In front of me is a postcard in sepia.
Showing Bombay of the 1940’s or thereabouts.
There’s the fountain at Fort, and the road divided into two by a central terminus for trams and taxis.
This looks just beautiful.
Maybe I’m in a sepia mood these days.
Maybe it’s the after-effect from reading about the music and films of the 1930’s. And following up on you tube.
Movies that have now been forgotten. Names that are no longer remembered.
But the parent still remembers.
The songs, the stories, the anecdotes about when he saw the movies and how many times did he see some. Even this spot near Fountain which he used to walk down to, to "pass time" as a penurious paying guest.
I use the kinder “courtesan” for some of the ladies when I take the lines to English.
What choice did they have, really?
9 comments:
There are many words, but only one fitting, it's survival.
Some of my African friends know more about old Hindi cinema than me because it was very popular there and they still talk about it, all of them have watched Mother India and I am ashamed that I haven't until date....
How true!(Though, most people would hate to admit that they like old movies,for fear of being called 'oldies', by the younger generation(s))..:)Sepia was/is a fun colour,na?
Sepia mood... not exactly blue, but sepia. It makes a difference.
i love sepia. loved the atmosphere of the post, but got a bit lost at the end. did not get the courtesan reference - that is where they came into the story. but that is probably just me being my distracted half brained self :)
personally, i dont agree with the implications of what choice part, but that's just me
:-)
nice reading. love those old movies at certain times. was watching adam's rib - an old favourite of mine a few weeks ago and thinking of how many dimensions of a world slipped away it represented. and this was not even that old.
I do like sepia too, it gives a sort of nostalgia or emotional value to the pic. I'm not sure why. Perhaps colors are just too distracting.
Is there a translation in the works? :)
The parent really remembers. From all those days of 3 shows a day at Regal and Metro :) Bombay in sepia. *sigh*
hmmm.....must be quite a place, bombay is the 60s....
sometimes i reminiscence about delhi in the late 80s and early 90s, the innocent dilli.......the dilli of my childhood..i miss those times!!!
mago- agree. at the end of the day.
pq- some of the old movies, the b&w ones particularly are beautifully shot.
amit- sepia was/is fun. is there some word like extra-power old?
leni- yep, wistfully not unhappy.
ricer- was doing some translation. yes, so many of the wonderful voices were ahem maintained by men, and women didn't work in the 1930's.
I'm astonished at the luxury of space most sets depicted.
mystic- sepia has an extra depth, i think.
Tamanna- and tickets priced in annas.
shootin- I remember coming to Dilli on vacation in 1974.green park. bhuta and ice-candy.
These days, don't care for the city. That's the Mumbaikar in me speaking up.
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