Sunday, January 24, 2010

The Householder


"The Householder" is one of my favourite movies. Bearing the stamp of Merchant-Ivory movies in its uncluttered narrative simplicity, it is a tale that tugs at the strings of the heart with delicate, unpretentious poignancy.

It deals with the plight of a young man, caught in the crossfire of the mutually antagonistic figures of his mother and his newly wed wife. His predicament is worsened by the abysmally paltry salary that he earns as a junior professor in a college, hardly enough to make ends meet. Diffident, he decides to leave it all, and seek solace in renunciation, in sannyas. But a chance encounter with a spiritual figure makes him see the inherent wisdom of the ancient Indian idea of chaturashram; Till such time that he is required to renounce the material world, he should relish and appreciate it, instead of resorting to escapism. For that is the task of the greehi, the householder.

4 comments:

nonsensewares said...

chaturashram need not tell you what your task is. it is for us to take a task to its logical conclusion once we have taken it up. escapism does not help for the world is a limited space and it runs out. it is a small place and it's better to keep trying, with different techniques and attitude perhaps, ones that work after all. some surely do.

Minko said...

Logic need not go in a certain direction, leaving its trail behind. There can be another sort of logic on the other side of the moon as well. However dark it may seem, we need just a little courage to do things accordingly. That sets logic apart from your perfunctory rational deed. You make your own logic and your own rationality. That's about it, I guess.

Peripat(h)etic said...

anirban da-How does one decide, what a "logical conclusion" is? if it be assumed that it is subjective, how many subjective versions may be allowed? especially if some, or most of them, run contrary to the others?

Minko said...

Ginnybabu- Take the one that is closest to your heart. It might provoke war, but believe me,it will never piss you off.:)