SUNDAY, APRIL 25, 2021 (PAGE 4) BOLLYWOOD BUZZ TRAVELOGUE Satyajit Ray: A secret A Trek to Parashar Lake Smridhi Sharma It has always been a human urge to explore what's unknown. This curiosity to bond with children unravel has led to the discovery of many new places and species, but the most On the Birth Centenary Year of Satyajit was too little to understand who Ray was. etc., for disciplining me were my mother’s importantly, it gives us an idea of how tiny Ray, the maestro’s work will be revisited “His gift lay in that he never treated us like domain, he never interfered. But when I space we occupy in this land and the world again and again by admirers and critics. children. I would play chess with him asked him for a still camera, he brought beyond. Among others, an area worth exploring is between shoots and would win every time. me one on his first trip to Japan where he The travelling restrictions during the how the creative genius portrayed, and Perhaps he allowed me to win! Placing also met Akira Kurosawa. Nor did he once Covid - 19 lockdown period during 2020 treated, children in his films and stories, children on an equal footing helped us to interfere in my filmmaking.” had put everything to a halt and tourism writes Shoma A. Chatterji open up. All we had to do was to act our- Pikoo is not a children’s film but was one amongst many sectors that was Who can ever forget that beautiful selves. It was quite easy.” makes adults look at their world through significantly affected. Luckily, as the things B&W visual of little Apu and his sari-clad From Pather Panchali to Agantuk, Ray the eyes of Pikoo, the child. Goopy Gyne started returning somewhat back to nor- sister Durga running through the white tackled children as entities on their own. Bagha Byne and Hirak Rajar Deshe were mal and the people began moving out with kaash flowering fields to see the train? Or, He took them out of their urban, educat- films targeted at a universal audience. safety precautions, the travelling business Apu inspecting his proud image in a mir- ed, modern backdrop to place them in a Children enjoyed these films for the fanta- once again has stared opening up and a ror sporting a hand-made paper crown rural setting as and when the script sy, the music, the fairy-tale element and new term called "work from mountains" (of the magic, while adults could read in course only for the privileged ones whose them the thinly veiled attacks against the companies allowed them to work from any- politics of totalitarianism and suppres- where) arrived in the market. Mountains tend to heal your soul, and sion of individual freedom. place was addictive; Deodar and pine trees and has a pagoda style of architecture with imagine what working from such a place Ray’s contribution to children’s litera- standing tall welcomed us with open arms intricate carvings of animals and serpents. can offer you! Many people including me ture comprises 21 novels and 11 short and the noise of the small stream running Sage Parashar used to meditate there and my friends utilized their February 2021 parallel to our path seemed like a magical hence the name. There is also a floating story compilations, most of them translat- last weekend to explore the mountains. So, song. As we moved further the altitude and island in the middle of the lake, but nobody ed into many languages across the world. we went trekking to Parashar Lake in the weight that we carried started challeng- is allowed to go inside. One interesting The two incredible and immortal char- Himachal Pradesh. The plan was to meet at ing us, the unexpected rains made the rocks belief we came across was of the rice seeds acters Ray has gifted his child-readers Mandi since we were coming from different slippery and since most of us didn't carry given randomly by the priests after you with are – Felu-da and fictional scientist locations. In the beginning it looked some- the umbrella, we had to take small breaks make a wish. If the count is odd(3/5/7) the Professor Shonku. Felu-da later turned what obscure while implementing the plan, under a tree till the rain stopped. wish will be granted they say and it is the into a celluloid character that has now cut but luckily one of our friends heard about a Meanwhile, we could hear the yatra first thing that locals do before starting any across the barrier of time and creation firm that offered all the facilities right from approaching by the traditional Pahadi new task be it a new business, marriage or with a full-length documentary called travelling, accommodations to meals and a melody that is played using flutes, drums any other important task they take Feluda in celebration of the detective’s fic- local guide. It's like giving all your problems and Narsingha echoing in the mountains. approval from their deity. tional 50th birthday. Keeping the child- to them (and of course the money) and in The last part of the trek was challenging After taking blessings from the temple it return you get a wonderful and a memo- reader in mind, Ray had always resisted because it was very steep and by the time, we was time to return to the base camp and we rable experience. and a moustache, in Satyajit Ray’s debut demanded and they never seemed out of the temptation to fill Felu-da’s adventures crossed that stretch to reach the top, clouds soon realized that it was time to return to film Pather Panchali? place. Nor did they behave or speak like with blood and gore and needless vio- We were a total of five girls three of approached, and it started 'hail storming'. our normal routine. Then there is Ratan in Postmaster, a precocious children as seen in many films. lence. whom were coming from Delhi and two of Our face and hands turned pale but luckily, Time travels slow in mountains it proud little orphan girl who refuses the Even in his writings meant for children he This understanding of the child’s us from Jammu. We all boarded the bus on we saw a hut and to protect ourselves from seems, it was just the second day of our one-rupee tip from her master. And, the followed the same belief that children are psychology, the ability to look at the Friday evening by 9.00 pm and by the storm we went inside and found some journey, but it felt like we did so much, trav- tomboyish teenage girl Mrinmoyee much more imaginative than older read- world through the eyes of the child, was Saturday 7.30 in the morning we were at dry wood and leaves which we burned using elled so much, enjoyed so much. These two (Aparna Sen) in Samapti furiously chew- ers. something Ray was born with. Ray’s our base camp. It was a beautiful place a lighter and felt happy to feel its warmth. days will forever be engraved in our mem- ing a sugarcane in one scene and in anoth- The child and teenage protagonists in grandfather Upendrakishore called Panarsa and was the hometown of By the time storm stopped we continued ories and will be cherished for the rest of er, hiding the shoes of the hero (Soumitra his Felu-da series of mystery novels and Roychoudhury and his father Sukumar our guide. It was spring so the apricots and walking towards the place where we had to our lives. Chatterjee) who has come to “see” a girl in films reflect the same belief. Siddhartha Roy were gifted creators of literature for plum trees were covered with flowers; stay for the night. It was a mud house on top While returning to the base camp we her village; the innocent little boy who Chatterjee, who played the teenaged children. Their works are still regarded fields with mustard flowers and there were of the mountain with sloppy roof made of saw an accident that had occurred the pre- asks his mother how to use white for a Topshe, assistant to the self-styled detec- as milestones in the history of chil- apple orchards as well. I was thinking of stones from where you get to see the temple vious night of a car which had fallen into a how sweet and delicious they would taste flower in a painting in Pikoo; the naïve tive Felu-da (Soumitra Chaterjee), main- dren’s literature in Bengali. Ray, a gift- and the lake downwards. They provided us deep gorge. The bodies were still inside; when the harvesting season would come grandson who asks his ailing grandfather tained a diary when he acted in the two of ed artist and ad-man began illustrating an Angeethi and served tea and Pakodas families were informed who must have and how blessed are the people who wake what ‘do numberi money’ means in Ray’s films. When Ray shot Sonar Kella, books like Pagla Dashu, Ha-Ja-Ba-Ra- which made us feel warm and refreshed. been on the way. It was painful to see the up every morning with such a view and air Shakha Proshakha; the little boy who he was still in school. When later Ray shot Lo-the famous book of nonsense Coincidently it was a full moon night and condition of the car which no longer looked Joy Baba Felunath in 1977, Chatterjee was rhymes authored by his father.