Hope Is Like A Road in the Country: Amrita Sharma

(Image Courtsey: IMDB)

Amrita Sharma writes on her latest date with art, Hope and Kirsten Sheridan's August Rush (2007).

Hope is a beautiful word. Once we choose to hope, anything is possible. Hope is to desire as listening is to hearing. And I hope to be excused for trying to put Paulo Coelho's view in another way, that ,if one truly hopes for something the whole of nature conspires in order for him to get the thing. The late sequence of events has strengthened my belief in the word hope. My talks apart, for today I am here to tell the story of a kid whose life was nothing but hope itself. The Hope to follow the music that was concealed deep within but was yearning to be let out. And the Hope to see his Mommy and Papa. Or was it the one and the same thing??...It was this kid who could better understand the magic that those four alphabets come together to create...When he was big enough to open his eyes in an orphanage and to the world ,for which he had not more than little wisdom to tackle, and could just understand what the word mommy and papa means ,he hoped to see them. He hoped that he will be with them sometime...What more? He hoped to find music. He listened to music and played from within his soul and without an instrument to play!! The instinctive inclination wasn’t a wonder having been born to musician parents.......

......But the amazing part of the story lies in the way he finds hope and the way he finds music in every sound of nature. Then be it the rustle of the wind, the tinkling of wind chimes ,the whistling sound let out of a sigh, the blowing of horn, the tapping of feet, the swaying of trees, he found music every where, leave aside those created by a musical instrument!! Ask him how can he hear music, and this it what he has to say, its everywhere. Its in the wind, its in the air, its in the light, all you need to do is to open yourself out. All you need to do is to listen .He was too free form within to be put in a confinement and so expectedly one fine day he broke away from the orphanage to search for his parents and for the music out there which he was bereaved of Music seems to be overwhelming the word hope. But it has not. No sooner did he break free that he got in touch with conventional music. When he first placed his fingers on the strings of a guitar he left his guide spell bound with the astounding command of an eleven year old. When asked how he knew about music, pat came the reply, 'It’s the moon who told me to follow it and that is all I know...but I can listen to it all around me and within me'....Life has to be a combination of both ups and downs and this was no exception. Though he got in touch with music it wasn’t the place where he ought to be. Because here his love was being sold...but as I said, Hope can work wonders. It brought him to the place he belonged...to a church. Where music was not thought of as an object of sale but a revered art? If you are thinking by now that the child's second quest is abandoned, you are mistaken! In fact the whole nature was conspiring to get him to get his parents. Both of his unmarried and unfortunately separated parents who were still unaware of the existence of their son, accelerated their hope to be together. Yes, it was hope indeed which finally made the kid's mother aware that the inexplicable loss she felt all the way through was not out of no reason. Her son was still there and was alive ! And she had to find him. Though the mother had no clue , where she would find her child, she hoped to see him...

......Music was an indispensable part of the life of the three. Father, Mother and the kid. At one point of time the separation from each other, started separating them from their second love also: music. But that was not something they were destined for. So, destiny took a merry turn and they found their way back to music only to find one another and their beloved son performing in the music concert 'The August Rush' . One may call it a fairy tale as the sequence of events seems to be too much of mere coincidences, but I prefer to call it the miracle of HOPE. True...Hope is like a road in the country; there never was a road, but when many people walk on it …it comes into existence!!

Comedy, Terror and the Beautiful: Amrita Sharma Responds to 'Life is Beautiful'

Roberto Benigni's 1998 classic 'Life is Beautiful' (La Vita E Bella) is one of the greatest comedies and (an even greater anti-war film) ever made. Set against Nazi holocaust , the movie is a father 's amazing heroics to convert the war and holocaust into a game for his son and by doing so he's able to keep him away from all the ugliness his little world is forced to acknowledge. Benigni got the Best Actor's Academy award for playing Guido the father, the film was adjudged the Best Foreign Language film and also won an Oscar for the Best Original Dramatic Score. Same year, it was the Grand Jury Prize winner at Cannes. This piece is inspired by a classroom screening during one of the PMEL sessions.

Rightly said, 'life does not cease to be funny when people die as much as it ceases to be serious ,when people laugh’.

