Column | Window Seat

Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee

Waiting for rain

This has become a ritual now. Every afternoon we look at the sky. Pieces of slate coloured cloud appear with a burst of cool breeze (or is it my imagination?). We hope it will rain. We hope there will a thunder storm, as it usually happens in mid-summer in this part of the country, particularly at the valley of Paniohala hill in Dhenkanal, where I live. We close the glass windows of our home. Secure the door and look at the sky. There it is - the water bearing dark clouds- now spreading itself, taking different shapes- now an elephant, now a dragon- engulfing the blue of the afternoon sky. 
And then, poof- it is all gone. Almost in nano-second.
The sky is clear again. The sun glares even in the afternoon.
Next day, the same drill.

Kalinga Studio

Recently I went to Kalinga Studio, Bhubaneswar for a Taranga TV programme. I went to that place after probably 6-7 years. Last time I went there for a E TV programme:  'E-TV Adalat' which Nilambar Rath produced and I anchored. 

Kalinga Studio was in a dilapidated condition then. Now, it has further deteriorated. It now wears a weary and sad look. The garden has long turned into unkempt bushes. Used paper plates, polythene wrappers fly by heaps of rubbish.  Inside, the makeup room looks seedy and shabby. The two white sofas have long outlived their hey days. They now look dirty and creak and crib as one lowers his/her posterior on it. The attached toilet is unusable. There is no electricity connection (Tarang TV makes its programmes with the help of their own generator set).  No usable equipment. The studio is in deep coma.

Spread over 25 acres, Kalinga Studio came into being in 1982. Initially, the studio did well. Producers from outside the State and even from Bangladesh came here to shoot. But it gradually lost its sheen and public confidence. By 2007, poor infrastructure forced producers to stop coming to Kalinga Studio.

This is ironic. Odia Film and Television Industry are on a growth trajectory.  As many as thirty Odia films were released in 2015. There are over a dozen TV channels now including several 24x7 entertainment channels. Therefore there should be no dearth of work, if right kind of services in right kind of ambiance is provided. 

Is anybody listening?

Incidentally at present there are two MPs and one MLA from Odisha, who have been Film Stars. OFDC Chairperson also happens to be a former Film Star.

Macbeth in Odia

Ramakanta Mishra translated and staged Shakespeare's Macbeth in Bhubaneswar recently on the occasion of the 400^th birth anniversary of the bard. He presented me a copy of his book yesterday.  As I finished reading the book, I must say that it is one of the finest translations of Shakespeare in Odia that I have read. As far as I know, Mayadhar Mansingh had done the first-ever translation of Shakespeare- Othello. After that many of  the bird’s creations have been translated in Odia. But most of the translations fail to capture both the   story line and the poetry of the great playwright. Mr. Mishra did that considerably well.

Ramakanta Mishra, poet, playwright teaches English language and literature at Ramadevi University, Bhubaneswar. He presently heads the department.

Writing at the back

Many trucks, cars and autos have couplets written at their back, which ranges from hitopdesh (good advice) to sringar dharma kabita (romantic poetry) to samajik byang (social satire).  Found the accompanying photograph of an auto doing its round in social sites. It reads:

Whisky se Visnu mile

Rum se mile Ram

Brandy se Bramha mile

Desi se Hanuman

Mei kis kis bottle ko tyag karu

Sabme base hai Bhagaban.

**

7 May 2016

The columnist, a journalist turned media academician lives on the valley of Paniohala Hill in Dhenkanal. He writes fiction and plays. His latest book Point by Point is due to release on June 2016.

Posted here: http://orissadiary.com/ShowOriyaColumn.asp?id=67054