Three months or so... I don't remember...Ya that was the time given to us to do a documentary on a "Contemporary Issue"... And btw that was the name of the subject too...
Ok let me talk about what all BMM has made us do n go through in three years, at least the projects part of it. We were given a (or many) project each subject... Professors thought all that they could not do all their life could be done through us ...Just like those over-ambitious parents who push their little selves to do activities (or not-so-activities) that they did not get a chance to do when they were little!
These professors gave projects that sounded even vague than sad than Atal Behari's talks! But the more sporty and able people like me (thank-u thank-u) took it ...well...sportingly n embarked on a journey to get the task done (for those thankful to the internet) ...or rather do it ourselves!!!
Okay I think that is brief enough a description to know what we little children of God have had to go through during our learning days...
The day Avkash Sir announced in November (the beginning of the final semester) that we had to form groups of 6 was the day the "extended holidayers” hadn't arrived from Diwali holidays of course! And the "over smart" ones did form groups with all those smarties of the class....
I knew my group had to have Joss--naa and Nad—loo (actual names withheld because I do not want them to get publicity :P)... And I was more than happy to have them as group mates coz Nad--loo was my partner for the two years we were together in BMM ...n Joss--naa was that woman who always came to my rescue during “Desperate” times. Also, we did projects together in Third year... So two people you know and have worked with are always the best people to work with yet again. Believe me...I’m talking from real experiences...
But my dreaded fear was the rest half of the group ...Who would they be? Would they be as hard-working as us or hardly working as those many group less ones? Or will they be some "oversmarties" who will always underestimate our efforts and not let us suggest ideas which could actually work out?
Gosh!!! Those moments were killing me n Joss--naa...and killing Nad--loo a bit too much...as she happens to be the more hyper-active element in the trio...I will write one whole post only describing the two working personalities of the group i.e. Joss--naa and Nad--loo ...
Haan, so listen naa...Finally the week after that day had arrived and by now we dreaded the members who would most likely be in our group. It was a nightmare come true to know that the Three Bimbettes were going to be a part of US for the next few months... But it happened and it happened for a reason... A reason that made us stronger persons- persons who could hit back and tell the opposite character" Hey look, I'm not going to take this shit from u!"
The Bimbettes (names withheld for protection of identity) spoke of only "Contemporary Issues” like...Which is the hottest pub around town?
Are you still dating that jerk?
But why the hell do people wear their underwear over their pants? and the likes...
Or may be we can name them according to height (I like to put things in context you see..)
Bimbette 1
Bimbette 2
Bimbette 3
We knew it right from the beginning that we had to be strong enough and smart enough to double up and thus make up for the loss in group mates.
The working on the project was delayed by a month as we thought 3 months was a lot of time to start working... But finally we did start... making calls , fixing appointments, being hung up on, being treated as we were just a piece of shit who had all the time in the world to wait until the appointment was fixed...and so on...
But I have to admit there were some people like Ram Naik's secretary who did go out of his way to make sure we got the interview that weighed heavy on the documentary.
The Trackers kept tracking the Tracks while the Bimbettes discussed who had dumped who.
We became the support of one another, discussing and brainstorming, putting our little God-given brains to the test...
The rounds to Churchgate station's 2nd floor to take appointments from the top notch of MRVC (Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation) were fun and Joss--naa made sure that everyone else was knew that she's Mallu so that the work got done faster... These Mallus naa...really just show off their roots wherever they can...No offences to anyone in particular (esp. Tia)
The interview with that SWEET fellow from MRVC went well. With Joss--naa behind the cameras I jabbered showing off how much I knew about our trains. And Nad--loo making squiggly notes that not even God has been able to comprehend! But we appreciate that coz she actually made it a point to type out those crow legs (that is if she herself did understand) and mail it to me and Joss--naa...
The interview was deceitful as we assured them that our film wanted to show how much the authorities were doing for the people... But the end product told the exact opposite story.., but who cares, we never bothered to let them know what a bad picture we had painted of them through our creative heart of the commuter. Btw Joss--naa so hated that woman who promised us a picture garden and made her go all the way to Churchgate and finally ended up giving her just one picture of the new train! Such unfruitful trips were many... But we saw through them all...
Some of the days just went by when we did everything that was nothing. Then came the week then we had to pull up our socks up to our chests and start working...
Oh shit...almost forgot about the Bimbettes! Anyway they did not do anything that I can really talk of!
The Ram Naik (Ex-Minister of the Railways) interview day was particularly memorable as that was 13th of Feb, the day Raj Thackeray decided to earn some cheap publicity by getting himself arrested. As expected the MNS activists burned down a few people and a few buses too. The Bimbettes decided to stay away (not that they were very keen on interviewing an 80+ old chap)fearing they would be burned down and that their Pepe undies might get damaged!!!
Joss--naa, Nad--loo and I made it through the crowd, unhurt, unbruised and in one piece. It is not easy to sit in an influential politician's office when his rival is out on the streets taking people by their collars and driving them out of the city! After the one and half hour wait we finally got to meet a politician resembling our parish Santa. Like all Santas he was sweet enough to make us comfortable and also give us ‘chai’ (which no one really offers in
And we asked Ms Nad-loo to keep shut in such dangerous times because when she opens her mouth to talk any local language you are sure that the state governments have been incompetent in making it compulsory to learn the local language. Even if you do understand what she is trying to say she reminds you of those stereotypical Catholic aunties from Bandra portrayed in Bollywood who’ve just landed from the
The interview (Ram Naik thought) was dragging too much. So we decided to call it quits, but only after Naik had finished his quota of the self-obsession speech for the evening. By the end of it we knew everything he did, even before we were born, like the back of our hand. Joss—naa was happy as she could now say “See see, I’m not the only one who is self-obsessed in this world. Ram Naik too is.”
I think that was quite an experience. Later came more interviews and more self-obsession. Everybody seemed to have done “a lot” to help the poor commuter. But nothing seemed to be ever enough. The list of demands kept becoming longer and longer like the queue outside Worli’s Passport Office.
Finally the week came when all our efforts would be beaded together to make that beautiful necklace called…what the hell? We did not have a name for the documentary until few hours before the submission!!!
Now comes the time when actual ‘credit’ can be given to Bimbette 1 when she actually used that little rusting brain in her little body to get us an editing studio where the precious necklace would take shape and form.
Not that they sat through all those tiring nights at the studio. Even if they did it was out of fear of being left out or intentionally forgotten while giving credits in the documentary. Not that we did not realise these hidden agendas, we were genuinely dying to make them work coz they hadn’t done anything since the beginning!!! Though we lacked the guts to tell all we felt (and also what we did not) about them.
I distinctly remember that night when Nad-loo and I travelled from that secluded Andheri East area at about 2 in the morning and how she asked me to pray 3 Hail Mary’s with her (she continued to recite all the prayers she learned in 20 years of her life while I got busy on the phone). Finally we got a rickshaw (only after carefully inspecting the rickshaw).
to be contd....................
