Saturday, January 19, 2013

Termites: All about Nothing and Meaninglessness


Termites: All about Nothing and Meaninglessness

 Samudra Kajal Saikia 


Now I realize that I really forgot the last object in my everyday life, that I cared. I touched with love, I cared or caressed. There was a time when I wept when a refill is over. In the process of writing I used to fall in love with the pen and the refill, and one day it gets over. One day she gave me a painted piece of stone, I could not figure out what did it mean. But it is still there at some corner of my unorganized house. I cannot throw it out. But I’m not keeping it properly also. I used to be very possessive on things. I used to cry in void if I missed a single sentence. A single piece of paper from my notebook.

But now when I lost 500 plus 500 data from my two hard discs, that were containing hundreds of my poems, I felt almost nothing. I felt nothing when I lost my laptop that contained all my works. I felt absolutely nothing when I lost her who knew everything of min, literally speaking my top to bottom. When she scratched out all the pictures and scribbles she herself once put on my wall, I felt actually nothing.  When I could not find my most favorite jacket that I bought from Nepal this winter, I felt nothing. When she put all her stuffs, 4/6 feet divan, ac, heater, bookshelf, study-table, coffee maker to my house and filled my every empty spaces, I felt nothing. And one day when she sold out or gave away all the things to somebody else I felt nothing.

I don’t know what I am saying and why I am saying. But it is clear that it is all about nothingness and meaningless. Rather also about meaninglessness.

I’ve seen how my mother used to make a house, to make the walls. She was digging the earth 5-7 feet to find the best soil and used to mix cow dung to it. Then she smeared the composition upon a screen made up of bamboo sticks. I could feel the textures as I could smell the smell of mud and cow dung. The feeling of texture on wall taught me my geography. The smell? Now it became unbearably painful. Till now I cannot stay inside a concrete house when it rains outside. I just run out to have the smell of the drenched soil.

I used to water the field where my father used to put his seeds. I liked smelling the watered soil on his farming land. But unfortunately I couldn't learn  to put seeds on soil, or taking care of it across its life span. The problem remained. I cannot nurture a poetry till its proper growth. I could not nurture any relationship, any involvement. Sometimes I put a word on your eyelid but forget to water it. Sometimes I water at some wronged place where no possibility is there for sprouts.   

For last two days I’m not opening my balcony. I fear the chilly plant that Manmeet gave me on the new year eve might be dead by now. But somehow I’m fine with that. If the plant is dead, a dead plat mean nothing to me.

Unfortunately, when I remember my mother and father, I also remember i got very least chance to smear the mud. Rather I spent most of my life blue and black inks. Inks does not smell good. Still I smeared inks across my childhood. Let the ink smell bad, but the words I form should smell good. I try to form bodies out of ink. But I know human bodies are made up of mud. I remember some story where Parvati makes out a figure out of Mud and puts life into it....

I guess I have the disorder called pica, the disease that most children and old people usually have: the tendency of eating soil...

I loved soil. But soil also mean shit. In love of soil, I produce shit.

As i wanted to be a body of soil and water, I turned a body of paper and ink.

There was two Satiyana trees at my backyard jungle. I guessed there only, a nightingale used to sing the entire night. I used to listen her at my teenage nights and I was disrupted by the cracking sounds of the mouse and rats. I was willing to listen to the distant drums, and I was listening to the rats running over the wooden roof. One day I discovered half my library is vanished by the mercy of the rats. Some of my precious books, that u collected stealing from many important public libraries, and I borrowed from people with a promise of returning soon but never intended to return.

I came to Santiniketan. Again I built up a library around me with millions of written letters. One morning I had some hallucinations. I woke up. Opened my eyes. Wanted to take a yawn or a turn around. But could not. I was so weak. I wanted to lift my left hand, but my left hand became soil. Uie Poke (a creature that makes everything into soil), also known as Termites or white ants, made my left hand soil. I wanted to remove the soil with right hand. I could not, since my right hand also turned to soil. Then I gradually got my conscience that my legs too became soil. My lower parts became soil. My upper body became soil. The head remain. Suddenly some Cartesian bump made me realize that I was just dreaming. But by co-incidence I discovered that, most of my important books and paintings and other stuffs were actually turned to soil by the mercy of Uie Pok, termites, white ants. Santiniketan had a damp weather, uie pok/ termite is very familiar there. And uie pok/ termite/ white ants can destroy anything, just anything, and can turn anything to soil.

I think that was the day I realized,   how things are disposable...  

