Marey Gayey Gulfam

This is a short story written by Phanishwar Nath Renu. The famous movie in black and white with Raj Kapoor and Waheeda Rehman as main protagonists named "Teesari Kasam" is based on this story. To be honest the word "based" do little justice to the description. The story is a 22 page story but the strength of the plot and the vivid description of events is so realistic that it covers three hours of cinematographer. I do not remember if there is any addition or delition of any part of the story in the movie. Even the songs are based on the songs in the story.

The best part of the writing of Renu is his style of writing , the realistic description. It appears that the sound of the bells of the bullocks comes out of the text. The use of ellipse and the sudden break in the narration is the other very important characteristic of Renu's style. In fact he textualises silence through ellipse, and sometime as a dialogue within apostrophe. After the apostrophe there will be sudden change in the flow of narration. However, the beauty is his control over the narration. The directional or temporal change appears so natural that one enjoys the change. The change appears very natural.

The content of the story is not very great but the way Renu has controlled his actors is superb. Not a single character appears to be out of place. The begining and the end of the story is very smooth and the transformation is very rounded. If one really look at the end it is very painful yet Renu has not depicted the end the way it is depicted in most of the romantic stories. Right from the begining till the end the plot is weaved as if the actor is dreaming and in the end it appears as if the actor has woken up after the sweet dream has ended. There is a smile on his face. The entire episode happen in reality yet the feeling is of a dream.

There are strong reasons to believe that the actor Hiraman is having a dream. The way he involuntarily smiles in the begining with the beautiful lady in his bullock cart. In the end too he is smiling when the lady is departing. All he is doing is having a friendly chat with his bullocks. How is that possible in real life? How can the actor be so insensitive?

The actor was in love with this beautiful lady and the lady too was in love with this person and yet the end is so smooth. There is a sense of loss for the reader. Atleast as a reader I had a sense of loss. How is that Renu has not added any melodrama in the end? How is that he is able to manage such a different kind of end to his story? If one looks at the events only the direction of the movement of bullock cart has changed. The emotions has not changed much. It started with a "Kasam" resolution and ends with a "Kasam" and oath though thi stime the number has changed. This one is the third resolution made by Hiraman and hence "Tesari kasam".

As one reads the story or watches the movies it appears as if one is walking through a beautiful street by the side of a glazed window of beautifully decorated shop. The person is roaming and s/he is not in a mood to purchase. There is no guilt of not having money. The purpose is not to purchase but to observe and enjoy. Similarly in the story the transformation is so smoth that one fails to notice how time passes by. The story captivates but at not point of time emotionally blackmails. I think this is the beauty of the story writing. The writer at no point of time purposefully make any attempt to engage reader by making emotive appeal through the actors. The description of the situation entralls. The writing is so causal yet it is captivating.