Mona Lisa Smile

“Look beyond the Image”, is the central idea or theme of the movie Mona Lisa Smile. Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts) is the new Arts History teacher at Wellesley College, in Massachusetts USA in the America of 1950s. Wellesley was a very conservative all girls college for the liberal arts. Katherine Watson did not believe that role of a woman in their society was just to be a loyal wife and a caring mother. She was unmarried at 30 in those days. She wanted to live life by her rules and make a good career, before she got married. Once when a student asked her that why she was not married even when she had been in relationships with men in past, she said that “every relation is not meant to end up in marriage.” She was rebellious in nature and in her beliefs, which were more modern than the age in which she lived.

She tried to open up the minds of her young students and make them aware that there is much more to life than just being a just wife or a mother. She wanted to enlighten them about their roles beyond the accepted societal norms and show them the importance of achieving economic stability before marriage. She used Art History to communicate her ideology to her students.

The film Mona Lisa Smile urges it’s viewers to look beyond the conventional image of woman as home maker. The character of Betty asks a question by the end of the movie to her mother, who was a firm believer of the society rules. She shows her a painting of Mona Lisa and asks her, that ‘just because she is smiling in the painting, does it mean that she is really happy’? A question that should be asked is when we push ourselves, beyond our limits, to become that perfect Super-Woman shown in some xyz commercial, whether the lady who with a broad smile says “It Works!” becomes truly happy just because IT WORKS? And all men should ask a question to themselves whether their wife, mother, sister or daughter who struggle everyday to strike a balance between career and home is actually happy when she smiles and says “I managed it…”?

How much so ever we declare and believe ourselves to be a part of a modern society in India, we do not treat men and women equally, and the real picture is quite different. We need more Katherine Watsons in our society to shake the young girls out of the slumber and open their minds to new horizons in life. We need to make the men understand that a house becomes a home not only by the efforts of the female partner but by the joint efforts of husband and wife. Mona Lisa need not just smile but also be happy from within...

We don’t need Super-Women here, like our advertisements tell us, we just need a woman who has equal rights and to work outside her home as well as get support from her spouse in running the house to make it their home, ‘Sweet Home’!

Johnny’s Midnight Goggles

Man has indeed become slave of machines. We seem to ignore the beautiful world around us. We don’t even realize the temporality of time and the growing up that happens in a jiffy. This is how, I would like to summarize, ‘Johnny’s Midnight Goggles.’

Matthew Sharp, the solo performer in the play, enthralled the audience with his performance at Natrani in Darpana Academy Ahmedabad as a part of his British Council supported three city India tours that would culminate in Trivandrum. Despite the strength of the performance, a few questions lingered in my mind. As a live performer, the actor’s dependency on pre-recorded sounds and dialogues and occasional lip sync was a little jarring.

As an audience of a live performance, one always expects to hear the actor’s voice without any artificial amplification .And therein theatre especially intimate theatre (like the space in Darpana) scores over the illusion of cinema. If watching something technologically larger than life would have been the intention, I would have rather gone to 3 idiots in a multiplex. On the whole, the production looked more like a musical treatment with a dash of theatre rather than the published review that said: ‘Witty, nail-biting and entrancing music theater. A One man Operatic Thriller.’

Having said all this, one was still moved by the sharpness of the piece. Mathew turned his cello into his co-actor. Using the instrument among other things as; a train compartment, a horrible machine monster and also a wild beast. What I liked the most about this solo performance was the way he turned a technical error into an independent mini scene. He walked up to the technical guy, narrated his intention and muttered some details (which I hardly followed) and got his microphone device fixed!

The play was a visual delight helped by the lights that filled in for props and a background score which was enchanting and occasionally witty one liners ranging from Arnold’s biceps to Sarah Palin. However, it would have been interesting to see how a vernacular audience especially a Bhavai artist would have reacted to the show. Most likely, it would have failed, because it could not dissolve the barriers of language and turn the gestures into an independent narrative.

