Kabuliwallahs
Yesterday, I met an elderly gentleman… in his eighties… a doctor by profession… he came to me with a video cassette in hand… the cassette was that of Hindi movie Kabuliwala… a Bimal Ray’s classic based on a timeless story by Guru Rabindranath Thakur.
He said… that he wants to see India…before he dies… I was touched
Today I got hold of a DVD of Kabuliwala from an Indian colleague of mine and saw it for the first time in my life… I remember reading the story when I was in my teens… and remember that I was touched by it… but was seeing the movie for the first time…
It is about a Pathan ‘Kabuliwala’… played by Balraj Sahni, arguably one of the best actors that India has ever produced… who leaves his country and comes to Calcutta to earn money… leaving his small little girl behind…. In Calcutta, he meets a small little girl… and starts seeing her own daughter in her… and both become fond of each other. Fate, however, strikes… and the two are separated when Kabuliwala goes to jail… he returns after many years… this time when that little girl is about to get married.
A poignant story… indeed… it brought teardrops in my eyes…
In one of the scenes, the Kabuliwala describes his country… as a country of few rich men… who have land, money, orchards… and happiness… and also as a country of multitudes of poor people… who suffer from disease, squalor, hunger…. He then goes on to say… that even the British favor the rich people… and promote them at the expense of poor…
It struck a chord within me… was it true even today… replace British with Americans… everything falls into place… everyday, I see people all around… living at the barest minimum of life… and people who are endowed with more than nearly everything…
This snowballed into another question… was Taliban a socio-economic upheaval to begin with… a Marxist revolution with an Islamic flavour… was it a anarchist movement that went out of control… was it not meant to be the demon it went on to become…
I keep on hearing news… where some chant for the revival of Taliban… these voices are far and few… and off course I have also seen abject bitterness against them too… the truth, I believe… lies somewhere in between.
Balraj Sahni played the role of the Kabuliwala… with a finesse that was but expected from him… I have seen him in Do Bigha Zameen… one of the best Hindi movies ever made… however there was more to it than just that…
His sun baked face… lonely eyes… reminded me of another Kabuliwala… whom I had met a few days ago… his story still reverberates within me…
The other Kabuliwala was a Pathan in his late twenties… who met me… a month ago… he wanted to go to India… to search for his roots… he was poor… very poor… almost in tatters… and yet he borrowed heavily with the sole motive of visiting his country for once…
I was amazed at is zeal… at his resolve… I wanted to know his story… his pain and his anguish… his roots…
His story begins in late 70s, when his father visited India… for trade… in Calcutta… where he met a lady… and they married… the lady then came to Afghanistan… and realized that the man she loved was already married… and that she was a mere “keep”… she was betrayed…
What she suffered thereafter… is not so unique… I am told that many Indian girls came to Afghanistan after marriage only to realize they have been betrayed…
Her passport was destroyed and she started living an unknown life… of a woman without rights… without existence in public domain… with her life of anonymity interluded by domestic violence… she gave birth to two sons…
Her elder son was the other Kabuliwala… whose eyes were moist while telling her story… he told me that her mother’s ordeal came to end three months ago when she died of cancer…. He said… my father committed a sin…
He wanted to go and see the land of her mother… and meet her family… he showed me the last few letters that her mother’s sister wrote to her… some affidavits… some old photographs of a happy family…
I was touched by his story… that he would be able to go to India… and meet his mother’s family is something best left to the future….
He said… that he wants to see India…before he dies… I was touched
Today I got hold of a DVD of Kabuliwala from an Indian colleague of mine and saw it for the first time in my life… I remember reading the story when I was in my teens… and remember that I was touched by it… but was seeing the movie for the first time…
It is about a Pathan ‘Kabuliwala’… played by Balraj Sahni, arguably one of the best actors that India has ever produced… who leaves his country and comes to Calcutta to earn money… leaving his small little girl behind…. In Calcutta, he meets a small little girl… and starts seeing her own daughter in her… and both become fond of each other. Fate, however, strikes… and the two are separated when Kabuliwala goes to jail… he returns after many years… this time when that little girl is about to get married.
A poignant story… indeed… it brought teardrops in my eyes…
In one of the scenes, the Kabuliwala describes his country… as a country of few rich men… who have land, money, orchards… and happiness… and also as a country of multitudes of poor people… who suffer from disease, squalor, hunger…. He then goes on to say… that even the British favor the rich people… and promote them at the expense of poor…
It struck a chord within me… was it true even today… replace British with Americans… everything falls into place… everyday, I see people all around… living at the barest minimum of life… and people who are endowed with more than nearly everything…
This snowballed into another question… was Taliban a socio-economic upheaval to begin with… a Marxist revolution with an Islamic flavour… was it a anarchist movement that went out of control… was it not meant to be the demon it went on to become…
I keep on hearing news… where some chant for the revival of Taliban… these voices are far and few… and off course I have also seen abject bitterness against them too… the truth, I believe… lies somewhere in between.
Balraj Sahni played the role of the Kabuliwala… with a finesse that was but expected from him… I have seen him in Do Bigha Zameen… one of the best Hindi movies ever made… however there was more to it than just that…
His sun baked face… lonely eyes… reminded me of another Kabuliwala… whom I had met a few days ago… his story still reverberates within me…
The other Kabuliwala was a Pathan in his late twenties… who met me… a month ago… he wanted to go to India… to search for his roots… he was poor… very poor… almost in tatters… and yet he borrowed heavily with the sole motive of visiting his country for once…
I was amazed at is zeal… at his resolve… I wanted to know his story… his pain and his anguish… his roots…
His story begins in late 70s, when his father visited India… for trade… in Calcutta… where he met a lady… and they married… the lady then came to Afghanistan… and realized that the man she loved was already married… and that she was a mere “keep”… she was betrayed…
What she suffered thereafter… is not so unique… I am told that many Indian girls came to Afghanistan after marriage only to realize they have been betrayed…
Her passport was destroyed and she started living an unknown life… of a woman without rights… without existence in public domain… with her life of anonymity interluded by domestic violence… she gave birth to two sons…
Her elder son was the other Kabuliwala… whose eyes were moist while telling her story… he told me that her mother’s ordeal came to end three months ago when she died of cancer…. He said… my father committed a sin…
He wanted to go and see the land of her mother… and meet her family… he showed me the last few letters that her mother’s sister wrote to her… some affidavits… some old photographs of a happy family…
I was touched by his story… that he would be able to go to India… and meet his mother’s family is something best left to the future….
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