone" "Just like a child" "That's how the first two wives looted him" "Otherwise he would be rolling in wealth" "He must care for you a lot" "What am I to tell you" "Just has to have me near him all the time I go out of his sight for a few minutes and he starts to call out listen a minute, where are you?" "But when I wanted to come here he at once agreed" "Jamuna, How are you ?" "I'm fine." "Father" "Do you come so late, everyday?" "I just couldn't come earlier" "What's the matter?" "You look worried ln the bank, there was a shortfall of five hundred and fifty-five rupees and twelve annas" "Your calculation must have been wrong" "I checked all the figures over again lf l don't make up the shortfall first thing in the morning, they'll come and arrest me" "Give me some money from your household account" "Hai Ram, I get supplies on credit from the shopkeeper" "Then you can come and visit me in jail !" "Don't talk such inauspicious things !" "God !" "We are going to be hounded out of home and hearth !" "Because of his carelessness we'll be ruined !" "Ask your daughter..." "Jamuna, you'll have to save your father's honour" "Lend us the money" "This is all I have" "Only twenty odd rupees...what can we do with this lf you like, you can look in the trunk why would I refuse" "Jamuna lied, but she had a good reason" "She thought, the first two wives' relatives had looted so much, she didn't want that to happen to her" "So she hide the money, and left her parent's home as soon as she could" "Jamuna was concerned with the future of her yet unborn kids" "We have to do everything for the happiness of our children" "God has given us every other happiness" "But that one joy he has denied us lt is God's will" "That is so" "But God's creatures should also try to help themselves" "What have you not done?" "Bowed your head before saints." "Fed the poor" "Visited innumerable temples and religious melas" "To no avail" "Master, this time your prayers will be answered" "This new astrologer at the temple has blessed so many" "Everyone is talking about him" "For the month of Karthik, if your wife gets up before dawn and bathes in the Ganges, and offers flowers to our Chandi Devi," "And makes offerings of gold, gram and barley to brahmins," "She'll surely be blessed with pregnancy" "I'm going to start right away" " When does Karthik begin?" "After two days." "How can you go alone so early?" "With you" "You know the doctor has forbidden me exposing my chest to the cold" "The slightest morning breeze brings on a fit of coughing" "You don't want me to go?" "Did I say that?" "I'll just have to send someone reliable with you I'll find someone" "Master, I can take bahuji" "Moti needs proper rest" "All right" "Well, she did this a number of times" "Then one day towards the end of the month of Karthik lt was icy cold" "Bahuji, why did you want to kill yourself?" "Let's go home" "No, I've to offer flowers first" "Goddess Gauri herself mustn't have kept such difficult vows as this" "You are following what famous astrologers tell you, now listen to a poor man's advice" "What can you tell me?" "The charm is a tried and tested one lf a horse has a white mark on his forehead like our Moti here, then you must take a worn out shoe from its front left hoof and get a ring made from it" "But this has to be done only at the time of the lunar eclipse" "Who knows when the lunar eclipse is?" "Anyway, there are only four for five days to complete this vow..." "But the next eclipse is also in the next four or five days..." "There's only one problem." "He's been shod" "A new one'll have no effect, bahuji" "Then what is to be done, Ramdhan?" "Think of a plan" "There is only one way to do it" "The tonga must be raced as much as possible in the next few days" "Then race the tonga!" "Who is stopping you?" "How?" "The master won't let me take the tonga on my own... lf you come along, it will be alright" "Faster, Ramdhan faster" "Take a look at this poor child Jamuna" "What had to happen has happened" "No one can change their fate" "Dry your tears and look to the needs of your child" "The child is the cherished memento of the one who has departed from this world..." "Daughter, I couldn't get more than a day's leave from the bank, I'll have to go back today itself ln any case one shouldn't stay too long in a daughter's house" "How can she stay alone in such a big house" "A trusted person should stay in the house with her" "All these dacoities nowadays... ls there such a person?" "Babuji, there's nothing to worry I'll serve bahuji faithfully I'll take over the full responsibility of the household" "You can be rest assured" "And so Jamuna started to live a happy and virtuous life" "But how did you get this worn out horseshoe?" "I thought it had been made into a ring!" "Arre, Manek babu lt's