In Ennu Ninte Moideen, (a Malayalam movie based on a true story) the Muslim-Hindu lead pair is forced to stay apart because their families refuse to give their blessing. Even as years pass, they continue to wait for each other, or rather, their families. A song in the film is used to track this passage of time and as it began playing, I envisioned a scene. Apparently so did D, and it played out exactly the way we imagined. During what seems like a routine look-in-the-mirror moment, Prithviraj (the protagonist) notices his first grey hair. (3:40 -3:55 in the video) A poignant few seconds follow as he fully grasps the significance of the moment.
That scene is the most logical way to show the march of time and probably everyone who watched the movie saw it coming, but that universality couldn’t stop me from thinking of my own experiences – when time shows me the full extent of its omnipotence. Sometimes it happens when I see people after a long time and notice the change in their physical appearance, sometimes it’s their attitude towards a situation – different from how I’d thought it would be, and sometimes it is my own body giving me signals. But the ones that affect me most are those similar to the one in the movie – when I face the man in the mirror. Because they are as much about my own journeys as they are about the passage of time. Because in those eyes, I see things I rarely acknowledge. I see glimpses of the past and the future, of things that were lost, of forks in the road, paths not taken, stories that never happened, and journeys that will never be. Even as the moment becomes unbearable, the eyes smile, as though willing their serenity on to me and telling me that somehow, this is the only way it could have been, and it’s alright.
The moments pass, and life goes on. But they always leave me with an ever increasing realisation – the man in the mirror knows what should be done, even as I do what needs to be done. One day, I hope to reach the place that Amitav Ghosh describes in a different context – “a place where there was no border between oneself and one’s image in the mirror” For the man in the mirror never lies. He only reflects, as do I.
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