Bang Bang Galore!
A Filmmaker’s BLOGELLA
Written by Steve Rosenberg
Blog 29 (Fishing Village)
This morning our group woke up at the crack of dawn. I could hear the kids scrambling about in the next room, but I opted to skip breakfast in favour of more sleep. My addiction to sleep makes certain early morning ventures impossible. When I awoke at 8:30 am, I sat alone near the steps of the crumbling white Gothic church overlooking the town of Virudhunagar. It feels like a seaside Portuguese fishing village, a town blessed with sandy beaches and stunning warm weather year round. This former Portuguese enclave, established nearly four hundred years ago, seems like a natural resort setting, but it remains a sleepy fishing village with very few tourist trappings.
By lunchtime, the kids return and John, buoyed by his cinematic conquests is in great spirits. While sitting atop the van, he manages to film the Born Free kids cycling down a mountain at full speed and beautifully backlit by exquisite pre-dawn light. I am slightly jealous and remorseful, that I am such a slave to sleep. Cinematography always rewards early risers; it’s an aphorism I should inscribe on my pillow. Today is the day for beauty shots and all is not lost, since the kids have a few hours to spend at the beach.
Before heading to the beach, John conducts a few more interviews on child labour in the fishing community. I am not privy to the translations, so I decide look for choice beach areas void of pebbles and suitable for sprinting freely into the water. Some of the kids followed me as we zigzag around old wooden boats and billowy fishing nets draping the beach. The fishing area seems polluted, but it doesn’t stop some of the boys from diving into the water.
Nagaraj whips a dead fish at Faisel. Watching them pick up dead fish, there is no sense of queeziness; the boys are relaxed with handling dead fish as they would be handling seashells. Nagaraj senses my discomfort and holds the fish to my face, pinching it between his thumb and index finger and swinging gently as if he is trying hyponitze me with fear. I am not frightened. In fact, I am charmed by their capricious nature and by their curiosity in dead fish. Faisel mocks the motions of eating the fish before he pitches it a Nagaraj.
Eventually, they lose interest in the fish and head into the water for a swim. Nagaraj also loves performing for my camera. “Hey Steve! Look over here.” He stands on the edge of an anchored fishing boat and does a back flip into the water. Nagaraj thinks he is also a great swimmer, but that is not saying much; he hacks through the water with his head up front crawl. Most of the others stay close to shoreline tumbling in and out of waves. Faisel stays by the shore and is jumping through waves. He wears torn underpants and to add to the shock value to the moment, he flashes his private parts. Everybody is laughing at him and with him.
Later Gowri and Gaytree appear in the distance and the boys bellow loudly to get their attention. It is a glaring example of double standards; Indian boys frolick in their underwear while Indian girls stand by at the shorelines fully clothed in saris drizzling water down their necks with their scarves. Eventually, the boys grab Gowri’s scarf and lure her into the water only to engage her in a splash fight. When she is significantly wet, there is no point resisting, she joins the swim party. With little fanfare, Gaythree enters the water and our small group kids spend the next forty minutes splashing around in the warm waters of the Arabian Sea.
After the kids dried off on the beach, I noticed Satish, limping towards me. “What’s wrong?” I ask. It was a stupid question to ask a boy with one leg who just missed an afternoon swim. I put my arm around him and we head up a long winding path towards the juice stand. When I pay the vendor, Anthony and few others catch me in the act of purchase and suddenly I am buying juice for six other kids. A few minutes later, the entire Born Free group gathered around the juice stand. John seemed irritated and confessed that favourtism is something he discourages.
A few Born Free students group performed a vaudevillian style comedy show for an elementary Catholic school. There show was a mix of physical comedy, acrobatics and sketch comedy. The school audience and even the uptight teachers roared with laughter during the sections that included physical comedy. The show concluded with John’s poignant speech detailing the dangers of child labour. I was proud of John and his movement. There was just one thing missing and that was Faisal.
Today, Faisal disappeared once again and by evening there is still no sign of him. John scours the entire town in search of a boy who would slip away unnoticed.