you?" "Where are you bound?" " Kashi" "She's gone on a pilgrimage... lt's very sad about Tanna babu." "May his soul rest in peace" "Yes it's a sad thing I'm working now in his place in the R.M.S." "But you seem to be in a clover" "Have you come across a gold-mine?" "Manek babu. lt's all due to a ring made of ordinary iron" "There is great power in the worn out shoe of a horse I have another one from the same horse." "Take it lt is a present from me" "I didn't get it made into a ring" "Kept it safely for a time of need" "You see Shyam?" "God does everything with a purpose" "You were unnecessarily getting worked up" "But this story had no end" " There is no moral !" "Why not?" "The moral is that no work is demeaning" "You shouldn't look down on any profession, not even that of a tonga driver... I hope you remember that..." "There's also a socialist interpretation to this story" "Jamuna is a symbol of the masses" "The middle class, that is you" " Manek Mulla, and the feudal class that is the zamindar husband could not show her the way to a better future ln the end, the working class - that is Ramdhan led the way to a brighter tomorrow" "Even Karl Marx himself couldn't have thought up a better analysis." "But why a heroine like Jamuna" "Why not gentle and innocent Shakuntala or a pure Radha or someone more modern like Jainendra's Sunita or Jaishankar Prasad's Devsena could have been used" "But in real life, don't we find more women like Jamuna?" "Ninetynine percent, I'd say" "A writer has to be an idealist" "That's why I tell you that economic factors affect love especially for middle class people like us" "Our idealism soon vanishes" "One should fight for one's ideals" "But we can't fight and like Jamuna end up compromising" "But everyone is not like Jamuna" "Sometimes, sticking to ideals at all costs becomes a sort of cowardice" "Like Mahesar Dalal's son Tanna who couldn't marry Jamuna?" "You know what happened to him?" "The title of this story?" "Are you the editor of a magazine to demand a title?" "You want to hear a story or the title?" "As you know Tanna was the only son, but he had sisters, one older and another younger than him" "When their mother died, their father brought home another woman Who the children had to call Mausi" "for the sake of his poor children, not that he himself needed a woman" "Otherwise at his age would he want a woman" "Don't go there" "Why?" "What are you doing..." "Donkey, why aren't you at school yet?" "Everyday you get up late." "Thinking of bunking again?" "Where are your sisters?" "is breakfast ready, idiot?" " Not yet" "Eat when you come home" "Here take this and buy yourself some nuts" "Now get along" "Mausi, look Vimla is going out" "Where are you off to all decked up?" "Jamuna's mother is going to feed five monkeys and five virgins after prayers" "These accursed brats" "Here I do my best to feed them but they pretend I starve them and run off to the neighbours when my back is turned!" "And who is going to feed me and who is going to feed your father?" "Good-for-nothing!" "Bunked school again?" "Where are you off to now?" "He is also going to Jamuna's home" "They grudge me every morsel I eat every mouthful I drink" "Resent my being here" "Grudge my wearing anything" "Curse me day and night" "Do something." "Look at your son!" "I'm fed up" "Come here you fool. I'll knock some sense into you" "You'll never learn, will you?" "How many times must I tell you to listen to your Mausi?" "She is like your mother" "And you treat her like she is a nobody" "Serves him right" "Didn't want me to come along lf god wills, he will break both his legs and there'll be none to look after him!" "What happened?" "How I wish my mother were alive..." "Was she kind your mother..." "Yes, just like you" "Silly, you mustn't say such things" "What'll happen to us... I get worried about you" "Are you hungry?" "Shall I get malpuas" "If I marry, it'll only be Tanna I swear on God, I'll die first but I'll not marry anyone else" "Open the door, Jamuna!" "What are you doing?" "Why is she behaving like this?" "Poor thing." "Why don't you let her do as she wants?" "What's wrong if Tanna becomes our son-in-law" "He's a good boy." "You'll talk to him?" "Your father has agreed to talk to Tanna" "Are you listening?" "Son Tanna, we only wish our daughter's happiness" "And she says she can only be happy with you" "We've agreed to give her hand in yours" "But there is one condition" "We don't have a son" "And moreover the sub caste of your family isn't equal to ours lt's very simple, Tanna lf you're ready to be a live-in son-in-law, we are ready to marry Jamuna to you" "And of course you can't expect us to pay any dowry" "What do you have to say?" "I'll have to leave my father?" "Think it over" "But who'll look after him?" "How can I abandon