Subtitle: To live, sometimes you have to survive.
Episode II.
I would not recommend the following episode for the moderators and those who are not above 21 years of age. Reader discretion is advised.
Somewhere in a living room in an apartment in Mumbai, India:
Nima Rumba lies sprawled on a red couch. Once upon a time he was a successful actor and singer in Nepal. Today he is drinking straight from the bottle of scotch in his hand, then he washes the taste away by dunking his mouth in a crystal bucket of ice cubes and water. It is four in the morning and he is spinning drunken fantasies of murdering his trampy girlfriend when she gets home.
"bitch...", he murmurs.
It was too late to call his wife who is still in Nepal. His super stardom in Nepal was followed by an affair with an emerging ravishing actress, Mallika Subba. Later they moved to Mumbai in pursuit of their dreams to make it big in bollywood. That however, turned out to be a blunder for Nima. Ever since, his career was plunging downhill. There had been a time when his friends would have been delighted, flattered by his calling them even at such an ungodly hour, but now he bored them.
Gulping at his bottle of scotch, he finally hears Mallika's key in the door, but he contines to drink until she walks into the room and stands before him. She was to him so very beautiful, the angelic face, soulful violet eyes, the delicately fragile but perfectly formed body. On the screen her beauty was magnified, spiritualized. Thousands of men were perhaps in love with her face and paid to see it on screen.
Nima: "rand*, mach**ne, kahan bata eti dhilo farkadai ches ? where the hell were you ?"
Mallika: "out f**king,"
She had misjudged his drunkeness. That was no time to be a smart ass. He springs over the cocktail table and grabs her by the throat.
Nima: "ajha badi hunches, tan rand*..."
But close up to the magical face, the lovely violet eyes, he loses his anger and becomes helpless again. She makes the mistake of smiling mockingly and he draws back his fist at her.
Mallika: "Nima mukh ma chahin nai. Please please. I'm making a picture, Nima."
He punches her in the stomach and she falls to the floor. He falls on top of her. He punches her on the arms and on the thigh muscles of her silky tanned legs. He beats her as he had beaten smaller kids long ago when he had been a tough teenager in Chakrapath are. But he was not hitting her hard enough. He couldn't and so she giggles at him. She then pushes the drunk man away from her body and stands up.
Mallika: "You poor silly bastard, giving me cramps like a kid. Ah, Nima, you always will be a dumb romantic guinea, you even make love like a kid. You still think screwing is really like those dopey songs you used to sing."
She shakes her head: "aba afai ch**dai basa timi".
She walks into the bedroom and we hear her turn the key in the lock. Nima sits on the floor with his face in his hands. The sick, humiliating dispair overwhelms him. What did he do to deserve this kind of life. He then picks up the phone and calls for a cab to take him to the airport. He would go back to Kathmandu. There was one person who could save him. Nima had upset this man when he had left Nepal for Mumbai. His granddaughter, Purnika was among his fans and so this man had wanted him to stay in Nepal. But now he has realized that he should have listened. Now, he would go back to this man who has the power, wisdom, he needed and a fatherly love he still trusted. He would go back to the Shree Panch.
Monday, 23 June 2008
Thursday, 19 June 2008
Shree Panch/ Nagarjun Diaries
Subtitle: To live, sometimes you have to survive.
Episode I:
(Flashback)
Dark...Solemn..tragic...blues version of 'shree man gambheer' playing in the background. Reminds me of the chill that runs down my body every time I hear The Godfather Waltz. I was there, sulking...sobbing inside, k garnu parampara ra kartavya ko zanjeer maa bandhieko thien..while I was watching outside...thick smokes from a cremation pyre smoldering into the sky. Only few mournful faces. Even those next to the pyre, their face expressionless...staring into the flames. No tears.
"k bho Raja kina tolai bakseko ?" a female voice suddenly interjects.--back to present: Gyanendra is on a rocking chair in front of the fire. He is now seventy two. We are in 2077 BS. His face is bloated,he is wearing his reading glasses, a thick book sitting on his lap. The room is poorly lit. Gyanendra is almost silhoutted against the fire so his features are obscured. He turns to the direction where the voice came from and then goes back to his reading...
New Scene:
"I believe in New Nepal, the republic Nepal. It made me who I am today". Suddenly we are watching in close view, Hari Bhakta Maharjan, a man of fifty dressed in a black suit, on the verge of great emotion.
