DEATH AND SUICIDE






Each Memorial Day, my friend Steve would do a special "Death and Suicide" show on our college radio station. He'd blow up a balloon, draw a face on it, and hang it from a noose hooked to the ceiling of the radio station. Then he'd play songs like 999's "Homicide," and bands like Joy Division (the suicide of whose lead singer, Ian Curtis, was still fresh in our minds). In those days it was all fun and games.

(Well, not really. Suicide runs in my family. But that's another story).

A lot of people seem to have died recently, including The Earl of Mysore, Mr. Joseph, and a local ashtangi - who took her own life.

Both came as a surprise, and served as a reminder about the shortness of life - and how I've been losing touch with friends and family. So I made plans to see the Dreyfuses last weekend.

I also attended the memorial for the local student, which was exquisite. It was attended by the many who knew and loved her - including yoga teachers and practitioners, hipsters, hippies, squares, and family members.

But I'm not good in a crowd. I was hiding out on the lawn when the hostess took me by my hand and led me into the kitchen, where Bindifry had been doing much the same. I had not seen her in eons. We sat next to each other during the program, and made plans to see a Bollywood film the following week. Bindi and I - whose plans usually fall through.

But this time we did it - after only one cancellation.

It was a private early afternoon screening of Raavan at Piper's Alley, just for us (ie; no one else came, which meant we could talk as much as we liked). The tagline for the film is: "Ten Heads. Ten Minds. A Hundred Voices. One man." It starred Bollywood's hottest couple, Abishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, and was loosely based on The Ramayana. AB played a crazed, out-of-control, Veerappan-esque version of the demom Ravana (whom, we learn later, is crazed because of the rape and suicide of his beloved sister). Ash plays Ram's wife Sita, of course. The Tamil actor Vikram played the Ram character - who seemed godlike until he doubted his wife's fidelity. There was even a monkey-like local guide played by the Punjab-born actor Govinda, who jumped around a lot and tracked down Sita - just like Hanuman.

(There's also a Tamil version of the film called Raavanana, which was shot at the same time and is said to be a lot better - and which starred Vikram as the Ravana character!).

Bindi didn't like the movie. I loved it.

Whatever. The fact is that we managed to reconnect.

Thank you, Katy.