Don Ke Baad Kaun, History and Kolaveri

It says a lot about how much happened on the very first day of the trip that am still left with things to say even after two blog posts. After the biology lessons in Ranthambore fort, we decided to walk around the Sawai Madhopur town in the evening. The chilly weather was back with a vengeance by then. Ra was insistent on finding the local theatre and watching a movie. Talking about movies, the first thing that caught our eye was the poster of a movie called ‘Don ke baad kaun?’, which had C- grade written all over it. It was being marketed as a sequel to ‘Don’, and to top it all, they had fixed the poster just adjacent to the poster of the original ‘Don-2’. Much time was spent on analyzing the poster of a local porn movie called ‘Madhu ki baatein’. Pondering on the socio-political and aesthetical aspects of the movie, we made a ‘deep’ study of the visual elements in the poster.

                                     

                                                     Kaun?Kaun? Don Ke baad kaun?

                                                 

Film studies...Me and Vikram discussing the nuances involved in the design of this particular poster :D

A particularly disturbing sight for us all through the trip was the mysteriously covered statues of Dr. Ambedkar that we saw at many places. There should be more to it than the oft repeated reason of renovation. Spurred by this sight or maybe due to his usual habits, Ra went from shop to shop in search of the state syllabus text books for high school social studies. No idea if he has read it, but it indeed is a good idea to look through these texts to study how the state redefines history to suit it tastes. We walked on in search of the theatre, until we came face to face with ‘Prem Mandir’, where ‘Don-2’ was running. What an apt name for a theatre! We didn’t linger much, as we had better things to do.

                                                   

                                                               Ambedkar covered up?

On the walk back, we heard the ubiquitous ‘kolaveri di’ song from a small hotel, sending Sid K into a fit of clenched fists, gritted teeth and unrecognizable rants. This was not the first or last time that we were treated to this scene, during the trip. All through the 8-9 days, wherever we went, be it in trains or local shops or at the Varanasi ghats, we came across this song, either as a recording or from someone’s vocal chords. At a shop in Varanasi, the guy there asked us, “Chennai? Kolaveri people? Mast Gaana hai!” (Sid K was luckily not present at this time). We were truly surprised at the reach of this song. And of course, worried at the flurry of similar songs that will follow.

                                                                   [Drinks break]

It was a huge task waking up early next morning to catch the train to Jaipur. And even worse was the task of waking up Ra, blissfully snoring in his sleeping bag. We somehow reached on time and got onto the second class with general tickets and occupied the vacant berths. The TT was a surprisingly kind guy (unlike the ones in my homeland) and didn’t throw us out. After a quick sleep and more kolaveris and jawanis from a Rajasthani kid’s speaker-like-headphone, we chugged into the pink city. Ra’s old contacts made sure that we had a place to keep our bags safely while we roamed around. The above house has the smallest room for a toilet that I’ve ever seen in my life. You can’t sit in that Indian toilet without touching one or more of the four walls. And, the door can’t be bolted. It doesn’t matter because once you are inside no one can open it since your body will obviously block it. I consider it as one of the greatest achievements of my life to have successfully completed my bowel clearing activities inside this.

Our first destination in Jaipur was the Amber fort, a 16^th century marvel overlooking a lake. A perfect reflection of the imposing frontal view welcomed us into the fort. A notable thing about this fort was the huge number of pigeons that were flying around it. It spelt doom for Vikram, the lone guy without a camera, as five of us went crazy clicking them in flight. Vikram made up for it by running behind them gleefully like a nursery kid (Check video for proof).

Vikram chasing pigeons

As usual in other historical monuments, here also we came across ‘X loves Y’ and ‘heart symbols’ neatly carved into the walls. A million love stories are becoming part of history here…Rejoice!

                                                       'Tiger' chasing pigeons

                                   

                                   

Am not qualified enough to describe the architecture of the palace. Let the pictures speak the rest…

We also met a traditional puppet seller inside the fort. We ended up buying a pair of puppets each.

Its a dull day...Let me get some rest.

Another of the gems from the streets of Jaipur. Two porn movies for the price of one.

                                       

Are Karnataka ex-cooperation minister Lakshmana V Savadi and ex-women and child development minister CC Patil listening? Stop watching porn on your phone and watch it in the big screen, idiots! Coming to that whole brouhaha over them watching porn, its pathetic that most of them are making a noise about the porn as such and not about watching it in the assembly. It is hypocrisy of the highest order at work here since a majority of those making a noise in online platforms have watched porn at least once in their lifetimes(many of them regularly, for sure). Who said watching porn is a crime?! But watching it in the assembly, when the drought situation in some districts were being discussed, is certainly one. This episode also exposed the hypocrisy of the saffron brigade who are the self proclaimed wholesale dealers of 'Indian culture'. Ban on live music, Ban on liquor+live music, Ban on beef, attacks on pubs, 11 O clock deadline in Bangalore city- a sample of the measures devised by the BJP. Now, what do they have to say?