Into my own..

Into My Own

                            - Robert Frost

 

One of my wishes is that those dark trees,
So old and firm they scarcely show the breeze,
Were not, as ‘twere, the merest mask of gloom,
But stretched away unto the edge of doom. 

I should not be withheld but that some day
Into their vastness I should steal away,
Fearless of ever finding open land,
Or highway where the slow wheel pours the sand. 

I do not see why I should e’er turn back,
Or those should not set forth upon my track
To overtake me, who should miss me here
And long to know if still I held them dear. 

They would not find me changed from him they knew -
Only more sure of all I thought was true.

 ~*~*~

Naz’s recent post of Frost’s The Road Not Take inspired me to post this poem up here for now..while I deal with a heavy bout of blogger’s block

Disturbed and ashamed!

Last week I was lucky enough to catch a couple of Sri Lankan movies I had missed out on last year – Sudu, kalu saha alu (Sudath Mahadivulwewa) and Uduganyaamaya. Having seen them now, both rank very high in my personal favourites and kudos to the kid in the  latter (I never got his name) whose performance was..well..fantastic..and that must be the understatement of the year!

Sudu, kalu saha alu revolves around about 15 characters who live in a border village in Sri Lanka. The director said, of the movie, “border village is a description novel to our vocabulary. Sri Lanka had never had a border till the war. And, of course, it now begs the question: whose border is this? The extremists say it is theirs. The Government says it is theirs… My focus is on those caught in between — the innocent, the individual, the family, none of whom know why they are the victims. The film also questions the behaviour of the Army. I, as a civilian, have a right to ask the question. ”

However, having sat through Sudu, kalu saha alu, at the Regal last Wednesday, a part of me wished I’d been smarter and had bought the dvd instead to watch at home instead of among the uncouth things who were sitting mere meters from me.. *shudder* while another part of me was glad I had now (quite rudely) been enlightened as to what an ugly society I am living in. Why? Because

1. There was a (rather long)  “sex scene” (which consisted of a few kisses on the neck) that was greeted by a volley of whistles, catcalls and exaggerated kissing-noises by some audience members. This, I put down to a lot of immature youngsters in the crowd. Then there was a scene of a twelve year old girl, having “grown up”, being bathed with a jugful of jasmine petalled water..again the kissing noises and whistles. At a TWELVE year old girl. But as if the thought that there were paedophiles sitting a few inches away from me wasn’t disturbing enough..

2. One of the last scenes of the film was of the same twelve year old girl sobbing to her friend the story of her having been taken to Colombo as a servant by the head of an NGO and subsequently raped by the “master” of the house…she narrates, very child-like, ‘one day the nona went out and the master took me to a room and took all his clothes off and then made me take all my clothes off and then..and then..’ and trails off to break down sobbing.

How was THIS scene, of a child telling the story of being raped by an adult,  greeted? You guessed it: lots and lots of whistles, cat calls and loud kissing noises. The word ‘disturbed’ doesn’t even start to express how I felt at that moment..

And for the first time in my life, I was really and truly ashamed of being a part of this society I live in.

Gratiaen Prize 2006

The Sunday Times carries a pretty comprehensive article on the 2006 prize here and The Nation carried an article here.

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