Question

satyajitray and Gaston roberge conversation 20 lines

Answer 1

“Give me a call when you arrive,” Sir had written back to me when I wrote him a mail saying I was coming to Kolkata and wanted to meet him.

On arriving at Kolkata I sent him an sms to which there was no reply. On the final day at Kolkata when I tried calling him on his mobile number the operator said the number does not exist. Then I called on the landline and Sir picked up the phone. He asked me to meet him between 12:00 and 1:00 and gave me directions to reach where he stays. Having early lunch I left to meet Fr. Gaston Roberge.

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A decade ago my teacher and friend Anil Pinto introduced me to the book of Gaston Roberge- Chitra Bani [the copy of which still with me and I do not intend to return it.] That was the first book that I read on Cinema and I was impressed by the book because it laid the foundation for my understanding of cinema. Roberge Sir became the Dronacharya of this Ekalavya. Later when I drew my first salary I had written to the Institute started by Roberge Sir in Kolkata- also named Chitra Bani- and got all the books written by Roberge Sir till then. Those books not just helped me learn but also teach.

Remembering all of this I went to St. Xaviers College in Kolkata. The security stopped me and asked me who I wanted to meet. He called Roberge Sir saying I was there and asked me to wait for a while. In sometime Roberge Sir came towards the gate to escort me in which was very embarrassing. He said, “Lets have a cup of tea first,” and took me to the canteen. As we were walking towards the canteen I saw the following words printed on the back of his shirt, “Still learning how to think.” After a cup of tea at the canteen we walked to his room in the Fathers Residency.

Asking me to sit down Roberge Sir placed a bottle of water next to me and a bowl full of toffees on the table. “You can eat toffees as we speak,” and with a notorious smile said, “Whoever speaks more might require water. Usually its me who speaks a lot.” I smiled with him not being able to move my eyes off my teacher.

Being sure that I would not know, on meeting him, what to speak, for my admiration, I had written down in my note book a few questions to ask him. But when he sat right in front of me and was speaking to me in such a friendly manner I did not feel comfortable to ask questions from my book and thus turn the air more formal.

“Is there anything in specific that you want to talk?” asked Sir. “No Sir. I just wanted to see you once, from whom I have learnt so much, who I owe so much.” “And I owe a lot to my uncle,” he said and asked if I knew who his uncle is. I shook my head to say no. “Bharata Muni,” he said with that notorious smile on his face and I knew the class had begun.

“Bhartha Muni is the father of cinema in a way,” he said and pointed that Greek tradition did not have song and dance in it while the Indian text Natyashatra by Bharatha Muni spoke of song and dance. “Song and dance is sight and sound,” he said and went on to add, “When I first read the text by my uncle I was shocked to see the emphasis laid on sight and sound. It is audio-visual.” With a shine in his eyes he continued, “That is the idea of cinema. There lies the desire for cinema.”