him?" "See how ungrateful he is?" "Here we are giving our daughter to him, and all he can think of is his good-for-nothing father!" "Be patient." "Even if Jamuna has to go to that house," "What is the harm?" "It's only next door" "You leave it to me" "When we have enough to give her away with a proper dowry we'll marry her, otherwise she'll remain a spinster lf nothing else we'll marry her to a pipal tree, but never to a family of an inferior sub caste" "If you so much as talk to that girl, I'll flay you alive!" "He has become quite a Romeo" "When I stop giving him food he'll come to his senses" "Cutting his father's nose, making him a laughing stock in front of the clan" "Marry him off quickly is what I say" "Bastard !" "Our sub caste is lowly?" "Says who?" "I'll pull their tongues out" "No dowry they say" "And me with two daughters sitting unmarried in my house!" "You'll sit in your mother-in-law's lap will you?" "Let them dare say what they did, to my face" "I'll dress up a log in a sari and marry you to it" "Tanna you son of a the dog, come down immediately..." "Mahesarji, I heard you are looking for a match for your son?" "Yes..." "I am looking" "There is a girl, an only child" "The father is no more but has left ample property and wealth" "The girl is studying for her intermediate exam what do you think?" "Will they give a good amount as dowry?" "Of course" "There's no claimant on the property either" "The father was an only child" "Then fix a meeting... I'll naturally not leave you empty handed" "Keep this for your travel expenses..." "Ram, Ram Sethji" "Sethji why don't you keep some of this soap in your shop?" "Chaman Thakur's special Knife Brand washing soap?" "Why just the soap?" "I'm quite willing to keep the soap seller in my shop as well !" "Keep me in your shop and you'll get this in your gut" "What are you doing?" "I was just joking" "Joke with someone else I don't like such jokes" "Forgive me, mother. I made a mistake" "I couldn't keep my first wife." "She ran away with the watchman" "How can I keep you?" "Who is this girl?" "Chaman Thakur's niece..." "Chaman Thakur...who?" "That retired soldier who lost his arm" "His niece?" "At least he calls her his niece..." "Your beloved son has failed in his exams!" "That's what comes of running after girls" "Fool, you went after the bitch again" "Completely lacks any sense of responsibility..." "Failed again?" "Bought you a whole lot of books half of which you may have lost!" "It's only F.A. I can try again after a few months..." "Nothing of the sort" "No more college from tomorrow" "You'll earn an honest wage" "Get him married." "Only then he'll come to his senses" "Be ready by seven tomorrow." "We'll go and see the station master" "May be he can fix up something." "And these locks you sport like a 'hero' have them cut" "Fancies himself to be a hero." "The fool" "He can sit, to begin with" "Tally all the mail sacks" "Once he gets the hang of it," "What?" "he can do the run on the mail trains..." "Thank you" "Hey, listen carefully" "Treat him just like your son" "Say thank you" "You run along I've to talk some business with Chaman Thakur about his soap..." "Ram, Ram Mahesar Seth" "Ram, Ram Chaman Thakur" "What price is your soap these days?" "So you are all fixed up in the Railway Mail Service?" "Your father has a lot of pull hasn't he come with you...?" "He had some work...you know that Chaman Thakur that girl .. the Gypsy looking one her uncle..." "What do you know about selling soap?" "I'm a middle man. I can sell anything" "What is soap. I can sell the Kajal in your eyes if I want to" "All the shopkeepers know Mahesar Dalal" "Uncle don't sell him your soap" "Your friends in the bazaar will get annoyed" "He'll eat up their profit" "Here you are, the advance for a whole month's supply..." "Here keep it. I'll settle the account later" "But, make sure the soap is of good quality" "Want the knife in your gut?" "Mahesar was a colourful character... lt didn't just stop with the soap girl..." "Who'd believe that you were her mother" "You look like sisters" "Arre Bhai saheb." "Don't tease an old woman..." "So it's decided" "My daughter-in-law to be will, for the sake of her husband give up her studies" "We can't have the wife study more than the husband, can we?" "That's alright" "But how'll I be able to manage all the details of the marriage the arrangements..." "There's no man in the house." "Sister, what am I here for... I'll look after your side of the arrangements leave everything to me..." "Mausi tried to assert her conjugal rights" "This was a mistake as it turned out" "Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" "At your age?" "And a girl who sells soap in the bazaar at that!" "Disgusting!" "What's this gossip your are repeating?" "What girl?" "Here I'm trying