Part Three.
As I wrote earlier, I was in Jhamtese Gatsal in a colder time of the year; although my breath was supporting me, this time my legs were much stiffer, specially my knees. But the rest was the same.The beautiful mountains, the rivers in the valley and the loving children in the campus. I had a feeling that I now belonged to that place.A home away from home!
As the days passed and it became colder by the day, the layers of woolens increased on the body. I was not the only one doing that I noticed; even the foreigners who had come from the west were reacting to the effect of the winter the same way.So I used to see both the film makers Andrew and Johnny wrapped up in heavy woolens moving around with their equipment in the campus with feverish activities of filming.Sometimes they were off for a shoot even before I was out of the bed. They were in the process of making a film on Lama Lobsang Phuntsok and a little girl called Tashi. Through their story they were trying to capture the spirit of Jhamtse Gatsal Children's Community. The guest house where we were staying was like a veritable production house where all their editing and shooting equipment was stationed and very often we were sitting around the editing consoles watching some footage of the shooting and discussing cinema while sipping hot cup of tea made in my room.Three film makes from different part of the world immersed in a creative process in a far away land! Andrew from New York, Johnny from London and myself from Mumbai! It was quite interesting. While I write this the rough cut if their film is being prepared on the editing tables in London and New York and very soon the film will be out for every body to see.
Meanwhile my Cinema workshop and the screening of films continued.A new set of films and a new window to the world for the children by now more familiar with a different concept of cinema than they were used to before. Apart from Charles Chaplin's 'Gold Rush' I had taken Bimal Roy's 'Do Bigha Zammen', K Asif's 'Mughal E Azam"'(which to my mind is the best film Hindi film industry (Bollywood?) has produced so far.
I had also taken with me Mehboob Khan's' Mother India' and Dev Anand's 'Guide' which was directed by Vijay Anand. 'Guide', to my mind, was conceptually the most modern film of that time and maybe it still is with its layered story based on the novel 'Guide' written by India's well-known English writer R.K.Narayan. These rich films further enlightened the minds of the young children as well as some of the foreigners about the so called 'Bollywood' cinema.The most favourite of the packet I took this time was 'Jagte Raho' Produced by Raj Kapoor and Directed by two Bengali film makers Amit Mitra and Shambhu Mitra. Children immediately caught on to the song from the film "Zindagi Khwab Hai." Last time around it was "Nanhe Munne Bachche teri muththi mein kya hai" from the film 'Boot Polish'. I also thought that 'Jagte Raho' is Raj Kappor's best film as an actor and as a producer. All the other films Raj Kapoor either acted in or produced were rather too inclined towards the commercial aspects of film making.
I told children about the similarity in 'Do Bigha Zamin" and Victoria De Sica's 'Bicycle Thief' which I had screened during my last trip to Gatsal. I also took with me two films of Jaya Bachchan (who is popular with children there): 'Guddi' and 'Parichay'. 'Parichay' was important because last time around I had screened for them 'Sound of Music' on which 'Parichay' was based.While last time I screened Mani Kaul's film 'Duvidha' from the "Indian New Wave" packet this time I took Kundan Shah's 'Jaane Bhi dho Yaro' A nice breezy comedy which children enjoyed. I chose 'Mr India' as the last film of the season, the film children remember because of the dialogue "Mogambo Khush Hua' and the song "Hawa Hawai"
One interesting note.While I was apologetic about the presence of songs in my introduction of the Hindi films one American volunteer on the campus remarked that in fact she found the songs in the Indian films the most interesting part of the Indian films!
If you are in Jhamtse Gatsal a trip to Tawang is inevitable.This time it was for an important event. It so happened that the remains of Lord Buddha which were being displayed in various parts of the country happened to be at the monastery in Tawang during that time It was decided that the entire community would visit the monastery to see the remains of Lord Buddha.Two buses and two vans were arranged to transport all of us to Tawang. Lunch was cooked and packed the previous night and an early breakfast was scheduled. It was a cold winter morning and it was quite a task to get every one lined up in front of the buses at seven o'clock in the morning. By the time every single detail was taken care of it was past 8 O'clock and our caravan could leave only by 8.30 A.M.