If comedy could manage bring out laughter from people enveloped with terror, it could indisputably be the biggest weapon to fight terror.ifmiseries don’t seem to relent and one cant help getting out of aninevitably oppressive situation ,at least one can overwhelm the heartwith joy for a while by smiling and making others smile.Thanks to comedythat has helped to bring back the smile on innumerable faces throughages.’Life is beautiful’ is another piece of comedy that has raked upthis idea. It whizzed past in a couple of hours but didn’t fail leavingan indelible imprint in our minds unveiling the idea of fighting terrorusing a weapon which may be invaluable but paradoxically, even theleast fortunate with this treasure.the treasure of the ability to smileand making others smile.

The hero of the movie,(yes,even thoughhe didn’t come up with any stereotypical heroic stunt and was notextraordinary in any way,he definitely was a hero in my opinion.Havingnever giving in to the profusely oozing sweat of hardships that heunderwent in the Nazi conentration camp during the war of fascism) ajewish Italian named Guido ,never failed to make his son smile all thetime using his humourous imaginations even in the grim atmoshpherethat was prevalent in the death camp where destiny had brought them.There wasn’t a single misery that had not gripped him.Beit the catastrophe of war his nation was suffering.Be it the longingnessfor his beloved wife Dora who was separated from him in another jewishconcentration camp or be it the terror of the ultimate end that they allseemed to be heading towards along with his little son who had just embarked on the journey of his life.

All his wit told him thatthe only way to get over such horrific fear was to hold on and notforget to laugh it off.The miseries surely were not enough to engulf hisfaith in humour.He rather told his son who was intrigued in thebeginning that it was an all new game that they had come to play andthat they had to score the 1000 quickest points to win a Tank.This wasenough to fascinate the kiddo who also started taking the hardships as agame and enjoyed it.

Guido was shot to death by the germansoldiers but didn’t fail to make his son laugh even a minute before he died!

Isn’t that a lesson to be learned and realize thesignificance of comedy.Terror is never an invited guest.It graduallylooms over the horizon.But if one learns the art of comedy,it canfortify him to fight back a terror in the ugliest guise.Because laughterdoesn’t just makes life simpler and more worthwhile but mostimportantly,beautiful.

Indeed! Comedy is the biggest weapon to fightterror.And above all,Life is Beautiful!!

Rightly said,’life does not ceases to be funny when people die as much as it ceases to be serious ,when people laugh’

If comedy could manage to bring out laughter from people enveloped with terror,it could indisputably be the biggest weapon to fight terror. If miseries don’t seem to relent and one can't help getting out of an inevitably oppressive situation ,at least one can try filling the heart with joy for a while by smiling and making others smile. Thanks to comedy that has helped to bring back the smile on innumerable faces through ages.’Life is beautiful’ is another piece of comedy that has raked up this idea.

It whizzed past in a couple of hours but didn’t fail leaving an indelible imprint in our minds unveiling the idea of fighting terror using a weapon which may be invaluable but paradoxically, even  the least fortunate with this treasure. The treasure of the ability to smile and making others smile.

The hero of the movie,(yes,even though he didn’t come up with any stereotypical heroic stunt and was not extraordinary in any way,he definitely was a hero in my opinion. Having never giving in to the profusely oozing sweat of hardships that he underwent in the Nazi concentration camps during the war of fascism)an Italian Jew  named Guido ,never failed to make his son smile all the time using his humorous imagination  even  in the grim atmosphere that was prevalent in the death camp where destiny had brought them. There wasn’t a single misery that had not gripped him. Be
it the catastrophe of war his nation was suffering. Be it the longing for his beloved wife Dora who was separated from him in another concentration camp or be it the terror of the ultimate end that they all  seemed to be heading towards along with his little son who had just embarked on the journey of his life.

All his wit told him that the only way to get over such horrific fear was to hold on and not forget to laugh it off. The miseries surely were not enough to engulf his faith in humor. He rather told his son who was intrigued in the beginning that it was an all new game that they had come to play and that they had to score the 1000 quickest points to win a Tank. This was enough to fascinate the kiddo who also started taking the hardships as a game and enjoyed it.

Guido was shot to death by the German soldiers but didn’t fail to make his son laugh even a minute before he died!

Isn’t that a lesson to be learned and realize the significance of comedy. Terror is never an invited guest. It gradually looms over the horizon. But if one learns the art of comedy,it can fortify him to fight back a terror in the ugliest guise. Because laughter doesn’t just makes life simpler and more worthwhile but most
importantly,beautiful.

Indeed!Comedy is the biggest weapon to fight terror. And above all,Life is Beautiful!!