Meghe Dhaka Tara Page #2

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Why do you listen to nonsense?

Destroy the future for a day's words?

Just grit your teeth

for two years

Look Khuki, only you

know my worth

If you'd gone you'd have

missed out on tomorrow

Tomorrow's Jagatdhatri Puja

Oh, tomorrow's your birthday!

Father's going to take me

on an outing, like before

Father... where?

Not decided - anywhere?

Okay, count me in,

I'll come too

Brother, you're such a child!

Father'd refuse if I told him

Sunrise!

Didn't Keats have a poem

Poetry of the earth

is never dead

This crop field!

To perceive its beauty costs no money

And there is no money

But this is here.

Very much here

You know the real truth?

Living is an art

You'll have stomach trouble

Will you remain a glutton

all your life!

Ignorant lad, you shouldn't

say things like that

Won't you give us too

Could we get a drink

of water near by

Sir, you're three months

subscription overdue

Please give me at least something

Okay, come tomorrow,

I'll see what I can do

Hey, I don't hear your voice...

at the rehearsals.

What are you doing nowadays?

They aren't giving me

a proper role lately

Proper roles, acting, actor!

Sir

Who are you?

I'm Sanat

You the one who's got a high

second class in pure physics?

Someone said so.

Yes, Khuki did

Yes. We do get to meet

You've gone so sickly and

dark, auntie

What do you plan to do now?

I'm looking for a scholarship

to do a doctoral research

Monkey!

For a D.S. C?

- D. Phil's are all too common

Swine!

What is your thesis about?

- The Reynold Number...

of the Supersonic Vibration of

the Lower Gangetic Plain

Ape!

- Yes

Not you, it's about Shankar.

I was comparing the two

He's done nothing all his life

Come son, have a bite to eat

So you're immersed in studies?

No other way out in life

What a lovely place

I won't be able to do any sort of work.

- Go and serve this tea to Sanat

Oh mother! Sanat has come?

What the -

What're you staring at?

Hold this! I'm late

How come you sit

indoors all evening

Bye

You've come so I'll

go late for tuition

Let's go out for a walk.

What happened?

Let's go

Where's the one inside?

Get out!

Are you all right!

- Yes

You know this is the guru

I was telling you about

And when was that?

Bring home all the vagabonds

Can't feed oneself

Beginning's a bit troublesome

What a lovely voice! You'd be

spellbound if you heard it

If you bring such a nuisance

home again...

Just wait. I'm coming

Quick, bring some money

Ma, we're going out. I'll do

the tuition on the way back

It's hard to get the

scholarship

Just a few month more

And then

And then just get a job

And with your earning's I'll

You're free to tear

down the distance

Your genius is so large

That picture you've seen in my room...

- Those two kids?

Me and Brother

You know Sanat, we once went

walking on the hills there

Waking up while it's still dark

to see the sunrise from a peak

What suffering!

But when the sun came out...

I just can't explain to you...

As kids, brother'd tease me.

She wants to catch the moon!

He still does

Neeta, you're just not

cut out for this

So much to suffer -

Well then make glass case

and inside it,

keep me like a wax doll

I'll be late for tuition. Bye

No need to panic,

just a bone fracture

Neetu, come out

An injury in old age,

it'll be hard to cure

Now she'll have to run

the whole household

Neeta! What brings you here?

Weren't you sitting for

M. A this year?

I couldn't go on studying.

I work now. Bye

You'd better spin a new yarn

on your dues

Didn't tell you yesterday...

You'll get it as soon as I do?

That's a stale one

D'you take us to be

your community father...

and feel free to rest on us?

Why not get a job.

Get settled in life

You'll never understand

something called an ideal

Your friend Sarojbabu came

I asked him the answers

What did he say?

- National Chemical

Joy Engineering

Jagat Hosiery

Three jobs just waiting for you,

and you're researching the air?

Sir, the lady's here...

- Bring her here

Your ideal is here...

A really hectic time I've had,

luckily I got a job

The way things are

after Father's accident

I can't say I like it.

Why did you give up studies?

What can I do?

There are so many at home...

And they are all waiting,

looking up to me...

Let's go

Praise be to the goddess of learning

bestower of perseverance

Give us prosperity...

Four annas for me

to buy a shave...

Goddess of learning

Mother of the Universe

It's quite unbearable

I'll work, and you do the studying

I can easily get a job

Then our wedding...

Can't happen now

Why not?

How can it?

If I leave that household...

My old Father, younger brother

and sister...

Shankar's a rascal,

why should you bear his load?

You can't read him at all!

He'll be big one day,

as you will too

I pin my hopes on you two

After that I may have time

That means, till then...

We'll have to wait.

- Why should we wait?

Don't be crazy

I'll drop by in a day or two

I have a question

Come...

For a singer you certainly

can afford a shave

Shorn all shame as well?

- What shame?

The whole clan eating off the labours

of one sister. Destroying her future

Any idea how the whole colony's

talking about it?

Aren't you the older brother?

- Look here Banshi-da...

Your giving me blades on credit has

nothing to do with my family affairs

Oh, come off it!

I call Neeta Sindbad the sailor

They're all on her shoulder

like the old man of the sea

That'll be her fate

till she drop dead

Wasting my time all these days

I've now come to the river

at the wrong time

I don't know your name,

O boatman!

Who shall I call for?

Who'll row me across?

The boat is here,

but there's no boatman

There's no man on the banks

Sir, I've finished the lesson

It's quite late.

You'd better go home

Montu's skipped college

a month now

Heard today, he's failed

His name has been struck

off the rolls because...

he couldn't pay the fees

What good would college

do him any way?

Good that girl has a job

Just as well, isn't it?

Father, you know about Montu?

You don't need to bring bad news,

everyone knows

Everyone also knows you're

the happiest to see us harmed

And you, and your young man!

- Wife!

Montu's got a job in a factory

as a sportsman

He was too scared to tell you

He's brought his first pay

Everything kept secret!

As if I were an enemy

Like father, like children

I won't touch this money

Now on, run the household

and face the music yourself

Job in a factory? Labour!

So what? These jobs have

better prospects nowadays

Just see where

middle class life descends!

Take me to the other room

You all think I just quarrel,

you see me quarrelling all the time,

you think me a harridan

How different I've become

during the last 10 years

I'm growing so strange

You don't have to explain, Ma

Really, I can't take the load

of this household any more

Please set me free

If Shankar had been a man...

you wouldn't have to take

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