Great evening but still could have been better.

href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRmnNNX21pUpCby6VTi8u1UzZcBz8_d2FpyeFWgcKlwp8FrJh8eSfAfmyDPk2NO6r7wk3V6qqoSkj0t_cDjQmDLVDnqmfDNsLL6V3CLCLZqbwuKEhzEHx2qRtePrlclUHagyRtdhQnx0Y/s1600-h/DSCI1791.JPG">A trip in gulbai tekra actually made me realize that people living in the area are so beautiful, my fashion photo story is based on these slum girls...

All these pictures have been clicked on my way to Idar (Gujarat) it was a road journey and the shots were clicked from the window of the moving car!!

By Lanes of Gulbai Tekra

The maze-like structures and the by lanes of Gulbai Tekra, famously know as ‘Hollywood’, have many untold stories. One of them is unfolded here by Zalak Trivedi as she gives her first-hand experience of meeting adolescent Mahesh Parmar, a designer-cum-tailor.

Photographs: Zalak Trivedi.

At around 6 in the evening, the whole world seems to be rushing… birds to their nests, Sun to the West and people like me to their homes! The road through Gulbai tekra has always been a comfort route for me as I could reach home without getting stuck at any traffic signals. Every time when I cross that small slum patch, I always wonder about the people living there. Their magnificent and colorful dresses always attract me. During Navratri, this place has been the most sought after destination by most of my friends. The exotic chaniya choli and gharena (jewellery) for the season is ‘imported’ by most of the youngsters from here.

Recently, for one of the garba functions, even I thought of renting some jewellery from the slum women. So while going back home, I mustered my courage and walked up to a group of men standing near Jogni mata’s mandir. A medium-built, dark-complexioned man, with scary eyes, walked up to me and smiled. Kanubhai volunteered to be my guide and took me inside the maze-like streets of the slum. The experience was a thrilling eye-opener.

The by lanes, were hardly enough for one person to pass. Groups of women, decked up with gold and silver accessories were packing chopped chicken. As we went deeper, the lanes got narrower and darker with tin roofs overshadowing them, and the place became gloomier. Then I saw a small bulb hanging at a distance, lighting up our path and my heart. A small boy, about 14 years old was working under the electric bulb. He was sewing something on his machine. It seemed like the sound of the machine was music to his ears. He was enjoying his work so much that he hardly noticed my presence.

“I am Mahesh Chamanbhai Parmar, a local tailor”, was how he introduced himself. On further inquiry I came to know that he was studying in the 9^th STD of a government school in Mithakhali. His mother proudly said, “He always comes first in his class.” Being a first time customer, he showed me his latest creations. His eyes were shining bright as he talked about those dresses. His aunt had taught him the art of sewing this kind of traditional dresses when he was in 5^th STD. Since then he has been making dresses for all the women in the slum.

His popularity increased over the period of time. During Navratri, he is famous with all the young girls for chaniya choli. Kanubhai said, “He makes the dresses as demanded by the girls and they all are very happy with his work as they keep coming here year after year.” I wondered from where he gets to know about the latest fashion trend! To which he revealed his secret. He stitches the dress according to the designs showed by these girls and picks it on. He mixes traditional style with the design showed by the girls. One more reason of his popularity is that he charges only Rs.100 per chaniya choli, making him the most affordable in the area. He is expert in making kalivala ghaghra, katori cut cholies, rabari choli, and special bridal dress of his community.

On asking him about what he wants to do in future, he gave a startling reply. He said, “There is some college in Paldi area, where they teach you how to stitch clothes apart from chaniya choli. I want to go there and learn stitching different types of dresses in that college.” It took me sometime to understand that he was talking about the National Institute of Design! He told me that there are many students from NID who visit him for chaniya cholis and thus he came to know about this college.

After finishing my work he came all the way to Jogini mata’s mandir, to see me off. With a face brightening smile, he said, “I want to study further but my family might not be supportive for it, but in future if I ever learn to make other kinds of dresses, than I will make a nice dress for you.” I kept on thinking about him on my way back home. Dreams are dreams; they fill your eyes irrespective of your social status. This is the power of fashion; a small guy from slum area wants to study in the most reputed fashion institute of the nation just for the sake of enhancing his skills and learning something new. It will be one of the most exciting days of my life when I will see Mahesh from Gulbai Tekra walking inside NID!