Why is it, I ask them, that the texts they write are not usually narratives, even though what they see in films and on television is inexorably driven by the idea of a “story?” How is it that these texts are so open? Niloufer, Rakesh, Jaanu, Azra, Lakhmi, Shahana and many more. There are about twenty of us here this morning. They think for a few moments. They say, when we write there is no weight of presentation within us, like there is in a Bollywood film. We are free of that.
There is an announcement on a loudspeaker. It is hard to hear what they are saying.
They say, in a Bollywood film and on television, people have desires, they have hopes and dreams, and they live their lives so that those dreams can be realised. There is a sense of travelling towards a goal, of reaching somewhere. Here, our lives shift, change, every day. The place where we live may be demolished, someone might lose their livelihood, nothing is a certainty. There is no end to anything. So a “narrative” is often not possible.