Last week, I had a heart to heart talk with an old friend. In this blog, we touch upon Ontological time. As we shared about how our families have evolved over the decades I mined my reading journals. He shared pictures of his daughter’s marriage in UK. My mind’s eye went back to the sweets celebrating his own marriage in India.
We deepened our friendship in the Delhi campuses. Movies and walks together, book discussions are a way of life for me. For example, Junoon (Directed by Shyam Benegal-1978), based on the story- Flight of Pigeons by Ruskin Bond – set in the 1857 mutiny helped me understand metaphors and time.
Book Clubs and Ontological time
Clocks and calendars are one way of managing time. Another way is to just be.
Book Clubs get a sense of lived experience of time beyond clocks and calendars.
My teachers in St. Vincent’s High school, Pune,India introduced me to Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens in grade 3, in 1970 s. My uncle helped me see Salman Rushdie in a different way -Midnight’s children-Shyampur area of Rishikesh-Haridwar region.
IF DELHI FALLS, RUTH WILL BE YOURS
Remembering Miriam Labadoor,
Flight of Pigeons-Ruskin Bond/Junoon-Shyam Benegal
Literature has helped me see beyond basic structures of the works and seek metaphors. “Flight of Pigeons” by Ruskin Bond, which was adapted into the film Junoon-1978, directed by Sham Benegal is one of my favourites.
Junoon-1978- Director Shyam Benegal ; Story-Ruskin Bond-Flight of Pigeons- Set in the 1857 Mutiny
Ruth – Nafisa Ali; Miriam- Jennifer Kendal, Javed Khan- Shashi Kapoor
Source https://alchetron.com/Junoon-(1978-film)
The Metaphor: The Inviolable Institution of Family vs. The Raw Power of Obsession comes alive in this gambit which the mother plays to ward off Javed Khan (played by Shashi Kapoor).
The family as a sacred institution and the unexpected, strategic power wielded by the female characters within it came alive in this dynamic.
The Family as a Fortress of Civilization
The Labadoor household, even as captives, represents an institution of order, law, and civilized conduct amidst the chaos of the rebellion.
- Javed Khan, despite his wild obsession and military power, recognizes the authority of this institution. He understands that a forcible abduction would be an act of pure barbarism, placing him outside the bounds of any recognized social or moral code, even the one he is fighting for.
- By not abducting Ruth, he is, in a twisted way, paying homage to the very structures of civilization (marriage, family, promise) that his rebellion seeks to redefine but not entirely destroy.
The Strategic Power of the Feminine
This is where the true metaphor for female power emerges. It is not the power of physical force, but the power of nuance, negotiation, and institutional leverage.
Mariam’s Gambit (The Mother): Buying Time Her promise is a masterstroke of strategic desperation. She uses the only currency she has left—her daughter’s future—to buy the one thing they need most: time. She metaphorically transforms a potential violent seizure into a conditional, contractual agreement.
The Core Metaphor
The metaphor is: The formal, institutional power of the family (represented by the mother’s word) can, for a time, checkmate the raw, masculine power of military force and obsession.
Javed could have taken Ruth by force, but that would have been a hollow victory, destroying the very concept of the “prize” he sought.
By engaging with the mother and accepting the terms of the promise, he is paradoxically acknowledging the superior authority of the social institution she represents, even as he holds her physically captive. It is a metaphor for the enduring power of social contracts over the temporary chaos of rebellion.
Understanding Ontological Time
Ontological time refers to the subjective, lived experience of time that exists beyond the objective measurement of clocks and calendars.
Earlier Perspectives: Remembering Heart of Darkness at Mitiga airport-Tripoli
The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails and was at rest
The first lines of Conrad’s –Heart of Darkness
MITIGA | Prashant Bhatt’s notes
We used to have a book club in Tripoli, where we discussed works like Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, in a more intimate way, having seen on the ground, the unfolding of a society coming out of 42 years of dictatorship (Gaddafi regime 1969-2011). For a book club member, this concept manifests in the deeply personal and collective journey through a shared text.
The chronological hours spent reading alone in a quiet room are transformed when brought into the group; they become a tapestry of individual reflections, emotional responses, and intellectual discoveries that are woven together during discussion.
In this shared space, time is not linear but expansive, stretching to accommodate the resonance of a powerful metaphor or contracting during a moment of collective insight.
The meaning of the book is not fixed at the moment the last page is turned, but continues to evolve and live within the group, shaped by each member’s unique perspective and the dynamic interplay of their interpretations. This lived, qualitative time—the duration of shared understanding and the building of a communal narrative around the text—is the essence of the ontological experience, where the act of reading together creates a timeless, meaningful connection that exists independently of the clock on the wall.
CURRENT BOOKS
We read some portions of Robin Sharma’s – The Monk who sold his Ferrari- and in which as part of the discussion we dissected three questions
1- where we came from
2- why are we here
3- who are we as a group or persons
Those discussions and readings led us to Dave Matthews -song- Gravedigger.
DISCUSSIONS WITH AN OLD FRIEND-ACROSS DECADES
Last week, sitting in High Park, Toronto, I reconnected with a friend. We first came to know each other when we were in our late teens, early twenties, doing undergraduate studies. We have stayed in touch over the decades. Remembering the times when we used to go to see the New Wave Parallel Cinema movement movies at Shakuntalam theatre, a precursor to the many book clubs I have been a part of – in Delhi, Tripoli- Libya, Canada- made me relook at the Metaphors one can learn from the movie Junoon (1978).
Earlier Perspectives- Dissecting Pinjar – by Amrita Pritam, written in 1950
See Blog
Amrita Pritam wrote Pinjar (The Skeleton) in 1950.
Key Details
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Title | Pinjar (English: The Skeleton) |
| Author | Amrita Pritam |
| Year of Publication | 1950 |
| Language | Punjabi |
| Genre | Novel, Partition Literature |
The novel is a landmark work of Partition literature, telling the poignant story of a Hindu woman’s life during the violence and upheaval of the 1947 Partition of India. It was later adapted into an acclaimed Hindi film in 2003.
We discussed this book and movie in Tripoli Reading Group-2015
Pinjar- 2015-Tripoli Reading Group
Aj Aakhan Waris Shah nun,
Kiton Kabraan Vicchon Bol
Te Aj Kitab-e-ishq daa
Koi Agla Varka phol
Today, I call Waris Shah,
“Speak from your grave”
And turn today,
The book of love’s next
Affectionate page
Ik roi si dhi Punjab di
Tun likh like mare vaen,
Aj lakhaan dhian
Rondian, tainun Waris
Shah nun kaehn
Once, a daughter of
Punjab cried
And you wrote a wailing
Saga
Today, a million
Daughters, cry to you,
Waris Shah Rise !
Pinjar-by Amrita Pritam..Arc of development of characters | grace readings
WORKSHEET-DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1- In the blog, which piece of literature introduced him to the world of books in grade 3. How does the sense of Ontological Time develop in book clubs through discussion of the work-Junoon /Flight of Pigeons set in the 1857 Mutiny of India.
2- What was Miriam’s Gambit using the Family insitution and nuance of feminine power to Counter Javed Khan-the barbaric obsessive power.
3- How do works like – Heart of Darkness -Joseph Conrad (1890s Congo Africa) and Pinjar-Amrita Pritam (1940s-Partition of British India) help see the family institution and the effects of forces of Colonialism
4- Read a passage from a book and discuss how the story will be different if told by the perspective of another character.
5- Go to a Theater and watch a movie- and develop a sense of Ontological Time- being without clocks and calendars.
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Prashant Bhatt's notes 