to fix up a match for Tanna and you listen to gossip about some girl selling soap ls that why you smell of alcohol?" "Been drinking with Tanna's future in-laws have you?" "Who are you to talk to me like that?" "Come at all odd hours" "Don't give money to run the house" "And then you have the nerve to ask what right I have?" "So you want me not to bother about my children's future" "You want me to fawn over you all the time!" "The whole mohalla is talking about it you've become a laughing stock" "It is because of you four people say four different things you go and fill their ears I'm an honourable man I have to marry off my son and two daughters" "How can I carry this extra burden like a mill stone around my neck" "I've become a burden, have I ?" "After having sacrificed so much working myself to the bone" "This is the thanks I get?" "O woe is my fate !" "I refuse to remain a minute longer in this house !" "If that's the way you want..." "Get out right now !" "You came with only the clothes on your body and that's how you're going to leave !" "What are you watching Go inside !" "Well, so many things happened" "Mausi kicked out" "Jamuna was married" "Tanna got his job and, finally... I thought you might come" "Alone?" "Where is zamindar saheb?" "So much work he has to do" "Such a large estate..." "Tanna have you seen your bride to be?" "No ls she very beautiful?" "I am sure she is beautiful" "More beautiful than me..." "Yes..." "No..." "Well" "And you've forgotten me...so quickly so you never loved me..." "After Tanna's marriage Jamuna became very friendly with Tanna's wife" "Everyday she'd arrive in her tonga" "But she did not speak a word to Tanna" "Tanna's wife was beautiful more beautiful than Jamuna and quite a bit conceited" "How beautiful this sari is!" "It's nothing." "My mother got it from Calcutta... I must get my husband to order one for me..." "Silk isn't it?" "Oh !" "you're pregnant already..." "You've just been married..." "Mother insisted I go and see the astrologer at the Chandi temple" "Did Tanna go with you?" "Don't talk about him." "He has no time for me..." "He can't move a finger without his father's permission and those two sisters..." "Sisters?" "Sisters will leave after marriage then you'll be the mistress of the house...isn't that so ?" "I'm going back to my mother's house for the delivery and I'll not come back" "After Lily left for her mother's house," "Jamuna came on a visit again" "Has Lily gone already?" "She left this morning" "Oh!" "Then I'll get along..." "Shall I tell her you had come?" " Yes" "If you want..." "Tanna have you forgotten me?" "I can never forget you" "Jamuna... I can never ever forget you Tanna" "Please go home" "No Tanna. I can't live without you" "Jamuna, I'll touch your feet, please go away" "What has happened to you?" "Have you gone mad?" "Jamuna, I beg of you, please go away" "No Tanna" "Jamuna, let go of me." "Forget me altogether" "Tanna was a good lad" "His wife had a hard time delivering her son" "Tanna had to live alone with his father and sisters" "Then something happened, which forced Mahesar to leave home" "Hey brother...what happened" "This morning when I went to bathe I saw a tonga lt was stacked with belongings" "Chaman Thakur was sitting in front" "At the back a white sheet covered something" "When I reached the ghat I saw a corpse covered in that sheet" "When I ran to get help the corpse had disappeared lt's possible the corpse could've been thrown into the river I think Chaman Thakur and Mahesar Dalal... must've strangled Satti to death and thrown the corpse in the Ganga this morning" "Please come home Lalita" "I can't manage alone" "Father has disappeared" "They say the police are after him..." "Nonsense." "Your father is here." "Come to spy on me, have you?" "Don't you dare mention a word to anyone" "Mother, I told you not to let him stay here..." "What can I do...what can I say..." "Send him away, otherwise I'll leave" "Where'll I go?" "The police are sure to get me..." "That's your business I don't want to have anything to do with their family..." "And your child?" "He'll remain with me...we have enough" "We don't need a man" "Mahesar finally disappeared from the story" "He may have found another woman somewhere" "People like that do not change" "As for Tanna, he aged before his time ln the meantime Jamuna had become a widow" "One day they met." "Sorrow had mellowed them both" "Here son, eat..." "Very good is our little boy" "Tanna !" "It's you..." "How you've changed?" "I hardly recognised you !" "Son say Pranam to uncle..." "This is Ramdhan..." "He looks after my late husband's estate" "Let's do this" "You speak to Tanna while I load the trunks on the train" "Going somewhere?" "To the Nimsaar fair" "Tanna here eat something" "You always brought me something