Page 30 - Here and Now – Apr 2024

The story is beautifully woven and one gets to see both the women getting familiar with the
unknown and the unfamiliar. This is so much like our ISABS labs where we start conversations
and start getting to know and understand each other though we are strangers. When I reflected
on the film later on, I was struck by the similarities of the journey of these women to selfhood

and that of participants in our labs.

The contrast between the two women is shown in the way the railway catering woman asks this
young girl about what her mother taught her and what she ought to have known, versus the
mother-in-law of the home-bound womanwho says a girl should not be calling out her
husband’s name. The movie also has scenes showing how a woman curbs her small desires like
a dish she used to like earlier, but after marriage gives up, focusing only on what the men in her
marital family want or desire. Patriarchal norms are normalized and even romanticized subtly
during their conversations.

How to or who breaks these norms or stereotypes unfolds in the movie just as processes do in
a lab. Listening, being with the others, understanding, empathizing, at times confronting like
the railway stall woman does but with care. Self-awareness, sensitivity to self and need to take
risks are other elements which are so wonderfully knit in this film.

Another woman in the family who is naturally talented hides her talent since the woman is only
supposed to know household chores and childcare and not be proud of her other
accomplishments.

As I watched the movie all the human elements came to the fore. My own stories unspooled as
past memories – of what unfolded in a lab about my being eclipsed in my roles and not being

aware of my needs. How I became aware of some my behaviors in the lab and was able to break
the shackles and work on them. Just like Phool and Jaya were able to do it in the film. In very
contrasting ways, that’s what is so true of our process work: each one carves their own ways to
awareness and find beauty in life. The little moments that mean so much to a woman, are so
refreshing and liberating are shown as well.

The time the two women spend in their respective lab - like environments for me were the
highlights of the movie. For the two ‘laapata ladies’, it was a ime to experience, experiment and
learn from.

The young lost bride in the railway platform makes a choice to move from fear to trust to self-
belief. To create conducive conditions from the available resources.

pg. 29