Dancing with Dogs: Ball-of-fat, Black Monk and Hotel Rwanda

Ball-of-fat, Black Monk and Hotel Rwanda

Been reading…a lot! I have completed the Lemony Snicket series that have been published so far (all 11), the new Harry Potter book and in the process of jumping in between a short story collection of Chekhov and another of Guy De Maupassant. Made enough time to watch “Hotel Rwanda” int he meantime too. What a movie! I think it is a big reminder of what happens when the world (conveniently) forgets or fails to act in to time in the time of such a massive humanitarian crisis. Just one more reminder of how UN-worthy of respect the UN is. It embodies the worst of the third-world countries it represents by doing nothing to really help anyone, but just remain mired in layers of corruption, conspiracy, beaurocracy and sheer ineptitude.

I may have probably read Checkhov and Guy before, but I only remember reading a translation of Guy’s “Ball-of-fat” in a Telugu magazine. It is the tale a prostitute who travels in a carriage with three other couples and another guy during one of the worldwars while France is still under German occupation. The story as it unfolds is a myriad different reactions and emotions the fat prostitute evokes in her companions and how she is affected by it all. It was pretty interesting to see Guy try to portray the protagonist as the now-cliched “prostitute-with-heart-of-gold”, while matter-of-factly mentioning the charming manners of a woman of noble birth and the crass behavior of a common woman. Class politics at its best and worst, but an interesting read that makes you feel for the characters.

Checkhov’s “Black Monk” on the other hand is almost “Devdasesque” in its story and manner. There is a weak-constitutioned intellectual (another stereotype that reminds me of a lot of Sharat Chandra’s heroes in their mental acuity, physical weakness and emotional immaturity), who goes on a vacation to a mentor’s orchards to recuperate. He meets the mythical “Black Monk” out there, while also falling for the mentor’s daughter. He marries her at his mentor’s wish and the girl is also in love with him…but happy endings were not the kind in store for me in my stories recently, so suffice it to say that there is a big question about the reality of the “Black Monk” and the story ends with quite a few deaths.

Chekhov’s story didn’t exactly resonate with me as much as Guy’s did. I don’t know if it is the idealist in me or my too practical self (yep, there is a contradiction!) that didn’t really lend me too much pity for an intellectual wallowing in self-pity and torturing emotionally those around him that love him so, as opposed to Guy’s emotionally tortures heroine who “sacrifices” for the good of the community and is derided for it.

Of course, my “too practical” self was also a little too busy pointing out that Guy’s heroine’s sacrifice wasn’t that much of a deal considering it is what she does for a living. I mean, if a prostitute sleeps with someone whom she hates for a purpose, does that make it a big emotional thing for her? She probably doesn’t like half the guys she sleeps with, but does so anyways to make a living, right? How is this any different? Discuss!

Posted by shanti at August 3, 2005 9:01 PM