Pride Hath a Fall? / Page 3

Am feeling very good and proud of myself.

Yesterday was my first day of duty as a counselor and I was extremely nervous. Had a dream the night before that I was talking to a young girl on the phone and she could not hear me.

But after the first call it was all smooth sailing!

The reason I am proud of myself is that I managed to help a young boy who’s been having wet dreams and was feeling extremely confused and guilty.

He started off by saying could he come and meet someone at the counseling centre and I had to persuade him to try talking to me first. He started by saying he was extremely depressed and felt that there was no one he could talk to. He had a personal problem which he told to a friend and the friend went and told everyone at school and ‘ab sab meri mazaak udaa rahe hain.’ Gentle probing and assurances of confidentiality made him reveal that ‘mujhe raat ko sapne aate hain aur meri body mein kuch changes hote hain – poore bedsheet kharaab ho jaate hai’. When I asked him if he would like to talk to a male counselor he said no he was fine with me :)

What followed was a short biology lesson and reassurance that he wouldn’t get weak from it and no, he didn’t need to go to a doctor.

At the end of the call he said ‘Thank you. Aap se baat kar ke mera man halka ho gaya hai. Mein is bare mein kisee se kahe nahin pa raha tha’. :) :)

Took nine calls in total. Ranging from a mother who was paranoid that he daughter was studying too much, which was 4 hours a day, quite normal in this day and age with the Boards only a month away. In contrast was a young X class boy who was studying 14 hours a day, with five minute exercise breaks in between each hour. He said he could concentrate well and did not feel stressed as he spent 2-3 hours with his colony friends or with his family each day. He had done really well in his Pre-Boards as well. He was doing every thing right, yet felt there was something that maybe he could be doing better!
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Went to see Page 3 on Monday night – awesome!

a) Great how so many social/human issues are woven in so seamlessly – the whole Page 3 phenomenon, single women living alone, child abuse, communal violence, homosexuality, yellow journalism, the Mumbai trains :), remorse, fragility, suicide…

b) Amazing how women are the central characters, yet it hasn’t been promoted as cliched ‘strength of a woman’ crap.

c) Every dialogue in the film has a purpose. There is not one extraneous line, each line moves the film forward.

d) The last scene where the protagonist makes silent observations and smiles to herself and the last freeze frame with the super ‘A Madhur Bhandarkar Film’ – yaaaaaa – gave me goosebumps!

Am going to see it again with me mom!