Richard Tussmann, an aging baby-boomer, on the invitation from his next-door neighbor, accompanied him to the screening of a recent Indian movie, subtitled in English. This also brought back the memories of his rebellious college days from 1970-s when he used to attend the protest-rallies against the Vietnam War, while listening to the music of both the Beatles and Ravishankar, the sitar maestro. This was also the time when he attended to all the acclaimed movies from the “Apu-trilogy,” the masterpieces created by late Satyajit Ray.
The current movie began with an aging couple who was about to start the celebration of a festival with their grown-up children and little grandchildren. Amidst the joyfulness, the patriarch, stunning the family-members, announced that he had already initiated a legal divorce procedure from the stay-in-home matriarch. For him, the current life had become nothing but just a repeat of monotonous daily habits. Thus, he wanted to start all over, learning new hobbies as well as traveling to faraway places.
Richard started to sense that while globalization took root in technological advancement in India, it also brought along what ails the modern western lives. As the movie advanced, the caring judge instructed the couple to give it another try, instructing them to spend next couple of weeks in a faraway place doing different things together. However, against the judge’s wish, the matriarch decided to take along the entire clan. There, the family started to re-bond together, but when time came to return to the city, the patriarch stayed behind, sticking to his original plan for an eventual separation. With his memory flooding with Ray’s past lyrical movies, Richard realized that the current directors moved on, now dealing with the subject of a stale marriage, divorce and follow-up events. The matriarch returned to the city and took up the challenge of living by her own. Then, one day when she was busy at her sewing machine, he showed up, admitting that he could not live without her and thus reuniting with a happy ending.
Richard felt a deep sense of betrayal about the lack of an entirely different bolder ending. In his version, he conjured up following alternate scenario: after seeing him, she stopped sewing, stood up and pulled out her new i-phone. She showed him a picture of a handsome matured gentleman, telling that she had met the fellow several weeks ago while taking a morning-stroll along the bank of the river bordering the city. She gave him an invitation card for a reception event announcing their upcoming union. Finally, she showed him a pair of airlines tickets of flying to the Great Barrier Reef, while explaining how excited she been of the prospect of learning the scuba-diving to explore the underworld wonders of the blue water of Australia.
But, then it hit Richard. Though India became modern via globalization, its ancient culture of family values of togetherness “through rain or shine” remained unchanged, thus shielding it from modern-day fragmentation of the western societies.
The current movie began with an aging couple who was about to start the celebration of a festival with their grown-up children and little grandchildren. Amidst the joyfulness, the patriarch, stunning the family-members, announced that he had already initiated a legal divorce procedure from the stay-in-home matriarch. For him, the current life had become nothing but just a repeat of monotonous daily habits. Thus, he wanted to start all over, learning new hobbies as well as traveling to faraway places.
Richard started to sense that while globalization took root in technological advancement in India, it also brought along what ails the modern western lives. As the movie advanced, the caring judge instructed the couple to give it another try, instructing them to spend next couple of weeks in a faraway place doing different things together. However, against the judge’s wish, the matriarch decided to take along the entire clan. There, the family started to re-bond together, but when time came to return to the city, the patriarch stayed behind, sticking to his original plan for an eventual separation. With his memory flooding with Ray’s past lyrical movies, Richard realized that the current directors moved on, now dealing with the subject of a stale marriage, divorce and follow-up events. The matriarch returned to the city and took up the challenge of living by her own. Then, one day when she was busy at her sewing machine, he showed up, admitting that he could not live without her and thus reuniting with a happy ending.
Richard felt a deep sense of betrayal about the lack of an entirely different bolder ending. In his version, he conjured up following alternate scenario: after seeing him, she stopped sewing, stood up and pulled out her new i-phone. She showed him a picture of a handsome matured gentleman, telling that she had met the fellow several weeks ago while taking a morning-stroll along the bank of the river bordering the city. She gave him an invitation card for a reception event announcing their upcoming union. Finally, she showed him a pair of airlines tickets of flying to the Great Barrier Reef, while explaining how excited she been of the prospect of learning the scuba-diving to explore the underworld wonders of the blue water of Australia.
But, then it hit Richard. Though India became modern via globalization, its ancient culture of family values of togetherness “through rain or shine” remained unchanged, thus shielding it from modern-day fragmentation of the western societies.
