For someone who's been a late bloomer in the art of movie watching, the comparisons between real and reel life have always held my unwavering interest. But where earlier the mind's constant ticking of 'this doesn't happen in real life' or 'it's never this good/bad in reality' quite muddied the entertainment quotient for me, I now view all happenings, portrayals in movies through a happy haze of non-critical enjoyment. Still, the comparisons continue.
How many of you have seen the Hollywood movie 'The Darjeeling Ltd.'? It has a scene in which 3 children are crossing a stream in a wooden box-like contraption which has a pulley system. There is a similar scene in the Bollywood movie 'Veer Zaara' that showed a very solid metal contraption being pulled along on sturdy ropes. Of the two, I would say that the former version was more realistic because of my own experience in one.
Some years ago, we had set out for a trek in the Himalayas where such pulley systems abound. Since we were novices at both trekking and this pulley system, we decided to brave this much used method of crossing because it would save us an additional 2 hours of trekking - we were already wilting under the weight of our backpacks after just an hour of level walking. My sister was the third person to go and go she did till about the middle of the crossing when one of the ropes broke. While she swayed gently and precariously over the roaring river, we stared at her from the bank, frozen with mouths agape and clueless. Fortunately for her, it wasn't too remote an area. Before too long, two villagers came by and through some acrobatic feats tied the two bits of frayed rope together and she crossed over. After numerous prayers to the local deities and anyone else who might have been listening, we did too. Of course, we never heard the end of how totally incompetent and useless we all were.
How many of you have seen the Hollywood movie 'The Darjeeling Ltd.'? It has a scene in which 3 children are crossing a stream in a wooden box-like contraption which has a pulley system. There is a similar scene in the Bollywood movie 'Veer Zaara' that showed a very solid metal contraption being pulled along on sturdy ropes. Of the two, I would say that the former version was more realistic because of my own experience in one.
Some years ago, we had set out for a trek in the Himalayas where such pulley systems abound. Since we were novices at both trekking and this pulley system, we decided to brave this much used method of crossing because it would save us an additional 2 hours of trekking - we were already wilting under the weight of our backpacks after just an hour of level walking. My sister was the third person to go and go she did till about the middle of the crossing when one of the ropes broke. While she swayed gently and precariously over the roaring river, we stared at her from the bank, frozen with mouths agape and clueless. Fortunately for her, it wasn't too remote an area. Before too long, two villagers came by and through some acrobatic feats tied the two bits of frayed rope together and she crossed over. After numerous prayers to the local deities and anyone else who might have been listening, we did too. Of course, we never heard the end of how totally incompetent and useless we all were.
These pulley systems still exist in many areas of the world, from China to South America. It would be interesting to hear about any hair-raising experiences in one.
I went to watch "The Darjeeling Ltd." because of Adrien Brody and the fact that I was born in Darjeeling. After watching it, I realized the most interesting fact about its title. Can anyone guess? It's easy if you've been to Darjeeling.
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