Editor,
Kudos to Dr. Rajesh K Pillania for the article titled “Winning the Kurukshetra of Unhappiness” (March 15).
The article reminds me of Tapan Sinha’s 1966 iconic masterpiece “Golpo Holeo Satyi” which revolves around rediscovering life and happiness.
Sinha’s film covers a lower middle class joint family whose members used to constantly quarrel with each other over petty trivial issues. The frustrated lot neither displayed any respect towards the elders nor love towards the kids. But the protagonist, a domestic worker Dhananjoy (portrayed on the screen by the legendary Rabi Ghosh), brought a drastic change in the mindset of the family. He impressed upon the mentally fatigued home-makers to enjoy their daily chores as each and every job has significance of its own and one needs to be sincere with the work he/she is allocated to or capable of.
Moreover, by performing all the domestic chores himself, thereby landing the family members to supreme boredom due to absence of work; he made them discover the enjoyment attached with performance of one’s own duties. By encouraging the kids to rise early, exercise, pray and resume studies; Dhananjoy inspired the elders to start the day on a positive note. He also instilled a spirit of sacrifice in the family which saw to it that members, who were earlier hostile towards each other, are now going out of their way to lend a helping hand to all. Also, by staging a mock theft, he taught the family to remain little indifferent to materialistic desires.
The family members discovered that by leading a healthy and active life, remaining honest and positive to their allotted duties, sacrificing a bit for larger interests of the family and hankering less after material possessions; the window of happiness surely opens up.
Kajal Chatterjee
Kolkata
