redlight for the last time

Monsoon: Mastershot- untitled

Monsoon: montage in the rain

Monsoon: state of mind wallpaper

vytilla crossing in the rain

Soumya will reach office in another half an hour. she does not know that she is being photographed by a blogger... and that she would eventually end up being a particle of data in cyberspace. that morning the traffic between vytilla and the south overbridge would stay jammed for the next one hour. That morning soumya reached office late. and was warned by her boss. this was the third such time. she was almost in tears. her daugher would in some years become a rank holder in the IAS exam and get splattered on the front page of mathrobhoomi... but as for now the monsoon of 2005 is raging. one june morning, on the way to the office...

Title- Freudian sleep. with narration. without sub-titles. dur: 60 sec

Day/interior. Fade in from black. Sometimes there is a dream that looks so real as though it happened. Subject is in focus and the misc-en-scene radial blurred. Then when the dream moves and you can smell the musty smell of the dream and sweat. In the montage of unrelated shots and overlapping sounds, you can hear the creek of the bed and see the shut windows and zero watt bulb. You can hear someone in the other room and feel the dream's red oxide floor. You do not fall. You are woken up.

Night/exterior. Sometimes there is reality that feels so dreamy as though it never happened. The star lit sky and the full-moon and salty smell, the creaking sound of anchored boats and feel of sand. The narration is about a trip from Howrah country to a Mumbai beach side house. The background score is missing, the co-actor along side you is missing, a can of memory is missing and you are looking around. You climb the spiral stairs and see reality and you begin to realise the mercy of the Goddess. She makes you believe that you are dreaming. Right there you close your eyes and go to sleep. Fade to black.

And thus Parashu was enlightened

The news spread like a 'camel' ink blot- sisters have begun a hunt...

Back in the dorm, he is applying 'cuticura' power on the mark on his forehead, It is changing color, from a darker shade of his light brown skin to a shade of pink and now it is becoming maroon and eventually it would become a mark on his forehead like a small pox scar and there remain for the rest of his life. His blessing and his 'third-eye'.

It was an hour back that Matthew Kurian, the senior from 2nd standard gathered 9 first standard boys and cramped them into one of the small toilets of the hostel. Matthew elevated himself by climbing on the upturned bucket over the indian closet to be seen and heard clearly. He was a towering 5 footer, as the 3 foot somethings looked up and listened with open mouths, he began instructing" With your thumb rub the middle of your forehead, up and down, a hundred and one times, chant the name of siva and you will get a vision of the lord" Matthew starts to count "1, 2, 3, 4, ...99, 100,101." and when the chorus of counting and chanting stopped, nothing had happened.

For next minute there was silence. The boys looked at each other. Everyone looked blank. Little Parashu's protest broke the silence "where is siva?". Matthew didnt have an answer. Murmuring the murmur of disappointment the group dispersed. It was Sivaratri of 1981, junior hostel of Sarvodaya Vidhyalaya, Trivandrum.

The warden sister came to know of the incident and a hunt began for the boys with mark of the third-eye. Those who were caught were caned, amongst them was Matthew. Fortunately, Parashu was not caught. That was the first night Parashu had the vision of the Lord in full glory on top of icy kailasam, parvati was beaming alongside. The serpents seemed excited to see Parashu and winked at him. That wink contained knowledge of life.

Eventually Parashu learned the art of visiting the divine by feeling his 'third-eye' scar. He met them again on every public holiday, sometimes siva would not be around, but parvati was always home. She was nice to him.

Since his hostel days, Parashu has been visited by many other Gods and Goddesses of his times with the help of his 'third eye' scar. Each encounter making Parashu more enlightened.