The bicycle thief , Satyajit Ray and Simplicity

I started watching Satyajit Ray's movies a month ago. When someone says, "Hey, U must try his movies, he's a great director", "Hey she's real hot, must watch dude", "He's the ultimate best" kinda comments or suggestions we get to evaluate them basing on the credit we give to that person. If we like them a lot we'll try our best to do it and just because that particular person suggested us and not any other.
It applies to everything. Some drink Coke, only because Aamir Khan told them to do so. Only AXE told women will be around with that spray. Sachin told similar thing about Boost.

Satyajit Ray

Apu

In one situation or the other every acclaimed director of the Hollywood told he was highly influenced by Satyajit Ray's taking. So I downloaded The Apu Trilogy. Saw it. Then after no words to describe Ray. By any standard he is a genius. The themes of his movie, the taking, background score, narration are very simple and yet have a profound and lasting effect on the audience. There were no huge sets or acclaimed actors to get the initial recognition. Each and every frame has its importance and a significant role in the movie on the whole. The point common to every great film is that it makes the audience an integral part of the film and yet there is no role to play except a witness to those incidents narrated. Ray did it with finesse. With amateur technicians he created magic on the screen. When I went through Ray's biography he quoted The Bicycle Thief as the movie that inspired him to take movie making.

I downloaded The Bicycle Thief  Mr. Ray told it is a career deciding movie for him. In simple words the whole story is that of a poor husband who needs a bicycle for certain job in order to feed his wife and two kids. His bicycle is stolen and he goes on days hunt for it and ultimately..................................
He didn't get his bicycle back...
Sooo very simple eh, but it is not so. Importance of things varies in proportion to the value they hold to us. For him his bicycle and for us? It varies. A pen lost while I am in elementary has the same effect if I lose my mobile now. But the emotional strain and haste to get it back has not changed. It takes intense observation to make a movie with such simple theme and get credit as the Sight and Sound's all time second best movie.Sitting here I can make no guess what all they did to get such simple and everlasting effect. But all they did was to narrate a story very simply inspite of the great complexities the characters hold.

I don't want to know more people*

Every day in the morning I go to office, the first and foremost task is to greet everyone a Good morning.
It seems such a bad formality to me, and people too pause working for a while just to greet even though they really don't mean it. It is ok when I see them for the first time for that particular day.

This is not the end of it people!! Now every time I bump into that person again I say "Hey, How you doing!", raising my eyebrows, like I'm feeling very pleasant to see them. Some times by their nicknames "hey Kingfisher", "hey mallu", "hey sambar", "used the washroom, huh!!", turning back and asking "toilet papers out of stock? Your hand is wet!!" (Bullshit, unnecessary bothering about someone's wet hands )...

Oh my god .. This is not over. I have to greet them every time I bump into them.

To add some spice to my irritation, I received a mail from my admin dept in office saying we have to greet our foreign bosses in their own language. They also attached a file saying how to pronounce Good Morning in that language and the posture we have to follow while greeting them. I saw people greeting them in that posture. Its very theatrical to our Indian standards.

The mail also had a P.S. saying your bosses "Will feel happy" if you do so. I decided that day I am definitely not going to do so. I have solid reasons (that I state to myself only).
First of all, I am not there to keep my boss happy. Happy is what I may try to keep my parents/wife/kids/friends.
Secondly. I am paid to do the job, not to keep bosses happy.
It is ok and good to greet once a day and that too few people around me. But the whole lot!! Its another job. A part-time one for which I won't be paid. It ruins the thought or job that I am carrying at that time or the least it disturbs.
Then I decided not to get introduced to too many people unless inevitable. Let it be friend's friends, colleagues, bosses etc., I obviously know that I won't be meeting him/her again after I quit this job (coz quitting is for the reason I don't want to work there anymore).

*Conditions Apply