Boy

"பயணிகளின் கனிவான கவனத்திற்கு. கும்மிடிபூண்டி வரை செல்லும் அடுத்த மின்தொடர் வண்டி பதிமூன்றாம் நடைமேடையில் இருந்து புறப்படும்." ஒலிபொறியில் இருந்து ஒரு அமைதியான குரல், சுற்றில் இருந்த கலவரத்தில் ஒலித்தது. மே மாதத்தில் ஒரு இரவு. சென்னை புறநகர் ரயில் நிலையத்தில் புறப்பட இருக்க இருந்த வண்டியில் உட்கார்ந்து, ஜன்னல் வெளியே நோட்டம் விட்டு கொண்டிருந்தேன். அப்போது ஒரு சிறுவனும் சிறுமியும் வண்டியில் ஏறி என் முன் அமர்ந்தார்கள். 8 , 9 வயது இருக்கும். சீருடை அணிந்திருந்தனர். பள்ளியில் இருந்து வந்த களைப்பில் இருவரும் ஒரு குளிர் பானத்தை உரிந்து கொண்டிருந்தனர் சத்தமாக :-)

"அண்ணா, கால நவுத்திகொங்கணா.... "

பிறகு...  

"உங்கப்பா எப்போ டா வராரு ஊர்ல இருந்து?" 

"நாளைக்கு!"

"என்ன லாம் வாங்கிட்டு வரப்போறார்?"

"தெரியலையே.. எதாவது வாங்கிட்டு வருவாரு கண்டிப்பா....." 

எந்த ஊர்  என்று தெரியவில்லை, ஆனால் என் நினைவுகள் 2 வாரங்களுக்கு முன்னர் நான் பார்த்த ஒரு நியூ சிலாந்து நாட்டு திரைப்படத்திற்கு இழுத்து சென்றன. 

It is said that to make sense of your future, you have to understand your past. Many people grapple with their past. They ruminate and regret some things. Cherish some other things. All very natural, I suppose...... 

But when looking back at your memories, it is not to say that you have to necessarily explain your thoughts, decisions, actions,  in the past with valid justifications,  so that they make sense to you today.... They hardly ever will fit in perfectly with your worldly outlook now... That being said, the most poetic recollections of life back in the day are stories told with a most matter of fact tone. Without analysis or retrospect interpretation. 

"Boy" is one such story. 

Half way through the year 2005, I had been to a little town called Gisborne, on the east coast of the North Island, New Zealand. I spent a week there with a third of my entire medical class. This week was called the ECC week or Early Community Contact week. North of Gisborne, there lives a relatively large population of  the Maori People. These are the indigenous people of New Zealand. Like most places where Europeans settled down, the indigenous people of New Zealand, are well behind their fellow citizens in terms of socio-economic standing, education, life expectancy and health provision. Hence this was an opportunity to meet the Maori people in their own land and get to know them as a people, about their values and way of life, their reality... so that we can keep it in mind during our medical practice in New Zealand and be sensitive to their cultural needs. At that time, it was certainly an eye opener. 

After all these years, when I saw the movie boy, I was instantly transported to that place and time. It is a story set in the East Coast of New Zealand in 1984. It is about a boy called "boy". He is around 12 years old. He lives with his grandmother and a whole lot of other younger kids, in a run-down house. His mother has died and his father...... Well his father is "an awesome dude, who is in America and earns a lot of money and knows Michael Jackson."

For people who grew up in New Zealand, especially in the north island, they can relate to the movie instantly. Whereas for some others, it may  raise eyebrows that this movie is set in a so called 1st world country. But yes, even in New Zealand, there live people whose everyday lives are littered with violence, poverty and a sense of hopelessness. Drugs and gang face-offs are not uncommon. And when you grow up in that environment and manage to take a film about it after 20 odd years, how would you tell your story? You dont need florid dialogues or over expressed emotions. The more underdone it is, perhaps the better...

As I overheard the conversation between those two children across from me in the train, I smiled at this universal concept of "hero-worshipping" your dad unconditionally. As they grow older and realise that their father is a mere person, perhaps those kids may realise, it will become just as important to their father to forever be hero-worshipped by them. 


BOY. Worth seeing once. :-) http://www.boythemovie.co.nz/