My last day in Coonoor. I have collected so many stories, characters and situations that it’s time to move on. I succeed in my biggest assignment: finding a living English woman who stayed in India after the independence of 1947. I talked with two. They are old and brittle but still sharp. One was married with a police-commander, the other with a self-made man who started a button-factory. Both ladies provided me with loads of information.
Another thing I needed for my research was a good insight in the way firemen would extinguish a huge fire twenty years ago. It was very difficult to get permission, but when I finally managed, the commander and his team welcomed me as an important guest. They gave a full performance from the moment the telephones rings – jumping in their gumboots -leaving with the car – till the unrolling of the hoses.
I had more encounters. I talked with adventurers, fighters and dreamers. With sad, frustrated and jealous people. With happy, nice and supportive people. I try to understand a society that is very different from my own. All the images I store in my laptop, where they will wait for me till I need them. Tomorrow I fly to Bombay. There I’ll have my last chance to collect missing links. Back to the extreme heat, the noise. Back to one of the most extreme cities in the world.
And for the fans of my collection plastic chairs, here some new ones from Coonoor.
Update schedule.
My Film is shown in the following cinema’s in holland:
17 April Schagen CineMagnus
24 April and 1 May Den Burg Cinema Texel
1 t/m 7 May Venlo Filmtheater De Nieuwe Scene
8 May IJselstein Fulcotheater
8 May Amersfoort Filmhuis Lieve Vrouw
15 and 22 May Dieren Filmhuis Dieren
15 May Alkmaar Filmtheater Provadja
7 juli Zutphen Filmtheater Luxor