"I raised my daughter with republican values; I gave her freedom, but taught her never to dishonor her family. She found a boy friend. She went to the movies with him, stayed out late. Two months ago he took her for a drive, with another boyfriend. They made her drink whiskey and then they tried to take advantage of her. She resisted; she kept her honor. So they beat her like an animal. When I went to the hospital her nose was broken, her jaw was shattered and held together by stitches, and she could not even weep because of the pain"
Hari Bhakta Maharjan can barely speak; he is weeping now.
"I went to the police like a good citizen. These two boys were arrested and brought to trial. The peoples' court sentenced them to three years in prison, and suspended the sentence. Suspended sentence! They went free that very day. I stood in the courtroom like a fool and those bastards, they smiled at me. Then I said to my wife, for justice, we must go to Nagarjuna Durbar."
The camera now zooms out and away from Hari Bhakta. We see Gyanendra's office in Nagarjuna Durbar. The blinds are closed and so the room is dark and with patterned shadows. We are watching Hari Bhakta over the shoulder of Gyanendra. Rajan Khadka sits near a small table, examining some paperwork, and Paras stands impatiently by the window, sipping from a glass of wine. We can hear music and laughter and voices of many people outside.
Gyanendra: "Hari, we know each other for years, but this is the first time you come to me for help. I don't remember the last time you invited me to your house for coffee...even though our wives are friends..."
Hari Bhakta: "What do you want of me ? I'll give you anything you want, but do what I ask!"
Gyanendra: "And what is that Maharjan ?"
Hari Bhakta Maharjan whispers into Gyanendra's ear.
Gyanendra: No. You ask for too much.
Hari: I ask for justice. pahile bhanthe nyaya napae Gorkha janu, aba manche haru bhanchan nyaya napae Nagarjun jaanu...
Gyanendra: Jana Adalat le nyaya di sakyo timi lai.
Hari: An eye for an eye !
Gyanendra: But your daughter is still alive.
Hari: Then make them suffer as she suffers. How much shall I pay you.
Both Rajan and Paras react.
Gyanendra: You never think to protect yourself with real friends. You think it's enough to be a republican. All right, the YCL and the police protects you, there is peoples' court, so you don't need a friend like me. But now you come to me and say Shree Panch, you must give me justice. And you don't ask in respect or friendship; instead you come to my house on the day my granddaughter is to be married and you ask me to do murder...for money.
Hari: Naya Nepal has been good to me...
Gyanendra: Then take justice from the peoples' court. But if you come to me with your friendship, your loyalty, then your enemies become my enemies, and then, believe me, they would fear you...
Slowly, Hari Bhakta bows his head and murmurs, "shree panch...".
Gyanendra: Good. From me you'll get justice....and some day, and that day may never come, I would like to call upon you to do me a service in return...
Scene fades...
Episode I:
(Flashback)
Dark...Solemn..tragic...blues version of 'shree man gambheer' playing in the background. Reminds me of the chill that runs down my body every time I hear The Godfather Waltz. I was there, sulking...sobbing inside, k garnu parampara ra kartavya ko zanjeer maa bandhieko thien..while I was watching outside...thick smokes from a cremation pyre smoldering into the sky. Only few mournful faces. Even those next to the pyre, their face expressionless...staring into the flames. No tears.
"k bho Raja kina tolai bakseko ?" a female voice suddenly interjects.--back to present: Gyanendra is on a rocking chair in front of the fire. He is now seventy two. We are in 2077 BS. His face is bloated,he is wearing his reading glasses, a thick book sitting on his lap. The room is poorly lit. Gyanendra is almost silhoutted against the fire so his features are obscured. He turns to the direction where the voice came from and then goes back to his reading...
New Scene:
"I believe in New Nepal, the republic Nepal. It made me who I am today". Suddenly we are watching in close view, Hari Bhakta Maharjan, a man of fifty dressed in a black suit, on the verge of great emotion.
"I raised my daughter with republican values; I gave her freedom, but taught her never to dishonor her family. She found a boy friend. She went to the movies with him, stayed out late. Two months ago he took her for a drive, with another boyfriend. They made her drink whiskey and then they tried to take advantage of her. She resisted; she kept her honor. So they beat her like an animal. When I went to the hospital her nose was broken, her jaw was shattered and held together by stitches, and she could not even weep because of the pain"
Hari Bhakta Maharjan can barely speak; he is weeping now.
