Welcome to the opening Episode of Jhumka Jhumur series!
The title is of course inspired by the cult Hindi movie of 1994 directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, but this episode’s essence comes from another Bollywood blockbuster of the 70’s – Andaz.
That movie marked the entry of the successful script writing duo of Salim-Javed into Bollywood as a team and also featured the evergreen hit of Kishore da – “Zindagi Ek Safar Hai Suhana.”
This song forms the genesis of Episode 1 as it revolves around one of its’ antaras.
Ironically, the album of this film was one of the last of music directors Shankar- Jaikishan as the latter passed away in the same year at the young age of 42 only.
So, with this background let us move on to the episode!
Jhumur is having an usual day at home, dusting her son Ishaan’s study room. She is humming this above mentioned song which is one of her favourites!
Scene 1Scene 2Scene 3Scene 4Scene 5Scene 6Scene 7
The End
Dear Reader,
Scene 4 holds the crux of this episode. Also request you to kindly read the Introductory chapter ‘Jhumka Jhumur’ (If you haven’t already!) posted here on 19.03.2021 (https://thatodiaboy.com/2021/03/19/jhumka-jhumur/)
This is my maiden foray into the world of digital comics! I would love it if you leave your valued thoughts and feedback on this comic strip in the comment section below.
I look forward to hearing from you 🙂
Comic Illustration by Tulika. You can follow her Instagram page ‘Verfkwast_’ for more amazing art!
This work of fiction, written by Wasim Jawaid is the author’s sole intellectual property. All rights are reserved. No part of this story may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including printing, photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.For permission requests, send an email to the author wasim.jawaid@gmail.com
Jhumka is a 40-something middle aged homemaker. She defines the quintessential woman we see in our homes – modern yet rooted deep in her customs, aspiring and yet keeping family above self. She could be our mother/ wife, our mausi, an aunt or even our friend.
She stays in typical cosmopolitan surroundings – In a multi storeyed apartment with multiple neighbours around. It is part of a larger housing society which in turn is one of million such societies which comprise the larger urban jungle that we all are part of!
Her 2BHK flat which she calls home, can be in any of the metropolitan cities in India. Along with her husband, her family comprises of 2 kids – an elder son Ishaan who is preparing for his school Boards (IX) and a younger daughter Ishani, who is in class VI.
Inspiration
Though this is a work of fiction, the character is inspired in real life from one of my school classmates. She seems perfect for this adaptation because she espouses exactly what I am looking for – a woman not afraid to speak her mind and never hesitating to take the lead in managing the day to day family affairs.
She does her best to keep a semblance of sanity around her and the house, as this is 365 days a year job!
More importantly she is always ready to take on headlong the problems life throws at her with a brave and sometimes funny face.
Soft at heart, she is ready to sacrifice time and ever willing to compromise on her aspirations/desires for the greater happiness of her family.
Maybe she could have pursued a far more rewarding career at work but she could not.
This could have been due to marriage, motherhood, or martyrdom – we do not know. But what we do know is this is how she regards life – that happiness and being content is more important than materialistic success.
She serves her in-laws, husband, kids (and even her own parents) with dedication and expects only love, respect and attention in return, because these values have been instilled in her ever since childhood.
Yet she hates being taken for granted by anyone in her life!
Presentation
The story will be told in simple narrative style about the day-to-day situations which we all face in our lives. It will be presented in a digital comic format in multiple episodes.
Hence the artist working with me on this, is an equal stakeholder in the story telling.
It gives me immense happiness to mention that Miss Tulika Kumarifrom NIFT Bhubaneswar, will be collaborating with me on this series. She is a dedicated student and creativity is her soul food.
So folks, presenting the 21st century woman, Jhumka Jhumur in various avatars– modern yet traditional, bold yet respectful and serious yet funny at the same time!