Now I really do not recall the day I kissed you first. Can remember the very first sinister evening I touched you under the Shala tree (Shorea robusta). But feel nothing remembering it. Memories make no sense to me, as no object mean anything to me. But without memories, I’m also not there. Not there, I’m simply not there. It’s all the matter of nothing. Please pardon me for nothing. 

Thursday, January 17, 2013

What morphing does?

What morphing by someone else does to you,is make you feel displaced. You are so accustomed to furniture being in the designated space,that moving it,makes you uncomfortable.
You know where the medicines are-I kept them in the cabinet...so you go to the cabinet where you know it is!ITS NOT THERE!you have helped Jose to keep it some place else,so you have walk extra steps to go to it...and while walking you have frown and irritating thoughts-why is it here and not there!

..........................................................................................................................................................................

You organise your house as per your own convenience.You get used to your furniture being in a certain space.You know it will be there,every time you go there.It gives you a sense of stability.
And then morphing happens.You try and adjust to the changes-but it doesn't happen.So wait for the designated time,for the commitment,and as soon as it is over-the first thing you do?MOVE IT BACK!
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A house is constructed with furniture,but the energy is created/felt with the people visited....the fights...the promises...the conversations........the silences...the laughter....friends...helpers...lovers...

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

On 'morphing'

definitions of 'morphing' I found on the net

1)To be transformed
2)to transform or be transformed completely in appearance or character he morphed from nerd into pop icon
3)Short for metamorphosing, morphing refers to an animation technique in which one image is gradually turned into another. Many advanced animation programs support some type of morphing feature

morph

[mawrf] Show IPA
noun
1.
Linguistics . a sequence of phonemes constituting a minimal unit of grammar or syntax, and, as such, a representation, member, or contextual variant of a morpheme in a specific environment. Compare allomorph (  def 2 ) .
2.
Biology . an individual of one particular form, as a worker ant, in a species that occurs in two or more forms.
verb (used with object)
3.
to transform (an image) by computer.
verb (used without object)
4.
to be transformed: morphing from a tough negotiator to Mr. Friendly.
Origin:
1945–50;  back formation from morpheme, or independent use of -morph
Morphing means changing form or shape. (verb)
  1. An example of morphing is when a quiet little not-for-profit is changing into a huge charity.
  2. An example of morphing is when a caterpillar is changing into a butterfly.
Morphing means the special-effects process in which someone or something change shape or form. (noun)
An example of morphing is when a car becomes a robot which becomes a creature.
 
 

Morphing IV(Sreejata's place)


another 'morphing' added



14.1.13

Wonder if Sreejita is writing anything!(in regard to the changes...she did promise) For sometime she had wanted to move that book cabinet from the drawing room. Together we moved it and it was quiet heavy. Meymon must have returned by now....want to  hear his reactions!

15.1.13
Notes by Sreejita

It was a good feeling altogether to get my drawing room bookshelf into the large bedroom, and the old TV above it removed. But it was not set properly after that, So the TV which was then kept in the bedroom bed, was posing a question 'what now'.
The idea of a friend coming to home and then owning the space was exciting. And all the more helpful because there has been many changes i have long desired and just because i was waiting for an outside force to act for me, i haven't done.
It was like art entering you rooms, with the colour of novelty to the everyday mechanical things...






Monday, January 7, 2013

yeh ghar bahut haseen hai....

Morphing III(Jose's place)

Jose's place   5.1.13


with Ritesh




                                          Jose's place is full of tables and side tables!British,Chinese.....
we created a study/office for Billy and a guest room with T.V.
(I didn't feel like coming back...and missed Samudra's energy)

As I entered Jose's place,it was already in flux,I couldn't figure out where to start. So i just started shooting the entire place...and it seemed like an endless task. Don't know the area of the house,as every house/home I visit I compare it with the size of my own house(a 100 yard area).
Our school bus travels through Vasant Vihar everyday. Its a pleasure seeing the area...reminds me of my hometown-Chandigarh. Every house with windows in each room,a garden for the children to play in,a garden outside the boundary wall,a garage(a luxury now I feel) to park the car/s,trees outside the house.And I imagine living in one of these...but being inside Jose's place, the spaciousness is beyond me.Taking care of such a place is beyond my capacity-monetarily and physically.

13.1.13
Visited Jose's place yesterday.It looked so neat and tidy!and the morphed rooms looked fabulous !His house is so colourful...orange chinese cabinets,green dining table,a dark pink sofa,pink walls..and the lighting is perfect.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Morphing II(manmeet's place)







Jose 'morphing' Manmeet's house/home (4.1.13)

The 6'x4' diwan cum bed,moves out of the studio and into the drawing room.....it creates an unease....looking at the images,it looks like an innocent piece of furniture...but I know what memories it carries....



