Saturday, August 13, 2005

Smiling at Life.. at strangers! the Munnabhai way!

Had initiated writing about Munna Bhai MBBS…. Some stupid thing happened.. and the whole page went off! Taking my composition along!

My 'Contemporary Urban India Classes' wondered upon the cause of rising apathy among weber’s ‘city’ dwellers! Exploring reasons was almost like justifying the adage that Ignorance is bliss, because you can’t lose sleep every night over a calamity or an accident or other issues! Be indifferent if you want to survive!

Bliss.. most welcome! But the not so great allied consequence of this so called bliss seems to have crept into city life in the form of crass impersonalism and a crude professionalism, which insists that one should take care of one’s own business and be content with it!

Then there's this aspect of transient relationships that are created for a purpose and are usually inconsequential otherwise.. only sometimes, they do lead to greater bondings!

I took a note, I wrote in my copy, “ Kitne ajeeb Rishtey hain yahaan pe!”

A friend questioned, what would it take to cure this apathy among the city dwellers.. as if it were some malaise and not a bliss! Amazingly, ma’am was supportive of this thought! Suggested us to look at bollywood!
I could only think up Viruddh and Sarkar at that moment.. for their curings of the malaises of society!

But ma’am had a different picture! She talked of Munnabhai MBBS.. and the one and only thing I recalled at that moment.. I recounted it aloud.. Munna's Jaadu ki Jhappi to the hospital sweeper!

Then I wondered.. what it would be like.. to lighten ourselves and some others in course of our daily lives! To bring a smile to a sad face.. to smile at a passing stranger.. to smile at this nerve-cracking monotony of life!

Then some faces blinked before me.... Rajanbhai, Balu, Mahesh, Venkatesh, Laxman…. (you know any of these??) Could I be a Munnabhai Btech in the making.. ? looking at my acads.. that component comes naturally to me (or rather, is missing naturally) About the other part.. there’s still a lot more to it! some more inhibitions to shed!

I've created a community called Munnabhai MBBS on orkut.. for those who loved the movie.. and for those who loved the concept! Of smiling at strangers.. and taking the life around us a little more personally!
maybe some people will think about it!

Wanderer

No comments: