Two Ways of being THE Woman

 I would not know about you, Dear Reader, but I adore Sherlock Holmes, despite all his quiddities. One of Sherlock's oddities is that he has a very low opinion about women, especially their intelligence. Yet, remember Irene Adler of "The Scandal in Bohemia", the brilliant, beautiful Irene who outsmarts him? He never ever mocks women's lack of brains after that episode. She forever remains THE woman for him 

Remembered all this jazz as they say, 'coz our blog today, as the title would indicate,  is going to talk about two unusual women. Well, the contemporary  AI (r)evolution is literally questioning what it is to be a human being. Allow me to say that since the 1960's, there was this great researcher whose take on Darwinian notions and whose 're-search' on/of chimpanzees literally re-wrote what is to be human(e).

I am anyways a Jane-ian. Well, I love Jane Austen whose (to use a Shashi Tharoor-ism) semiquincentennial, that is to say, two hundred and fiftieth birth anniversary we are celebrating this year. Jane Goodall is another Jane I highly respect.

 For six decades, this British primatologist studied the big ape in Tanzania. She proved that chimpanzees, gorillas have a complex intelligence, deep emotions and extremely interesting social structures, all the aspects which supposedly advanced human beings boast about as their "progress", unlike 'animals' disdainfully dismissed.

Currently, it is very fashionable to be a conservationist, and to be environmentally conscientious. We have actresses bursting in to tears publically over the plight et al of the planet! Jane Goodall literally lived these concepts for more than six decades. True to her surname, she proved that ''big or small/bright or dull/ play all a role full/ in evolution's rule''.

The other woman i would like to discuss in our blog today may not have this grand a stature for sure. After all, she was just an actress from the Marathi and Hindi film industry. 

She died of old age yesterday. Yes, I am referring to Sandhya, famous for her films such as 'Amar Bhoopali', 'Pinjara', 'Zanak Zanak payal baje', 'Navrang', and many more that mirror her skill as a danseuse. The way her body gyrated in the (mostly Vasant Desai) loveliest songs in such films made one almost think that instead of bones, she had elastic that never snapped however much stretched whichever way.

The impossible dance postures she attempted were, moreover,  gracefully fluid and lyrically beautiful so much so that school gatherings to inter-college/university events, the budding dancers would continue to do a Sandhya dance year after year, decade after decade. 

In brief, I would like to assert that her stylised dances and acting added to the expressionist aspects  of V. Shantaram's filmography in unique ways. She enriched the film industry through her own special rhythm. Hence this tribute! 

Pratima@ May their souls rest in peace!