to eat" "Tanna, you've become so weak" "Why don't you come and stay with me for a while?" "A big house...fresh air...a tonga to move about in" "You'll really improve your health... I'll come" "I'll take your leave then..." "My legs?" "Yesterday's story gave me a terrible dream I saw Ramdhan at the gates of heaven inside the gate was Jamuna all in whites;" "Serious and calm" "Above the gate a horse shoe ln the distant horizon a narrow path" "On the path Tanna drags himself along" "His two amputated legs follow behind" "At the gate the legs stop" "Tanna goes in and meets Jamuna..." "A child's cry is heard;" "Tanna's child sobs" "Far away a mail train leaves the station" "This proves two things" "One: your digestion is sluggish" "And two: you've read Dante's Divine Comedy, where the heroine meets the hero in heaven and leads him to God's throne" "Am I right?" "On both counts?" " Yes" "You see Shyam lf life was just darkness, filth, and mud, we'd live like worms" "But once we get a glimpse of light..." "Take love." "I did say life is dependent on economic needs, but that is only partly true..." "Love is dreams, romance and music, but..." "But what?" "Unless such love matures into a healthy social bond, it vanishes like a shadow of a cloud" "Today I'm going to tell you the story of a girl who I often remember on a cloudy day such as this..." "A strange girl she was..." "Look don't tell the kind of story where events just pile up one on top of the other" "is that so?" "Then today's story will span a period of 24 hours" "29th July to 30th July" "Malwa's Princess Devsena" "A girl, let's call her Lily" "As the setting sun wafted a gentle breeze which blew the gossamer curtains of her room..." "Your wedding is tomorrow and you are weeping already" "What has happened?" "Nothing" "You'll not tell me?" "I told you it's nothing" "Alright don't tell me I'll tell you nothing either" "No, do not go I will tell you" "Tell me" "Yesterday, I went to see (the film) 'Devdas' with Kammo" "After the show I felt terrible" "You know the scene" "When Manorama meets Paro and congratulates her" "What's happened was for the best," "You'll see how happy you'll be" "Paro answers, Certainly." "Tomorrow, I'll be introduced to the God of Death" "Manorama answers Nonsense" "So Paro says ln time you'll understand everything" "But Kammo couldn't understand a thing" "She says, giving up one's life for love is nonsense" "You think its not nonsense?" "What'll happen to us?" "If I don't meet you even a single day, I'm depressed not knowing whether I'll meet you again or not" "What shall I do?" "Keep silent" "is there anything that can take our love away from us" "All my life your love will give me courage but it seems you don't have the same confidence..." "Don't say that !" "It's your love that has taught me the meaning of life" "Go and wash your face" "Manek, say something I feel lonely" "Alright." "Let's talk" "Your friend Kammo didn't understand the film then?" "She is a bit dim your Kammo but will always have her say" "She is much brighter than your Jamuna" "Alright have you finished reading Skandgupta?" "Yes" "How did you like it" " Very much" "Then you should be as brave as Devsena whose selfless love and sacrifice defeated Skandgupta" "Devsena at the end knelt down to take leave Singing in Raag Behag'" "And even Skandgupta was forced to say:" "How hard hearted can I be to stop you Devsena 'Devsena - go!" "'" "So my darling Lily, be exactly like that" "Stay near the window" "Don't wipe off the rain drops" "And that little drop against your cheek" "How nice it looks!" "Can I move now?" "Feeling cold?" "No." "But you are quite mad!" "Not really. I just get fits of madness once in a while..." "These evenings, all these evening were they in vain" "These moments, these empty lonely moments" "When I talk to my shadow" "With pain throw away all these broken veenas" "Get up sleepy head!" "You've forgotten what day it is!" "You are to be married today!" "I don't want to get married..." "Crazy girl" "You'll ruin your looks by weeping like this" "Tears are of no use lf your mother or someone else is around it's different" "That has an effect" "When you leave for your husband's house you can cry to your heart's content" "We'll all weep with you" "Now get up." "Let's get some fresh air" "Kammo!" "Now there'll be no getting out of the cage and roaming free no more loafing about with you everything will end" "Look here, stupid!" "You're wasting your time crying in front of me" "Before marriage, all my girl friends talk like this" "Where did you go?" "I was frightened" "The baraat (bride groom's party) will come soon" "Kammo, go and get her dressed up" "Feeling nervous?" "No I'm hungry." "My stomach is making funny noises" "What are you doing?" " Mother, I'm very hungry lt's made