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Ramblings
The Importance of being Tulsi
by Rajesh Talwar
Kabul doesn’t feel very different for an Indian despite the exotic
landscape and it is not difficult to find your way around the city,
since very many Afghans can converse in Urdu. This may be on account of
their having spent time in Pakistan during the war or it could be just
plain courtesy of years of watching Bollywood films.
A few days after my arrival here, on a certain day I took a walk from
the Guest House where I was staying to the nearby Supermarket, and on
the way noticed how vendors had occupied part of the pavement the same
way they do in India to sell their wares which included Afghani snacks,
suitcases, bags, books and posters.
I stood for a few minutes to examine the last of these and was not
surprised to find several large sized posters of Ahmad Shah Masoud on
sale. Masoud nicknamed the Lion of Panj Sher on account of the leading
role played by him in driving out the Soviet forces is an iconic figure
despite being controversial. You can see large hoardings of Masoud
(assassinated in September 2001) wearing the traditional Afghani cap and
President Karzai almost as soon as you come out of Kabul airport.
 To
my very great surprise however, just next to his poster, I found an
equally large poster of a somewhat familiar Indian face. It took me a
few minutes to recall where I had seen this face. I recalled it to be
that of Tulsi, who appeared on one of the popular serials I had
not watched while in India. My family members watched it diligently
though and therefore while walking in and out of the television room her
face had somehow registered in my consciousness. It was not a single odd
poster that was displayed here, but the Tulsi poster was available in
various sizes and dimensions to suit different requirements. Although
DVD’s of movies starring well-known, glamorous Indian actresses such as
Aishwarya Rai and Kareena Kapoor are readily available in the nearby
Dubai style shopping malls, their faces were conspicuously missing on
the posters being sold on this roadside enterprise.
The following day I remarked on my discovery to Mohammad Yahya, 35, an
Afghan lawyer who has become a friend. Yahya explained to me that Tulsi
had become phenomenally popular with Afghans because of the serial
Saas bhi kabhi bahu thi that had been dubbed in Dari and is
regularly telecast on national television. Yahya informed me that
everyone in his family stopped all work when Tulsi is broadcast and it
was a time for the young and old in the family to all sit together and
watch the latest happenings in the teledrama.
When I spoke to others in the city, including my driver I realized that
it would not be an exaggeration to say that this was possibly the single
most watched program on television. Tulsi was popular amongst the young
and the old. Parents had even named newborn daughters Tulsi after the
small screen star. Shopkeepers kept one eye on the television screen as
they handed back your change to you if you were shopping during the
Tulsi hour. Yahya remarked on how he met a sad looking neighbor and
commented on his long face only to be informed that earlier in the day,
Mihir (Tulsi’s husband) had died in the serial.
The episodes being shown in Kabul are running a year behind the serial
being presently telecast in India, and it remains to see whether it will
continue to remain as popular here. By all accounts the translation into
Dari is an excellent one and perhaps without it the serial could not
have gained such popularity. The serial is immensely popular not only in
Kabul but throughout the length and breadth of Afghanistan. On a short
visit to Majar e Sharif in the north of Afghanistan, (only an hours
drive away from the Uzbekistan border) I came down from my room on the
first floor of the Guest house to wait for my driver in the lobby and
found the staff all glued to the serial. My driver was late and a hotel
employee who spoke Urdu was kind enough to translate the dialogue from
Dari to Urdu.
Afghans have often asked me what Tulsi (Smriti Irani) was like in real
life and I have been unable to enlighten them. Back home in India,
Saas bhi kabhi bahu thi, was a serial I never watched though I did
see my mother, father and sister in law’s engrossed in it. To me it was
just another soap opera. I had needed to come to Afghanistan to watch it
and have it translated from the Dari in order to fully realize the
impact and importance of being Tulsi.
September 10,
2006
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Ramblings
The Week of September 10, 2006
Who's Hu in South Asia: Decoding
India-Pakistan-China Relations by Rajinder Puri
South Asia: China's not so Benign Strategic
Presence by Dr. Subhash Kapila
Further Leaks from God by Gaurang Bhatt, MD
Terror Tests India's Secular Fabric by Col.
Rahul K. Bhonsle
Racism in North India by Aparna Pallavi
Nazi Holocaust Lessons for Gujarat by Manjri
Sewak
The Sky is the Limit for India's Growth! by
Niraj Chandra
Is the Cultural Thread Keeping India Intact?
by TA Ramesh
Vande Mataram: The Divine Melody of Dilip Kumar
Roy by V. Sundaram
Vande Mataram in Recorded Song: Fable and Legend
by V. Sundaram
MC Chagla: A Titan among the Nationalists by
V. Sundaram
Uttaranchal Developing on Shaky Grounds by
VK Joshi
Sex Workers Speak Out by Elayne Clift
Faith Conquers Fear by Anjana Mehta Bhalla
The Witty Side by Melvin Durai
All for the Roads by Prakash Pathre
Desire and Deviance by Julia Dutta
The Importance of being Tulsi
by Rajesh Talwar
From Kavalam to Kavalam by P. Ravindran
Nayar
Michael Madhusudan Dutta: Profile of an
Epic Poet Compiled by Aparna Chatterjee
Anju Badhwar Vora - Profile of a
Vithika Artist
Save your Money and Get on the Floor by
Gary Direnfeld
Guna: More Than a District of MP by Anil Gulati
The Woman who Died Young by Dibyendu Ghoshal
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