Skip to main content

To The High Priest Of Literature...


Dear Nagesh Sir,

You are a legend who taught me to fight to bring honor to our family even by rejecting man's law like Antigone, who taught me that like Lysistrata, the very effort of women can put an end to great wars, to face the existential crisis with Berenger, to forsee how I will be remembered  after my death through Elegy, to visit the Renaissance Italy with Andrea del sarto and Fra Lippo Lippi, to be in gay and keep moving on with Gunn's motorcyclists and to ride the waves with the surfers. Sir, you are the one who took me to the very beginning of the evolution of the language of cinema with Bazin ,who helped me to know the third cinema , to experience a chill down my spine with Marion Crane, to go in search of the stolen bicycle with Antonio Ricci and Bruno to prevent poverty in the family. The Sage who taught us to look into the thoughts of others with Saleem Sinai, to be compassionate to the 'other' with Gustad, to break the silence with Marikatani's mother, to be that innocent girl of Okita who doesn't know the impending horror, to see and know the Invisible people around me with Ellison and to suffer with John.
  I wish you could have taught us to lament over the modern world with Eliot, to go into the darkness of the heart with Conrad, to know the metaphysical poets, to learn Irony and Archetypes of Literature, to understand the impacts of modern horrors with Auden and Lowell and to be in conflict with nature and civilization with Morrison's creations.
But time changes, season changes and you can't be always the same you. As Mehmet Murat ildan rightly said, "When you are leaving someone, leave like the sun leaves the earth with a magnificent elegance!" and I believe this is how you leave Devagiri.
  Love you Sir and will definitely miss you.I wish you a happy and healthy retirement life.
  With lots of love , prayers and reverence,
A Student who was wonderstruck by your classes.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Love in the age of checklists: A critical review of Materialists

  Celine Song ’s  Materialists  (2025) is a modern-day romantic comedy produced by  A24 , starring  Dakota Johnson ,  Chris Evans and  Pedro Pascal . Released in cinemas in June 2025, the film became one of the year’s highly anticipated movies after its glossy trailer premiere with  Phlottila’s cover  of  Madonna’s  Material Girl  as a backdrop, with the hope of experiencing a conflicting love triangle. But underneath its glittering surface lies a deeper, sobering reflection on romance, quid pro quo relationships, and the loneliness offered by contemporary urban life. Similar to her feature debut,  Past Lives ,  Song investigates how individual desire confronts societal norms, but this time through the workings of modern matchmaking. Dakota Johnson in  Materialists . Image: IMDb  The narrative revolves around Lucy (Dakota Johnson), a high-end professional matchmaker who sees marriage as a business deal betwe...

Of mothers, sarees and their grief

Mothers are often presented as the epitome of love in movies. The struggles, sacrifices and the quiet tiredness they carry are praised, even placed on a pedestal. But we rarely talk about their grief, the grief of unlived lives. Have you ever thought about the lives of these mothers before marriage and motherhood? Before all the giving began? So often, clad in their sarees, mothers cook and smile, clean and laugh. But is that all they ever wanted? Do they carry the weight of the shadows of their unlived lives? Many do, though they may never say it aloud. And they leave it behind for the happiness of the ones they love. I often feel that when they wipe sweat from their brows with the edge of their sarees, they catch the glimpse of their hidden grief. The loneliness and the neglect they receive, they tuck it away, fold it into the pleats of their sarees and smile again. Some may have once wanted to be doctors, teachers, dancers, writers, travellers. And even in their happiest moments, th...

Laapataa Ladies aka Ladies Lost in Patriarchy

Kiran Rao’s “Laapataa Ladies” is a social satire that offers entertainment as well as empowerment. The movie humorously portrays the grave realities of a patriarchal society with the help of a simple story and background. As the name and the trailer suggested, it revolves around two newly married brides who get lost on the way to their in-laws’ home. While Jaya, whom Deepak accidentally brings home instead of his wife Phool, seizes this opportunity to follow her dream, Phool undergoes profound personal growth during the time. This period shows multiple women discovering themselves. Some learn to do things that they love for themselves while others learn to explore and embrace their talents.  Even though Jaya and Phool are two contradictory characters, they are both equally victims of patriarchal conditioning. While Jaya is ready to break and act against all the norms of society from the very beginning by uttering the name of her husband to everyone’s disbelief, Phool learns to do t...