My Grandma, Trishul, and Amitabh Bachhan

My grandmother was born in 1911, the year Delhi was chosen over kolkata to be India's capital. She lived through many important historic events, and died two years after Indira Gandhi's Death in 1984. Incidentally, Indira was born in 1919.

Grandma was a good cook. That defines how my mother knows to make world class pickles so well. Grandma was a hard task master, my father and my uncle (who is 7 years younger to my father) tell me. I have seen little of her (I was small when she passed away). From limited of what is left of her remembrances, I knew her to have weak memory (which my father confirms is untrue), to have skin full of wrinkles (which my eldest aunt tells is as big a change as can come to any person - basically she means that my grandmother had the best skin in the world). I knew her to be a religious person, someone who always used to carry a hand-fitted pouch carrying garland with 108 beads. she will rotate it regularly for hours between her middle finger and thumb, chanting silently the name of Shiva with rotation of every bead. She was rather sharp and alert for her age, and our attempts to take out anything from kitchen use to be a waste if she was in the kitchen. We tried even when she was in her prayers. Failure met us.

My father was, and continues to be, very fond of Amitabh Bachhan. In the story of my grandmother the fact just mentioned shall not matter. But it did.

My grandmother was, being from a pre-cinema era, not exactly in sync with what cinema was about. "Perhaps few evil images playing here-n-here" she use to lament. But it changed one day. She heard that Shyam cinema hall is playing "Trishul" in four shows. My father, who was in college and was a keen follower of whats happening in which hall, came and informed all-n-sundry his plan of watching the movie on sunday that week. My grandmother asked what he was talking about. My father said it was about trishul. She said she will also come to watch. Huh!

Preparations started. My mother - her trusted lieutenant - was given responsibility of arranging the accompaniments. As per instruction, a prayer plate and candles, incense stick, flowers, sindoor (vermillon) and small shiva-linga were araanged neatly in a dolchi (bamboo carry bag). A rikshaw-puller was ordered to take the ladies. Since so pious a ceremony was planned, it was thought better that the rikshaw-driver drives the rikshaw bare-footed. He obliged.

So, Trishul (starring Amitabh Bachhan) was watched over, very religiously and with anticipation of Shiva's arrival in every next scene. Alas, that was not to be. The candles were kept ready, the prayer-plate decorated and the shiva-linga washed and dried - all to be bowed to. My grandma waited. When the film came to an end, she said - "look, I told you na! Indeed the evil images playing here-n-here".