BEFORE AND AFTER SHOTS


the studio gets space to work and the living room gets engulfed..



like a dog hears a sound even 10 meters away,the mother hears a mere sigh of a sleeping child...Brishti wakes up and my thoughts are lost....I no more cry at night these days...try and absorb the space around me...changing furnitures with clusters of clutter,chosen to forget at intervals...making the house alive with their chaos...the will to not touch them for now..another task for an empty day....(12:24 a.m)

8.1.13

The shoe rack moves inside the washroom...I don't like it there,but it seems the apt place for it.It was earlier next to my computer/working table and sometimes the shoes came onto it...that ways its still better.Jose kept Brishti's study table there(next to mine). She still is not fond of it,though when I had bought it she was very excited.It is pink,her favourite colour that time,now it is red,her favourite colour.





It spoils the orderliness of the washroom,where everything else is in it right place,nothing is jutting out or obstructing anything. The door doesn't open completely now,but there is no where else to keep it. Its like an irritant. Maybe I should paint it!

9.1.13
Kohinoor took a leave today.She cooks for me and tidies my house abit. I didn't touch the house. Its cluttered as cluttered can be. The house becomes me today...disarranged...displaced...blurred...clothes mixing into each other...shoes all around...
Somehow I can never find the right place to put things.But its functional. The clothes are clean and dried up,which is important,the overhead tank is full,which is important,Brishti had her dinner,which is important,the heater is repaired,Brishti slept on time,I went to school,got the petrol filled,paid the electricity bill....all functional.
Yet something is missing....will cleanliness restore it?what is needed to fill these gaps?gaps of emptiness...gaps of sighs...gaps of silence...


gaps...



13.1.13

Happy Lohri!
Tomorrow the morphing completes 10 days.So as per our project guidelines,one is free to undo the changes made.
The chest of drawers which Jose moved in the studio is better functional in the living room...the diwan is irritating me...it gives more space to clutter..but i don't want to move it back in the studio,i like the studio like this...the diwan if it moves from the drawing room,is surely going out of the house...

14.1.13
I was not sure what Brishti's reaction would have been-moving the diwan in the drawing room.She loved playing in the open space. But she was so cool about it. She asked why Jose did that. And two days back we had done the same to Samudra's place,so it was easy telling her. And she understood. Children I believe get adjusted more quickly,or rather they use the space for as per their own convenience.She now sits on it and plays with her toys. But I'm sure,she will enjoy the space once the diwan is out.

16.1.13
I moved back the drawer cabinet back into the drawing/dining area. Suddenly it felt so good.
It looks perfect there and is utilized more. I feel so satisfied,just moving a piece of furniture!
Brishti tries to stop me from shooting!

The empty space after the cabinet moves out...the studio feels so light.
and it gets filled up again!


Clutter-some more before and after shots






Morphing I(Samudra's place)

31.12.12
a good day to start-the new year eve....

I am greeted by this:







I'm happy that my beloved is coming today !



A perfect/imperfect bachelor's home-





painted walls,puppets,handicrafts....clutter lying comfortably....

8.1.13

Samudra's friend...
forgot her name...she would never go away,stood there all the time...was sort of rude,not talking,not replying to any conversation....
lost in her own thoughts...observing all that was going on...she's on the phone all the time...

                                                  ..............................................................
For an 80 yard house,Samudra's place is well designed. There are shafts for cross ventelation,two washrooms,a decent kitchen,and two bedrooms.Its perfect for an artist. A room to work and a room to live in.Though the studio is used mostly for storage.
The bedroom has sunlight coming in-the best part. A huge window and an attached balcony -the only one in fact.You can see the sky.....Samudra works in this room mostly.
He is a workaholic.Even while the morphing was going on,he recorded a song! Pankaj,his friend, also came by to help. Pankaj and I were in the kitchen,Brishti playing in the bed,with Samudra working on the computer.With Brishti inside,he shut the door and instructed everyone to be quiet so that he could record his voice.
Great I thought!Recording sound with a four year old sitting next to him.And then it happened.Two lines of the song and Brishti spoke-ab bas bhi karo!It took exactly 4 minutes for her patience to give way!And Pankaj and I burst out laughing.
                                       .....................................................................................
It was the best new year eve.We even went for the event-Claim the street(PVR Anupam).But by the time we reached,the crowd we expected was not there. There were youngsters on the road,hooting,hanging around. There was a police gypsy van.We had taken our spray cans and were waiting for the police to move away.About 10 minutes later,they pushed a drunk teenager inside the gypsy and drove away.
And....


13.1.13
Waiting to visit Samudra's place.I gifted him a chilly plant..wonder how it is doing?