Tuesday, November 17, 2009

The true Master!

Back after a longggg break...
The number of times I have just wanted to ramble out on a particular topic; only to divert my attention to something else and let it slip by unwritten- innumerable! and that irritates me.

Writing this between a session of editing and production! Love the frantic pace and non-stop nonsense that goes on in television production and hope it never dies.

Yesterday, was out shooting at Kannagi Nagar, a slum relocation unit off Thuraipakkam in Chennai.
The story turned out rather messy because of numerous contradictory angles; so we filmed a couple of vox-pops, conducted interviews for an UPSOT and headed back.

At home, I could not help but reflect at the experience. The settlement was not terrible, but the woes of the residents there- innumerable. I realised that after the first couple of minutes of their cribbing, I had become mildly immune to their accounts of grief.
A tiny part of me also argued that these slum-dwellers had actually been given land with cement roofs overhead, a decent alternative to their earlier accommodation. Therefore, the least they could do was try to make the best of the situation and not just wallow in self pity.

Finished the shoot, dumped the footage and left college. On the way back home, thinking about what had happened, I was left wondering whether a sense of 'detachment' had set in when it came to certain matters on the professional front.
Having visited many such slums, poverty ridden and un-inhabitable areas, had I become mildly de-sensitized to the plight of it's residents? Did their discomfort and sorrow not distress me to the same extent as it had earlier, I pondered.

Drawing an analogy, does a doctor not feel as upset and morose on losing his 35th patient on the operating table as he did when he lost his first; or does frequent occurence act as anesthetic, numbing the human mind.

Does the individual adopt the profession or is it the other way around; I wonder!

3 comments:

Prasanna said...

might sound preachy, but did you realise that this is the same thing Gita says, detached passion for work?

Nit(h)ya Balakrishnan said...

really?? I was unaware of that.. but what I was saying is that the passion for work is INTENSE... but, what one comes across during this journey is probably a loss of the sense of humane-ness!!

Novinthen said...

Good to hear you guys are doing great things on slums. Was in TN 2 months back, ( albeit for the firs time ) , was really surprised with slums in city centres! .

good luck to u guys

PS : enjoyed the food and local hospitality. will be back soon