One’s horrible, terrible, beautiful homeland

[lesbiassparrow]

I’ve just watched Swades and it moved me unreasonably to copious tears in almost every scene. I come from the back end of nowhere in Ireland (we were 10 miles off the coast of Ireland and were cut off for weeks in the winter) and this desire to link between modern information circuits and remote areas just gripped me so much and reminded me of my youth and that wondering about what was out there which was so naive and so desperate and so many other things too. I am not ashamed to say that I cried because of the wonders of satellites and the much smaller wonders of 24 hour electricity (when I was small we lost the electricity for at least an hour a day while the generator transferred and much longer if the petrol was in short supply) and because someone believed that people from nowhere could make a difference. I don’t know why but the magic of power is still alive in me even now and I don’t take it for granted – even if I know that in Ireland we are part of the digital age with a vengeance and all of this is inconceivable to someone who grew up in the last ten years.

I am a dinosaur who guards a past that doesn’t even exist any longer. And I'm glad it doesn't exist any more.

Comments

[annous.livejournal.com]

Swades is a love song to everybody's home land, the setting may be India , the protagonist may be Indian, but the beauty and the poetry of the home Land is so universal. I was a fan of SRK before Swades, but I became devoted after it. That film speaks to me, to me quest to return to my home land and do something.
Thank you for your words.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

Swades had such an impact on me - I was quite astonished to find myself so moved. And SRK was so wonderful in it...quite perfect.