for the baraatis" "Come now, come" "I haven't eaten a thing since morning" "You've seen how physical and mental tensions can be relieved by fresh air, and by dining before sunset" "Now tell me:" "What is the moral of this story" "Eat and build you body" "But...how did you get to know this girl?" "What is that to you?" "I only undertook to relate the events of 24 hours, remember?" "That experience must've shattered you lf it were me, my whole life would've become a desert I'd never be able to enjoy living after such an experience" "You fellows have neither seen enough of life or read the right books" "Usually, after such a relationship one meets someone who is more honest and with more strength of character, though she may not have brains, looks, money or the same morals!" "For instance take Sharat Chatterji's Devdas Mukherjee" "After Paro he got Chandramukhi" "And she who snared Manek Mulla was Satti" "Different from both Jamuna and Lily" "Very strange indeed is her story" "Mulla bhai...just one thing if you don't mind" "These stories you tell just go on and on" "There is no style, no technique..." "Technique?" "Who needs technique?" "Only those who have nothing to say I like writers like Flaubert, Maupassant, Chekov who are effortless especially Chekov..." "Once he told a lady, Telling a story is not so hard put anything in front of me, and I'll weave a whole story around that object" "Alright make this knife, the central point of Satti's story" "Make?" "It is the central point" "When I met her the last time she had this very knife in her hand" "In our mohalla, there was a retired soldier" "His regiment had been posted many years ago in Baluchistan to quell the tribal uprising" "During the campaign a village was laid waste, and there was only one survivor - a three year old girl" "He adopted that child" "He lost an arm and was pensioned off" "He came with his daughter to live in our mohalla where he made and sold soap" "How many bars did you leave with Ganga Mahajan, Satti" "Two less than twenty" "Seven were not sold" "Then I left fifteen more" "And he has given us five rupees and four annas" "Five rupees and four annas?" "No!" "It should be seven rupees and nine annas" "How uncle?" "Look five plus five is ten, and five is fifteen and eight makes three and twenty" "And the five bars that remain from two months ago?" "You forgot about that - l totally forgot" "Damn fool." "You don't know anything about accounts" "As if you do;" "Black is the colour of letters and buffaloes as well !" "I often used to pass their house on the way to the bazaar running errands for my sister-in-law" "That day I was carrying some yoghurt home" "Jai Ramji Ki brother" "You are Manek babu, Mulla Saheb's younger brother?" "Do you know accounts?" "A little..." "Can you help us with the accounts?" "Come " "What is this supposed to be?" "Twenty four... lsn't that right?" "You've been away since morning" "Where were you all day?" "The yoghurt would've turned sour" "After that I often helped Satti with her accounts" "My interest in arithmetic increased" "Satti too started to count me as one of her special friends" "Ram Ram Sethji" "Sethji why don't you keep some of this soap in your shop?" "Chaman Thakur's special Knife Brand washing soap" "Why just the soap I'm quite willing to keep the soap seller as well in my shop" "Keep me in your shop and you'll get this in your gut!" "What are you doing. I was just joking" "Forgive me mother. I made a mistake" "Don't ever again make the mistake...you bastard!" "I couldn't keep my first wife." "She ran away with the watchman" "My God, you are brave..." "He was very rude" "No one can frighten me... lf he tried anything I'd have plunged this knife in him" "Jai Ramji Ki" "Jai Ramji Ki" "Sit Manek babu" "You are coming from school?" "What class are you in?" " Eleventh" "What'll you do when you finish ?" "I want to go to college" "But brother says I should join government service like him..." "Government is a good thing" "You'll sit in the Laat Saheb's office" "Everyone will bow before you." "You'll live in grand style" "Shut up!" "The book is in English" "Manek babu, if you have time will you go through the accounts of Hardhan stores?" "Yes." "Until now they were paying us cash" "Now they say if you give us two months credit, we can sell more of your soap" "Do you think they are to be trusted?" "These shopkeepers are all so crooked lf at the end they pay you less than the agreed amount?" "That's just what I said, but uncle is keen to give them credit," "He says if we keep good relations with everyone in the market we'll get a good name in the market" "Why involve Manek babu in this stupid affair?" "Go and fill my hookah" "I've heard you write songs?" "And they get printed in papers?" "Just a little." "Now and then..." "Recite