In this world, Womb and the Tomb are the only certainties in life. The journey in between these two signposts, so uncertain, meanders, manoeuvres and channelises itself till it reaches its destination.
Film songs have perhaps been the easiest means to reach out this philosophy of life to the common man. The lyrics so seamlessly depicted this benign relationship between The Sutradhar/ BrahmandaDeva and the Patradhar/ actor, or simply put, the puppeteer and his stringed dolls/ puppets,... with soul stirring impact.
Bollywood is plush with songs on such subjects. Since now I am settled in Bangalore, let me talk of Sandalwood. Here too such songs are plenty. Some songs which flash my mind straight away are....
The old guard connoisseurs of black and white era can easily identify...
"Bombeyatavayya brahmandave ..." from film 'Shri Krishna Garudi'...
My not so old cousins of the colored era, can sure relate to...
"Bombeyatavayya.. Nee sutradhari..."
the popular Rajkumar mimic song from film 'Shruti Seridaga'.
And for the genX kids ofcourse, the recent famous song
"Bombe adsonu.. Mele kuntovnu.."
from the film 'Drama..' has captured many an imaginations.
All these philosophical songs talk of our relationship with the Sutradhar, the Almighty who controls and directs us like his wards, pawns or puppets ... where we all come play our part to his tune and go.
I often wondered.. despite this glorious uncertainty, there is some method in madness here. Afterall if one studies humanities, destiny can't make him a rocket scientist overnight, or for that matter a potter into a programmer and vice versa. Some element of certainty does exist.
Is there any scenario where one knows the womb and the tomb, I mean in a real world activity, the start point and the destination but have absolutely no clue or control over how and when one gets there! Where even the Sutradhar cannot guarantee the path one would follow....
Very rare to find one isn't it! Afterall, haven't we heard 'where there is a will, there is a way'!..
But I did find one.
Few days back when I needed a cab for travel, using my mobile OLA app, l fed the start point and destination and booked a 'share' cab. Being new to the 'share' cab travel nuances and also seeing such discounted fare, I was quite excited to start my journey.
As I boarded the cab and gave my travel code to the driver, was quite happy to see a smart young girl, may be an IT professional already seated. Without replying to my "hi" , she just scorned at me as if I was the unwanted customer in the cab. Sannu kii... (so what.. Whatever..). I made myself comfortable in the cab and casually asked the driver... "bhai, kaunsa route loge?" He looked at me amused and in an expansive way just said, "Us Bhagwan ko bhi nahi pataa toh hum kya bataye"... The girl wryly chuckled. I wondered what was happening. In the mean time, the girl got a call from her friends...... I could clearly make out, this girl Soumya, anything but soumya in her conduct, was to catch up with her friends at the nearest metro station. The cab more than half way after she had boarded, had to take a U turn, travel 3 km to pick me up and restart her journey. She was actually cheesed off that her friends had threatened to leave her and go for the movie or some show if she failed to reach the spot in next ten minutes. A mere distance of four km from her place to the metro station was fast reaching double digits and the crowded traffic was further compounding her agony.
The IT girl got immersed her mobile app, tracking the movement of the cab. I too, out of curiosity studied the app..... the map, movement of the cab, names of co - passengers, who boarded where and dropping where, time of arrival at destination etc... found it all too impressive.... but for that one unknown factor.... Will there be another passenger who would call for this cab and topsy turvy all our calculations ? Ohh! I could decipher what was playing in each one's mind in the cab. While the driver hoped for more passengers to hop in and hop out along the journey, the girl desperately prayed no one called for this cab and spoil her critically timed programme for the evening.
The expansive meaning of the driver's words dawned upon me... "Us Bhagwan ko bhi nahi pataa...... " No wonder neither the driver nor the passengers in the cab knew, which route they would take to their respective destinations. Even the Sutradhar, the GPS... linked to the driver's mobile didn't know who would ping next for the 'share' travel in the cab! I genuinely felt sorry for Soumya. As the engine revved up repeatedly cleverly following a hooting ambulance, I could see the excitement grow on her face. At the metro station, she quickly scampered out of the cab but not without a smiling bye to me. Pleasantly surprised, even before I could return the gesture, she was already half way up the escalator waving frantically at someone up. Felt good that despite this tumultuous journey, destiny had kept her destination safe.
Luckily this time around, my move was not time bound. So I could sit back, relax and enjoy the internal and external dynamics of this 'share' travel.
In the background, the FM radio played "Bombeyatavayya"... I was amazed at the coincidence.... only to realise... the 'Sutradhar' knows it all !!!
✍️✍️satishdeshpande✍️
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