A tight security awaited us as we all lined up to enter the Tawang monastery.The gun toting solders looked very menacing and one felt a sense of unknown fear even though one knew that one had no reason to fear. One could imagine how people who live under a regime of military in other totalitarian countries must be conducting their lives when there is a constant danger of being pulled out without any order and pushed into a jail without a trial. It was also a strange feeling because one was there to visit a shrine for a most revered reason. Many a time, I feel my over grown beard and long hair makes me look like a prospective terrorist. And I was wearing a broad hat in a military color to boot! Not to mention that I was singled out for a thorough search and some questioning. I certainly did not look like a person who belonged to that place. All this tight security for a small part of Lord Buddha's remains. A strange combination of a faith and fear!
Finally after a long wait and we were able to enter the main hall of the monastery. The remains of Lord Buddha which consisted of small pieces of bones were found in two soap stone caskets discovered in a stupa at Piprahwa in Siddharth Nagar Distt. in Uttar Pradesh. These remains were excavated and authenticated by the Archaeological Survey Of India between 1971 and 1977 and are now preserved in the National Museum Of India in New Delhi. It was a rare opportunity for the people of that region to have a glimpse of the sacred relics and for many it was an opportunity of a lifetime because many common people of that far away land do not even get an opportunity to go out of the region let alone visiting New Delhi where the relics are permanently kept.
As my stay was coming to an end winter was setting in all its true colours. One would wake up in the morning to find the entire valley filled with thick fog a sure sign of a cold day ahead. But on the other hand the ever changing light and shades and the picturesque valley would tempt one to go out with the camera and brave the freezing temperature to take some picture of the beautiful place one was in. My workshop and the documentary work of Andrew and Johnny were also coming to an end and we were planning our departure together. Meanwhile a colourful cultural show was staged in the campus on the birthday Of Dalai Lama which included the famous Snow Lion Dance of that region and some beautiful songs and dances by the children and staff members. It was followed by a camp fire at night where everybody lets their hair down and children dance till they fall down with exhaustion. A truly exhilarating event happening in the middle of nowhere on the foothills of the Himalayas!
It was time to pack up. I screened my last film for the children followed up with a tearful farewell where the children practically made me swear to come back again to Jhamtse Gatsal. I promised not knowing when that will be, but I could not say no to the lovely children full of love and hope. Many of them were now thinking of becoming filmmakers after having attended two of my film workshops. One final farewell party only for adults around this time around the fire in the kitchen with songs and stories till the wee hours and then the departure at 4.30 A.M. We all packed into the Tata Sumo: Johnny, Andrew, Vasudha Wanchoo our host, who was accompanying us up to Tezpur for some work, and I. Our great Sumo captain captain Dor Je was on the wheels thinking of the snow that we would have to wade through on the way when we cross the Se La pass, which we did.
I have seen snow before but not like the one we came across on the journey. To travel on those roads is treacherous enough in normal conditions, so when we were confronted with heavy snow and traffic jams on the Se La pass it was quite a reason for concern. To get stranded there at night can be quite an experience, I was told. Luckily the traffic eased out with the help of everyone around, and we gradually came out of the snowy zone in good time and we headed towards Tezpur well within our time schedule. It was my first real encounter with snow in those extraordinary conditions. While on the one hand there was tension within, there was some beautiful "snowscape" outside. I managed to capture some good pictures to take back home for the children before we reached Tezpur, our final destination, before we all parted company and headed home the next morning. Good bye once again to the 'Far Away Land' and the beautiful children of Jhamtse Gatsal. Again!
Text and Photographs©
Vishnu Mathur.
May 20,2014.
Mumbai.
