बन्सीधरा, आता तू कोठे रे जाशील?...In Assam, Noah on a Raft

The Hindu reported on March 25 2015 how a photo taken by The Hindu's Guwahati-based Special News Photographer Ritu Raj Konwar, was an inspiration for the Malayalam film 'Ottal' , which won two National awards on Tuesday March 24 2015.

courtesy: The Hindu and Ritu Raj Konwar

The power of the photograph does not surprise me.

But this is not the only such picture that has moved me in recent years.

Here is a recycled post of mine  dated 27 October 2008:

"This year I have received a Diwali greeting card from Madhukar Dharmapurikar (मधुकर धर्मापुरीकर) that speaks volumes about his sensitive eye and his panache...

See the picture below.

Dharmapurikar calls the boy in the picture ‘Balkrishna' (बाळकृष्ण). 

It reminded me of S M Mate (श्री. म. माटे) calling his child  protagonist- an orphan- ‘Banseedhar' (बन्सीधर). A title of one of his stories reads "बन्सीधरा, आता तू कोठे रे जाशील?" (Banseedhara, Where will you go now?)

But there is no trace of sentimentality, implicit in Mate’s rhetoric question,  in the posture of Balkrishna, above. He is not wasting any time in crying or playing. He is busy rescuing his mom and navigating his own destiny.

He perhaps is telling his mother:

"तू आणि मी मिळून अजूनही त्या भडव्या नशिबाला टांग मारू" [G A Kulkarni, 'Pingalavel', 'Kairee', 1977 (जी ए कुलकर्णी ’पिंगळावेळ’ कैरी १९७७ )]

Or is it even one better, the way Balkrishna has anchored himself?  "तू आणि मी मिळून अजूनही त्या भडव्या नशिबाला पोलवाँल्ट करू."..."