SELF-DEFENCE






Pic.: Malabika Ganguly

Suddenly, Kevin, my eleventh-standard student, showed up for the class, today. He had bunked the class for one full week, without informing me. So, the moment I saw him, I was all set to yell at him... But, before I could do that, he pulled out a big-fat bar of Cadbury… “Sir, for you.”

“Happy b’day dear,” I pulled Kevin close to me, “Very smart boy, haan.”

“Tell me, have you watched PK?” I teased the b’day boy.

“Yes sir,” said Kevin.

There was Meenal, a TY student, sitting on one corner. “What PK has got to do with Kevin’s b’day, sir?” her puzzled look asked me.

”Meenal, have you watched the movie?” I enquired.

“I want to,” Meenal said, excitedly, “But, I want to know why PK now?”

“Because, our  PK here is very smart like the PK from another planet,” I explained, “See how well he defused the bomb in his sir’s hands!”

Meenal was still puzzled, but Kevin knew what I was talking about. “Explain to her, Kevin,” I prodded him.

“Self-defence!” Kevin laughed… “Jis tarah diwar pe bhagwan ka  foto lagata hai na, ki koi muute nahi,us tarah humne ye bhagwan ka foto chipka liya ki kono peete nahi (Just like people put stickers of God on walls so that no one urinates, I have put stickers of God so that no one hits me.)”

Meenal got it, “Smart fellow,” she agreed…


Six years ago, when I became the Hon. Chairman of our housing society, I wanted to end one of the oldest and commonest menaces – the ugly spitting marks (paan/tobacco... not caused by Members, of course) on our staircases and lifts. “No civic sense,” “Are we in slums?”… our Members used to react like this. The gently-or-strongly-worded Circulars, heavy fines and all our methods hadn't worked. One of our senior-most Members, a very efficient and affectionate Maharahtrian lady, advised us to fix all around our spit-prone areas tiles bearing images of Gods and Goddesses. “The menace will end, I promise,” she had advised us…

But, for some stupid reasons, that advice still remains unimplemented…

The menace, therefore, has still not ended!

Incidentally, I gather from the news that many are angry about the movie PK… One of the reasons, it seems, the above dialogue – ‘Self-defence’ – of PK…

The lady, who had advised us, six years ago, was a very devout Hindu… but, absolutely practical… “Nobody dares to spit on the image of God,” she had pointed to us, confidently…

PK from the other planet, in my view, was a practical person, too… He reminds us, “Just as nobody dares to p... on walls where God’s images are put, nobody dares to slap on cheeks where Gods’s images are stuck.”

Hamare goley pe koi jhoot nahin bolta.” PK was a genuine alien…

And, you know how it was when PK returned from here to his gola… “He went home, learning from us how to tell lies,” Jaggu, the girl he silently loved, tells us with her heavy heart…

On Sunday, my wife and I had watched PK for the second time!


GERALD D’CUNHA

Comments

Rajiv Dasani said…
'Self-defence'!!!!
Anonymous said…
Loved the movie and the post

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

"WE CHOOSE OUR JOYS AND SORROWS LONG BEFORE WE EXPERIENCE THEM."

WHEN A BIRD IS ALIVE, IT EATS ANTS... WHEN THE BIRD DIES, ANTS EAT THE BIRD

THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...