Between all the praise flying around for Chak De India, combined with the occasional whine by people prepared to hate SRK no matter how well he acts, I saw the movie twice last weekend. Tricolour marketing and ‘India’ in the title aside, I couldn’t help thinking the story stood for much more than the mere patriotism flick it was being served as.

I can imagine the producers rubbing their hands in glee at the multiple marketing pitches the story presented. Patriotism, feminism, sports (a friend decisively labeled the movie ‘SRK’s Lagaan’). I got to thinking about what Chak De India really meant.

The goat chewed absent-mindedly as a small group on the other side of the stable made merry. A bull, flanked on either side by a brown horse, was saying, “Her skin was like milk and her neck was like marble.” His friends approved of the direction the story was going in by mooing and bleating their general appreciation. The bull continued, “She nuzzled my neck, ‘Mahabali, take me! Make me a cow,’ she said.”

“This is what Ayodhya is coming to,” said a displeased voice from behind the goat. The goat turned and momentarily stopped chewing. A beautiful cow stood in front of him. There was hay in her mouth but she wasn’t chewing. She looked holy.

The Remix of Orchid | Rs 250 | Written and published by A N Nanda

There are some stories that make a point, and stop. And then there are others that make a point and don’t stop. Rather, they fade into the end. One wonders what manner of a story would require such a fade.

Perhaps a story about a place. Because places don’t really end. They just stretch out into other places.

A N Nanda’s The Remix of Orchid has the Andaman islands at its centre. Though the book features husbands and wives, thieves, undersea divers and even ghosts, the star of the tale remains the island paradise.