some for us" "Did you wake" "Or was it the space between your eye lashes" "Your quivering eyelids like flower petals," "The wind arches its body, the song of the bumblebee is heard..." "Manek babu, what does this mean?" "is that a song?" "Have you heard Banna, Hindola?" "I will sing for you" "After that I didn't see her much, because of my exams..." "To my surprise, I passed" "I've passed my twelfth" "You've passed..." "Come along." "You've passed the twelfth, we must buy some sweets" "Pedas for eight annas" "Mai give your blessings to Manek babu" "Let him become a big babu in the Laat Saheb's office" "When you sit in the Laat Saheb's office, Manek babu, I'm going to come and see you one day, surely I'm thinking of studying further" "But brother is not willing to pay for it... I can't decide really" "How I wish to see you in the Laat Saheb's office lf l don't go away from here I'll give you money to study" "And if I do go away, we'll organise something..." "Are you planning to go?" "Uncle has to marry me off, doesn't he?" "How are you Chaman Thakur?" "Come Mahesar Seth, come" "These ornaments are for Satti." " Satti take these" "I don't want silver jewellery and such things..." "Open the bundle" "It's only Gilat not real take it stupid girl..." "Leave it be, I'll get real silver bracelets next time..." "What I came for is to ask you when are you going to give me the supply of soap against the advance I paid you?" "Take it now if you like I'll send my man in the morning" "We'll square up the account afterwards" "You have a deal." "Let's shake on that" "Let's put a seal on our partnership" "Daughter Satti serve us food lt's near the Choola." "You can serve yourself" "Come and sit with us." "Come, eat with us" "Open the door damn fool" "Open the door, my flower petal" "Open, my flower petal..." "I am hungry" "Bitch, doesn't even let one flirt a bit..." "Satti !" "You've turned her head !" "Just look at the airs she puts on !" "If I hadn't picked her up and brought her up as a baby vultures and eagles would've eaten her up" "Better the eagles and vultures than this demon who'll pluck my flesh bit by bit and sell it" "You heard the way she talks to me...!" "I'm her uncle aren't I?" "Don't I wish her to be happy?" "Calls himself my uncle ls this why he brought me up?" "To pimp for me!" "His mind has got poisoned" "But I am not scared - l have this Knife here I'll shoot you, you bitch!" "Challenging me...!" "I'll cut you into pieces with a bayonet before you can blink!" "Manek babu !" "Don't come to my house anymore !" "Chaman Thakur has sworn to kill you" "He's been drinking since morning" "Swear to me that you won't come" "Don't bother about me I have the Knife" "Do you know that toothless old bag Mahesar wants to marry me?" "Who was that girl?" "Chaman Thakur's niece Satti" "What's happening with you two?" "Nothing." "Did anyone say anything?" "Look Manek, I have full faith in you, but you are no more a child" "You should be careful what you do" "These low class people are not worth our while" "They are dirty and mean minded" "Our family has a reputation to uphold," "Why are you bent upon ruining it?" "Don't you dare talk to that girl anymore" "You've ruined him. I think he should start working now" "You know I want to go to college..." "Without a degree, I won't get a proper job" "Go ahead if you want" "But not a pie will you get from us l can raise a loan and study..." "And if your brother is transferred?" "We are certainly not taking you along" "Someone has to see to this house" "Why don't you get him a job?" "How can I go to college and do a job at the same time?" "I'll not do a job without a degree !" "Manek babu, I've been ruined !" "What had to happen has happened" "You've married Mahesar Dalal?" "Marry him my foot" "What happened then?" "Last night Chaman Thakur brought him home again" "Both of them were drinking late into the night" "Chaman Thakur !" "Yes?" "Here is one thousand rupees..." "All of it?" "Would I give you half?" "Here, Satti is yours by law" "Live long then" "I had fainted dead away I don't know what he did after that" "He put this ring on me" "You look upset" "is it because of me?" "I had a fight with my sister-in-law about my studies" "She is insisting that I take up a job" "You can pay for your fees with this" "And your further expenses?" "You leave that to me... I can't take anything from you" "Why can you not take anything from me?" "But tell me what am I to do?" "Show me a way out." "Whatever you say I'll do I have no one else in whole world but you" "Let me go lf fate has betrayed me will you also cast me aside" "What wrong have I done?" "What wrong have I done?" " Let me go I've told you, let me go" "But this wasn't the last time we met" "Somehow I've given Mahesar and Chaman the slip I've brought all