Water Page #2

yellow ladoos,

dripping in butter.

I ate them all when I was seven.

What do you want?

Uh, is... Chuyia here?

Are you a relative?

Afriend.

Men are not allowed here.

Can't you watch what you're doing?

Please forgive us.

No... it's all right.

You can do it again if you want!

Where did she go?

She's hiding.

Gone!

Watch it!

Don't let your shadow touch the bride!

Such ignorance.

It's this ignorance|that is our misfortune.

Shakuntula, you've been doing|this service for many years.

So many years of sacrifice|and devotion.

Do you feel closer to self liberation?

Lf...

self liberation means...

detachment from worldly desires.

Then no, I'm no closer.

Whatever happens...

never lose yourfaith.

Never lose yourfaith.

I hate you!

She's still not used to this.

Get lost.

I have money.

Widows don't eat fried food.

What do you want?

Speak up.

Hail Lord Shiva!

Auntie. Auntie.

What is it little mouse?

A ladoo!

Chuyia!

Where are you?

Well done my Chuyia.

Do my feet now.

Yes, Didi.

Gently.

My skin is like satin.

If a mosquito sits on me,|it creates a crater.

Ask Gulabi,

I always keep my promises.

Always.

If she says she'll send you home,

then she will.

Did you know?

Know what?

This Gandhi is going to sink India.

What's he done now?

He says the Untouchables are...

children of God.

Disgusting!

Before he came everything|ran like an English clock.

You'll be seen.

Take me back.

Are you insane?

I want to go back.

Then you can tell the client.

To shut someone's mouth|during a recital...

is an insult Narayan!

Who's that?

Aeunuch.

My father's pimp.

In English... a procurer.

There's a famous saying.

Widows, bulls, slippery steps|and holy men.

Avoid these, and Liberation awaits.

Can't you ever be serious?

Say you had a wife...

I'm not married.

Just imagine you were...|and she died,

and everything you've cared for

is taken away from you.

If you hadn't met that widow,

wouldn't be such|a champion of their cause.

I don't even know|how to see her again.

Stand beneath her balcony,

but don't quote Romeo.

People here don't know Shakespeare.

You really are a brown Englishman.

I'll tell you one thing Rabindra,

your precious English|are not going to last.

And who's going to take their place?

Your Gandhi?

Take me outside.

You'll be all right. Sleep now.

Take me outside.

I want a ladoo.

Try to sleep.

Do you want water?

I want to die in the open.

No.

We should take her outside.

Aunty is so lucky.

Brahmin widows keeping vigil,

and that too forfree.

Shakuntala,

Holy Water.

Get some waterfrom the river.

Hurry!

Remember me? Narayan?

Yes.

Is Kalyani inside?

Yes.

I have to go.

Wait.

Give this to Kalyani.

Didi, water.

You're too late.

The money for the cremation?

Every penny that we have

goes for the rent.

Go get Auntie's things.

Nothing.

I was saving these for my cremation.

What a goddess!

Where do you run off to?

Don't you listen?

I've told you...

You're always angry.

I was going home.

You can't go home.

I know.

Forget that life.

Auntie ate a ladoo.

Don't worry.

After eating the ladoo,|she'll go to Heaven.

God willing she'll be reborn as a man.

I would like to meet you tonight.

At Karam Ghat. At the Shiv Temple

I will wait for you.

Yours, Narayan.

I met him with Chuyia.

I didn't ask.

What should I do Didi?

Don't ask me.

I'm here.

'On the banks of the river,

where the kadamba flowers bloom, '

The kadamba is a flower so fragrant,

that people swoon in its presence.

It's from Kalidas's poem, 'Meghdoot'

I can't read.

Shakuntala Didi read your letter.

Do you know what Meghdoot is?

In Sanskrit, megh means a raincloud,

and doot, a messenger.

The poem is about...

the pain of separation|between two lovers.

Continue.

The lover tells the cloud,

it resembles Lord Vishnu...

in Krishna's guise,

gleaming wih peacock feathers.

And the cloud heard him?

How is that possible?

If we believe|that a statue of God can hear us,

why not a cloud?

Are you gentry?

Would it matter if I was?

Yes.

I just finished my law exams.

When did you become a widow?

I don't remember.

Maybe...

when I was nine.

Was your husband good to you?

I never met him.

Anyone else, in your house?

My mother,

my father,

Sadhuramji.

No, I'm not married.

Good God!

Why not?

My father says,

childhood is a time for play,

not for marriage.

And your mother?

If she had herway,

I'd have a daughter as old as Chuyia.

Your mother's right.

That's how things are.

That's how things were.

Times are changing.

All the old traditions are dying out.

All of them?

But what is good should not die out.

And who will decide...

what is good,

and what is not?

You!

Didi, when do we get food?

Today we fast.

No food, no water.

Come in.

What's wrong?

No tantrums?

You're getting used to this life.

Come sit here.

I have to go.

Kalyani's reciting Kalidas.

What?

A Poem.

Megh means cloud,

and doot... a messenger.

The Cloud Messenger.

Come on, let's send a message.

Did you send your message?

I don't want to send one.

Why won't you send one?

Have you gone deaf?

Didi wants you.

You are lucky Mitthu,

you don't have to fast.

Yes Didi?

Come on in child.

Here, this is for you.

Wait child.

You must take care of yourself.

You are the jewel of this house.

If you are happy,|our clients are happy.

And when they are happy,|I am happy.

This is an ashram Didi,

not a brothel.

This is the edge of the city.

Where the British live.

They don't care if you're a widow.

Why not?

Don't they have widows?

Of course they do.

But not like ours.

It must be hard for you.

Sometimes yes,

sometimes no.

'Learn to live like a lotus...

untouched by the filthy water|it grows in. '

Krishnaji said it in the Geeta.

Krishna was a God.

Not everyone can live|like the lotus flower.

Yes, they can.

It's ink.

I didn't have time to change.

I was applying for a job in Calcutta.

What's wrong?

When do you go?

As soon as they call me.

And when will you be back?

I'm not going anywhere without you.

Are you asleep?

Yes.

Wake up.

What?

Speak softly.

Did you have a fight with father?

He's never here to have a fight with.

What does he preach?

That's Gandhiji,

not some crooked priest.

So, what does he say then?

He talks about freedom,

about truth.

To talk about truth is easy,

but to live by it is not.

The girl's father is getting impatient.

What?

Tum off that gramophone!

I want a yes, or a no.

No!

What?

Don't you want to set up a family?

It's not like setting yogurt.

Who am I going to find for you?

You don't have to.

I found her myself.

Really?

Who is she?

Do I know her?

No.

Is she fair skinned?

Yes.

Tell me quickly who is she?

She's a widow Ma.

Gandhi has turned you into a lunatic!

Marry a widow?

How can you even think of it?

This is a sin.

You should get a gold medal|for drama Ma.

Raja Ramohan Roy says widows|should get remarried.

And Raja whoever Roy,

what does he know of our traditions?

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