This work of fiction, written by Wasim Jawaid is the author’s sole intellectual property. All rights are reserved. No part of this story may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including printing, photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.For permission requests, send an email to the author wasim.jawaid@gmail.com
“Once upon a time there lived…”well this story is of present times and not so long ago- however since interesting stories begin like this, I thought of starting mine too with the famous opening line!
Before I start telling you the story, it would be prudent to let me briefly describe what the term La La Land means.
Collins Dictionary describes the term to mean an imaginary place, a place that is remote from reality.
The Urban Dictionary defines it, “A mental state of being high or actually being high where one envisions happy images” while Oxford says it is “A fanciful state or dreamworld.”
What we do know is the term La La Land started being used in the late 1970’s and early 80’s as a nickname for Los Angeles, California, specifically to refer to Hollywood. It puns on the city’s common abbreviation as LA and comments on the cinematic illusions made by its film industry— mostly dreamlike sequences detached from the harsher realities of life.
However I personally heard it the first time when I saw the 2016 Hollywood blockbuster musical La La Land. Oh! the romance and those dance sequences between the lead characters – Sebastian and Mia portrayed by Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone respectively, set my pulse soaring!
Since then the images have struck a chord in my heart and when this story idea developed in my head, I thought the term as its title was very apt for it 🙂
So, this story is based in a fantasy land named ଲା ଲା (La La) Land located in a remote corner of Odisha. In it dwelled a few indigenous tribes. Our story focuses on a small tribe of about 50 families who resided here too. They were named the Nature Lovers of Odisha or in short The NLOO tribe.
Our state of Odisha is home to approx 60 tribes spread across various districts. Unlike in towns and cities, where rapid advances in modern living has caused irreversible changes in some of our traditions, many of the tribal population have somehow managed to keep their ethos and entire culture intact.
They still worship nature (hills and streams), follow peculiar customs in various aspects of life ranging from agriculture to marriage and have an infinite passion for music and dance.
Some of the tribes still believe in sorcery and for some using bows and arrows to kill and defend, is still the preferred mode of weaponry.
Some of them have existed since centuries in Odisha and even find their names mentioned in The Mahabharata and Ramayana!
So dear readers with this rich backdrop forming the crux of the story of La La Land let me give you a snippet of things to come!
PRELUDE
A narrow mud path wound its way upwards towards the house. Clumps of shrubs bordered it on both sides. Even when it rained the roots of these shrubs would never let go of the soil, holding them together as much as possible against the water inundating the hills.
The dark hued saffron colour of the soil mixed freely with the green foliage. In nature, both the colours seemed to co-exist in harmony.
The path itself had forked to the right from the main road which curved and continued further into La La Land. This area was on a hillock and if you had a chance to visit it, you would definitely take a moment to pause here and admire the beauty of the place.
(Art by Reshmi. My dear cousin and creator of wonderful oil paintings)
From this vantage position you could see the young folds of the Elephant Mountain in the distance. At one point it seemed to touch the sky and then at another it seemed to stoop to kiss the cool waters of the river Behta Pani – the main source of water for the various tribes of this Land.
A slight mist hovered above these waters; as if an old lady was trying to pull a shawl around herself to protect her body from the winter chill.
Somewhere up in the trees, myriad birds warbled and formed a soothing lyrical background. At this morning hour the sun had yet to reach the top of the trees and thus part of the scenery was still in the shade. If you drew in a lungful of the crisp chilly hilly air it would make you feel alive!
However this morning was different than the rest. Troops of villagers were busy making their way up this path. They were in small groups and their excited chatter filled the air.
A very unusual event had happened the evening before warranting the panchayat to call for an assembly. Hence things more important than admiring nature were on their minds today!
A sole Palash tree stood on the right of this path, with its roots exposed and it seemed to be greeting the villagers like a doorman in front of a landmark house.
This was apt, for you see the path sloped slightly upwards and ended at the door of the most important person of La La Land – it’s Sarpanch.
To be continued…
(This is completely a work of fiction. It will be told through several chapters. Hence it occupies its’ own pride of place in my blog’s menu bar :))
That Odia Boy 