"I went to the police like a good citizen. These two boys were arrested and brought to trial. The peoples' court sentenced them to three years in prison, and suspended the sentence. Suspended sentence! They went free that very day. I stood in the courtroom like a fool and those bastards, they smiled at me. Then I said to my wife, for justice, we must go to Nagarjuna Durbar."
The camera now zooms out and away from Hari Bhakta. We see Gyanendra's office in Nagarjuna Durbar. The blinds are closed and so the room is dark and with patterned shadows. We are watching Hari Bhakta over the shoulder of Gyanendra. Rajan Khadka sits near a small table, examining some paperwork, and Paras stands impatiently by the window, sipping from a glass of wine. We can hear music and laughter and voices of many people outside.
Gyanendra: "Hari, we know each other for years, but this is the first time you come to me for help. I don't remember the last time you invited me to your house for coffee...even though our wives are friends..."
Hari Bhakta: "What do you want of me ? I'll give you anything you want, but do what I ask!"
Gyanendra: "And what is that Maharjan ?"
Hari Bhakta Maharjan whispers into Gyanendra's ear.
Gyanendra: No. You ask for too much.
Hari: I ask for justice. pahile bhanthe nyaya napae Gorkha janu, aba manche haru bhanchan nyaya napae Nagarjun jaanu...
Gyanendra: Jana Adalat le nyaya di sakyo timi lai.
Hari: An eye for an eye !
Gyanendra: But your daughter is still alive.
Hari: Then make them suffer as she suffers. How much shall I pay you.
Both Rajan and Paras react.
Gyanendra: You never think to protect yourself with real friends. You think it's enough to be a republican. All right, the YCL and the police protects you, there is peoples' court, so you don't need a friend like me. But now you come to me and say Shree Panch, you must give me justice. And you don't ask in respect or friendship; instead you come to my house on the day my granddaughter is to be married and you ask me to do murder...for money.
Hari: Naya Nepal has been good to me...
Gyanendra: Then take justice from the peoples' court. But if you come to me with your friendship, your loyalty, then your enemies become my enemies, and then, believe me, they would fear you...
Slowly, Hari Bhakta bows his head and murmurs, "shree panch...".
Gyanendra: Good. From me you'll get justice....and some day, and that day may never come, I would like to call upon you to do me a service in return...
Scene fades...
Nagarjun Diaries (English title) Shree Panch (Nepali title) Sypnosis
The following article is not my writing. I found it in some website and I do not know the anonymous writer either....
here is the sypnosis:
Gyanendra Shah is the aging ex monarch of Nepal. His beloved grandson Hridayendra has returned home after finishing his studies abroad, but does not intend to become part of his grandfather's business. Through Hridayendra's life the nature of the family business becomes clear. The business of the family is just like the head of the family, kind and benevolent to those who give respect, but given to ruthless violence whenever anything stands against the good of the family. Gyanendra lives his life in the way of the old country, but times are changing and some don't want to follow the old ways and look out for community, "family" and country. Some south Asian countries want to adopt the EU model under the leadership of India. The communist regime of Nepal favors such union, however many see it as the final stage of Nepal's sikkimization. The Maoists need the ex-king's influence to further this plan. The clash of the ex-King's fading old world values and the new ways will demand a terrible price, especially from Hridayendra, all for the sake of his family.
PS: This story is inspired by The Godfather. The character of Gyanendra is inspired by a mix of King Gyanendra and Vito Corleone. The Character of Hridayendra is inspired by that of Michael Corleone.
here is the sypnosis:
Gyanendra Shah is the aging ex monarch of Nepal. His beloved grandson Hridayendra has returned home after finishing his studies abroad, but does not intend to become part of his grandfather's business. Through Hridayendra's life the nature of the family business becomes clear. The business of the family is just like the head of the family, kind and benevolent to those who give respect, but given to ruthless violence whenever anything stands against the good of the family. Gyanendra lives his life in the way of the old country, but times are changing and some don't want to follow the old ways and look out for community, "family" and country. Some south Asian countries want to adopt the EU model under the leadership of India. The communist regime of Nepal favors such union, however many see it as the final stage of Nepal's sikkimization. The Maoists need the ex-king's influence to further this plan. The clash of the ex-King's fading old world values and the new ways will demand a terrible price, especially from Hridayendra, all for the sake of his family.
PS: This story is inspired by The Godfather. The character of Gyanendra is inspired by a mix of King Gyanendra and Vito Corleone. The Character of Hridayendra is inspired by that of Michael Corleone.
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