Dissecting The Unreserved (2017)

A still from The Unreserved (2017)

The documentary adopts a format in filmography called cinéma vérité - a form of realism in which there is no or minimal embellishment. Each scene tries to capture the story of a particular person or a group of persons. It includes reasons, belief systems, personal lives, ideologies to biases in its documentation together with the chaotic setting - which the producer calls meta references. Shot on trains of the Indian Railways, it opens with a scene in which an octogenarian passenger demonstrates his bodily abilities of twisting his limbs in tortuous positions on a crowded berth. The old man also shows his ability to mimic sounds of dogs, goats, a child, and a woman. He says that he believes in the Almighty and has many such abilities.

An unreserved compartment of a train is a microcosm in itself. It draws myriad people - the travelers crisscrossing the country for various reasons. Perhaps an apt representation of what one of India is. The documentary presents the vignettes of persons particularly in the unreserved compartments which are infamous for operating at three hundred percent capacity. It includes stories only from people of a particular socioeconomic strata. Thereby excluding the elites.

Following is a sequential glimpse of the scenes which makes up the documentary.

A man tells us how he met his wife. It was almost serendipity - over a call from the wrong number, he says. He happened to visit the native village of his wife. The lady gave him a call, said it is a wrong number and at the same time expressed her interest in him. He says many other ladies treat him like that. Ladies often get jealous of their relationship. Both of them trust each other a lot. He claims to show all the messages that ladies send him, to his wife, as a proof of his fidelity. When asked about extramarital relationships he says that he is used to it and doesn’t feel bad. And, that his wife doesn’t have any extramarital affair.

A lady talks about her career aspirations and martial prospects. She wanted to become a doctor when she was a child. Her financial background and academic performance made her choose to become a nurse instead. Her definition of success includes becoming a nurse, ability to apply knowledge, earn a certificate and marry. She says that love marriage is prohibited in her family. She will not marry a person without her mother’s consent. Her mother lives in Delhi but adheres to rural social norms. She considers the person she currently likes as a good friend, as he cares and supports her in her endeavours. She discloses the reason for the unlikelihood of the marriage with him. She is a Brahmin, and the man is a Rathod - a caste difference.

Twin brothers declare that they don't consider each other to be brothers - which is a formal relationship. One of them says he has friendly relations with the other - calls him by his name, treats him with love over disagreement, and has never slapped him. They share talks about future brides and marriages like that of friends. They are still unsure who is older because they are born eight minutes apart. One of them talks about socially ascribed elderliness and claims superiority over the other in terms of knowledge, work status (one being a waiter and the other a cook) and salary (a difference of hundred rupees per day).

A man talks about his migratory trips as a mason. Sometimes he stays up to more than one year in the site if there’s no issue in his home. Recently, an out-of-pocket health expenditure, to treat his daughter’s brain tumor, amounting to three lakhs rupees has necessitated him to come for a trip. He has come out of his tenacity to earn money for the medicines against the wishes of his wife. He tells us that his need to work is proportionate to the necessity of caring for his three children. Now that his daughter needs money for recovery, he has to earn more. He is a god-fearing person and is concerned about the marriage prospects of his daughter.

A girl student declares that she wants to be a banker when she grows up. Her mother tells that she is not good at counting. Her father describes how she was saved from a medical condition at an extremely young age. He says that the fact that she was saved from such a grave condition makes him have extra concern. The mother discloses that her husband wants a son even after having two girl children. The husband says that it becomes essential for continuation of patriarchal lineage. He adds that girls are not disliked because they tend to help their parents more when in need. The mother is afraid of another pregnancy due to her diabetic condition. She adds that her neighbours are suggesting it is the right time to give birth to one more child.

A lady complains of domestic violence. Her husband beats her almost daily after getting drunk. Despite police complaint, he continues to torture and threatens to kill her. She is fleeing away with sadness. She will feel better when she meets her kids and parents, she says.

An old man complains about the caste based reservations. He believes that reservation should be for low-income folks and unemployed. He cites RSS for this standpoint. He adds that due to historical injustices of untouchability and hatredness, reservation was necessary in the past. If we continue reservations for low castes then chances are other castes will also follow suit in demanding them, he says.

A transgender person asks for alms. Posits a question to a prospective donor - do you understand what pussy means.

A man from Haryana tells that girls are unwanted in his state because of huge marital expenses including feeding the guests and dowry. He says that he knows the evil nature of the dowry practice and that it is a social norm which he follows. A man from Rajasthan interjects and tells that such evil custom should be quelled. The man from Haryana tries to compare with an analogy. He says that even in an election campaign of sarpanch a huge sum is shelled out for amassing unbridled power. And a brat is a better fit for such a position.

A lady who works as a nanny says that purple is her favorite color. She recounts that she felt strange when she left home for the first time. She was concerned that she would miss her parents' love. Sometimes she feels like returning back to home. But the family-like treatment of her employer retains her. She still wants to come back someday.

A Kashmiri man talks about electricity shortage at his village. Despite follow ups with the local administration, electricity seems to be out of hand. He says he favors Pakistan over India due to religious reasons. He loves cricket. He adds that he has never been to other states of India and wishes to visit places particularly Mohali for it’s cricket stadium. The introduction of train services in Kashmir is something he appreciates. He supports the Pakistani cricket team. His brother works for CRPF and supports the Indian cricket team. He says he might favour India over Pakistan if he gets a job and electricity is provided in his village.

