Green pens and black ink - Part 2

ohk... this is the second part of an entry i made some time ago (http://udaikapila.blogspot.com/2007/02/ohk.html), about the documentary that was made last year. Since i was in India for most of the summer, i couldn't really do much, but i still kept in touch with Dhruv via emails. He replied to my initial mail, and gave me a second assignment. He asked me to look around India and tell him what I saw. If I had the chance to direct a film about India, what would MY story be.

This is what i wrote:

hey dhruv,
sorry i took so long to reply. i havn't been able to access a comp for some time...we r doin some serious traveling around... and so most of my trip has been in a car or in an airport, train station...etc...we've gone to kolkatta, chandhigar, delhi, thats where i am now, and all parts of harayana....i thought about what u asked me for some time, and then i wrote this down... please take into account that i havn't slept the whole night ;) ... i'm serious....

i was at a train station on my way to chandhigar from delhi. We were walking towards our platform when i spotted a lady in rags sitting on the floor. She was chanting, both her hands held up. she stared from one hand to the other. when i looked more carefully, i realized that she was holding a blade in one hand. shocked, i silently passed.

I'm in a car. I am looking out of the window, my headphones on because i can't stand the horns. I have already counted eight butta sellers sitting on the pavement, countless fruit carts, and even more rickshaws. at night, these same rickshaws have their worn out drivers sleeping in them.

now when i think about it, when i SEE these people that use a simple footpath, as the place where they earn their whole livelyhood, people that don't know where tonights dinner is going to come from, let alone tomorrow's, people that wait outside factories for discards that they can sell on the streets, people that dig through garbage for a jute bag or a bottle that they think might be useful, or sellable, the only word i can think of is 'struggle'.

this is an issue. not a small issue, an issue that involves and affects most of our indian nation. But why??? Don't we have the largest democracy, supposedly 'for the people' in the world?? is it so hard to provide a simple thing like education to the people. something that can give them some hope, to overcome their struggle? Some support from the country that these same people would give their lives for?

this is what my documentary would be about.


this is a very brief outlook.... ive seen to much to fit into one email....