my clothes and jewellery I'll drown in the Ganga, but I'll never go back" "Take me away somewhere I'll work." "Do heavy labour I've come because I know you'll help me" "Well, you just wait here Satti" "Let me see if the way is clear" "Satti has run away and come here." " What !" "Chaman has sold her off to Mahessar Dalal..." "She is in the Kitchen" "Keep her waiting. I'll fetch Chaman..." "Let's go quickly Manek babu, otherwise Mahesar or Chaman will come after me" "Wait a little longer, Satti" "There are still too many people on the road" "Anyway there is no train this time lf you don't leave with me this instant then either it's my life or someone else's" "Alright." "We'll set out in half an hour I will pack first" "Where'll you take me?" "Benares is best" "Do you know anyone there?" "Can you get me a job?" "Look I am not staying alone in Benares" "How dare she..." "I paid for her...did not take her free" "Where is she?" " Here" "Keep it safe." "Return it to Chaman tomorrow morning" "What happened ?" "This morning when I was going for my bath in the Ganga, I saw a tonga go by." "It was piled high with luggage and Chaman Thakur was seated in the back ln front a woman was wrapped in a white sheet" "Like a dead body it was !" "I ran to get help, when I returned it had disappeared" "I think Chaman and Mahesar must've strangled her to death and threw her in the Ganga" "Then what happened?" "My brother was transferred and I had to take up a job" "Actually, it was the same job that fell vacant after Tanna's death" "And now I'm looking after my family home" "And presently I am in the company of my friends..." "Who are eager to hear another story" "No, enough of stories" "Because you cannot go on showing yourself in heroic light?" "Where has he done that, yaar ?" "He ran away when Jamuna started liking him in place of Tanna" "Lily loved him with all her heart, but there too he avoided committing himself" "And in Satti's case what he did was unforgivable... but I myself never took the initiative" " That's a fact!" "That's self delusion..." "Yes, you never got involved that's true enough" "The knife fell on the water melon and always got by with nary a scratch" "I let down Satti, that fact did pinch my conscience for a long time lf l hadn't panicked, she could've been saved" "After her death my poetry was filled with images of death" "Remember any?" "I didn't live" "Life lived me" "Drained me drop by drop" "Left me empty on the road ...that's all I recall that's enough for today, I've to go to work..." "Let's have a cup of tea at the corner tea stall" "Come along..." "As you were telling the story, all kinds of things were running through my mind" "So what am I supposed to do?" "Ok, tell me what you had in your mind" "First, I saw a slim spiral of smoke become a rainbow ...then two pairs of burning lips from the right and the left of the rainbow came and stopped near it" "These were Manek and Lily's lips" "Then down below on the earth a small cart appeared pulled by Mahesar Dalal in which were 3 children..." "Lily's child, Jamuna's child, Satti's child" "Chaman Thakur's hand then suddenly appeared and started to strangle the children" "The pair of lips came closer to one another" "Then Tanna's feet came along and crushed them" "The mothers sobbed..." "Jamuna, Lily, Satti" "The two pairs of lips are about to meet when a black knife cuts the rainbow and the lips fall to the ground like two lumps of dead flesh" "Then birds of prey like a swarm of locusts hover overhead" "Shyam do you often get such dreams?" " Yes" "That means nature has chosen you for a purpose" "...and then you'll present your dreams in a story form for the world" "Why turn dreams into stories at all ?" "Keep them to yourself ln stories we can twist our dreams and reality to fulfil our desires" "A story is a strange mixture of truth and invention, through which we see what we are, what we desire to be," "What we eventually become" "Mulla Bhai, why don't you tell us love stories of this kind ?" "Where was love in these stories?" "If that's what you think, that's fine" "Call them unlove stories then..." "Like it is written in the Upanishads..." "This is not God..." "That too is not God... ln the same way in these stories, you could say this was not love, that was not love that too was not love..." "This is the way life ends...in the search for love" "Even then, there is always a light at the end of the darkness that spurs us on..." "We go towards that light, like the seven horses of the Sun that take the Sun forward..." "Among these, the youngest, the one at the end this is the horse of the future" "The seventh horse of the Sun" "After that Manek babu disappeared and no one knows what happened to him" "But I went on to become a writer..." "Video Subtitled at N.F.D.C Ltd. India."