Heartbreak Hotel

Tales of Resemblances : VI

 

 

 

 

 

A selective few of the poetry at this site brings the reader back to another time. It is a place and time very far from here. Like the story of Xerxes at the Hellespont, it was a time when man spoke to the wind, the trees, animals and sky. By some accounts they spoke back to him. In relation to our present condition in the world, this memory of our past is also the story of the greatest heartbreak. It is the mother of all heartbreaks that man experiences today. It reflects itself in every relationship.

 

To say that our experiences of intimacy at this point are therefore complicated is like saying that a bride at a wedding ought to wear something old along with the new.  And perhaps its just as well that we learn to mix the old world with the new without attracting too much criticism from both sides.

 

In such an endeavour, the Indians in recent times wrote the legend of Veera Pandiya Kattaboman. The historical details of the story are still hazy, but in my reading of the facts I was of the opinion that it involved the story of grandfather Pandiya with that of the grandson to portray Indian bravery with the handling of British colonial power. However the legend refreshed Indian culture in the sub-continent with a romantic flourish about love and courage.

 

In these times of politically correct behaviour, the story attracted the attention of a young professor at the University of Texas who published a book debunking, what he referred to as the myth of Kattaboman. The Indian government threated to take him to court but thereafter news of further developments went curiously unreported by the press.

 

It was, as they say, a sign of the age today as much as the period in the past that it referred to. The talk among Indians referred to the fact that Westerners are still ignorant about how the East undertakes certain peculiar healing of our past experiences with some experimentation and savvy. The West no doubt continues to feel that more ought to be done to bring the world out of its pagan past into the experience of the modern world.

 

It appears on reflection that both have the same objective, only different approaches. Only when a person attempts to understand both sides of the argument are they able to preserve the integrity of each other. It is obviously not a straight line.

 

In the 60s the giant Indian movie industry made a movie of the legend of Kattaboman. I borrowed a dvd from a friend recently and watched it with some amusement but not without some appreciation for Indian improvisation and adaptation in thought. Culture is a complex issue. It occurred to me then that I understand myself better than I do the social mainstream Indian society. And I continue to keep it that way. Its easier to understand one individual view than a smorgasbord mass social ambition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author's Note

Picture is of the Marble Palace in Kolkata, India.