A few Muslim boys talk about the release of a movie about Prophet Mohammed. The image of the Prophet cannot be displayed - one of them says. That is the case with the movie - the image is not displayed. One of them says that the movie should not be released anywhere. The other says that a person like the Prophet cannot come this day lest all Muslims will be left astray. We should not talk on this topic anymore due to limited information, he adds. Then they go on to talk about Abdul Kalam. The missile inventor. The scientist. And his full name.

A transgender person, a fan of Rajnikanth expresses her admiration. Another person says he prefers Sivaji, MGR and Gemini as Rajini is a fighter. He adds that Kamal and Rajini are both from one state. Another person goes on to talk about the political career of Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi. The previous person discloses his political preference of DMK over AIDMK after the death of the founding leader.

The documentary ends with a song of the Indian Ocean.

It verily captures the variety of human conditions in the Indian landscape. Each persona captured throws open a pandora's box of meaning-making. The complexities of living a modern life guided by traditional philosophies in which ideas are informed by countless streams of information, actions are demanded by impulsiveness of daily survival, relationships are morphed with impersonal understanding of things and the confusion that entails - is vividly captured. 

The following themes stood out in the documentary which can be attributed to learnings from the teachings of Contemporary India course: caste identity and employment induced migration.

Caste identity

Caste has an immortal character in India. Rooted in the Vedic notions of purity and pollution this system has perpetuated through the sands of time circumventing the evolution of India as a nation state - a political union. The constitutional prohibition of discrimination based on caste under Article 15 has been sidelined by de facto social norms of lived reality and the pride associated with a caste identity.

Historical nature of caste dynamics still manages to find new forms in decision making in the modern context. “Each caste values itself highly and has deep pockets of ideological inheritance from which it draws continuous symbolic energy for both political activism and economic competition.” (Gupta 2004) As far as filial relations are concerned - a partner from the same or higher caste is preferred. This not only highlights the preference of the moment but also what the person envisions for the future - the generations to come. Endogamy is reinvigorated in this choice which leads to never ending discriminatory caste practices. The challenge of dismantling endogamy is a testament to the overpowering magnitude of attachment that a person holds on to caste practices despite state efforts to alleviate discrimination.

Urbanization is considered as an equaliser of caste inequities. In the words of Salman Rushdie, only urbanisation and its logic of anonymity can accomplish the task of surmounting endogamy. But as we see in one of the aforementioned cases, the viewpoints of elderly, who have migrated to urban areas and are accustomed to rural customs, do shape individual’s (in this case the child) decisions on inter-caste marriages. An urban space also imparts ‘a level of freedom where caste identities can be fearlessly and unabashedly expressed.’ (Gupta 2004) This is a counter intuitive fact.

Employment induced migration

Cases of migration for employment stands out in the documentary. People migrate for a plethora of reasons ranging from underlined poverty, livelihood, low income from agriculture, to lack of opportunities. (Breman, 1986; Haberfeld, Menaria, Sahoo, & Vyas, 1999; Roy, Singh, & Roy, 2015) In the documentary, the mason was travelling to his site to earn a better income to fund the medical expenses of his sick daughter. This implies that available local livelihood opportunities for his skills are not favourable. Also, it elicits regional disparities in the availability of work opportunities due to unbalanced growth across geographical areas. Likewise, the mason also mentions how his visits to the site during normal conditions makes him stay for a prolonged period if there is no issue in his home. This phenomenon reinforces the idea that experiences of migrants in India cannot be solely measured in economic terms. (Shah 2006) The personal preference of being a frequent traveller and experiencing awe of exposing oneself to dissimilar cultures also drives people to migrate. This is not to say that there does not exist push factors for migration. In fact, the case of the fleeing lady who experiences wife-beating demonstrates that. She is migrating fundamentally out of distress. Her frequent requests for her husband to go to sleep after getting drunk explains the fact that she wants to save her marriage on amicable terms. The journey of the nanny and the family-like treatment of employers also draws similar threads. “The moral values attached to mobility and migration as a way of exploring the world was immense.” (Kikon 2018) The fact that her employer treats her well makes it more difficult for her to return to her native village. Though somewhere deep down she feels like returning home.

All of these instances highlight the complexities, nuances and multilayered aspects of migration. A sole criteria for understanding migration as a phenomenon is inadequate. Migration significantly alters the social fabric of a society. It also also has political and economic ramifications in a neoliberal society. Such repercussions demand a closer look at migration and the idea of why people migrate.

References:

Gupta, D. (2004). Introduction: The certitudes of caste: When identity trumps hierarchy. Contributions to Indian Sociology, 38(1–2), v–xv.

Dolly Kikon. 2018. Dreams and Desserts: Indigenous Migration, Service, and Mobility in India. International Journal of Communication 12(2018), 4143–4157

Alpa Shah 2006 The labour of love: Seasonal migration from Jharkhand to the brick kilns of other states in India Contributions to Indian Sociology 2006 40: 91