The man got off the bus after traveling more than 3000 kms, tired, unsure.
Years of living in the city has changed him, he is uncertain of what lies ahead for him in the place he once called home.
His friend from when he lived in the village greets him, he meets his old parents, whom he should be excited seeing after almost 8 years, but the excitement is marred by the fear and the situation which has made him return.
He meets old friends, they seem content in their simple ways. There is no desire for power.
His life in contrast has been contaminated by the privileges city life had to offer and money brought.
Forced to make this move, causes the old familiar ways to to turn distasteful,
What was taken for granted in the city in his past life has now become non-existent.
Simple pleasure of mobile connectivity, watching television are not seen as a necessity but a waste of time.
Loss of his well paid job makes him depressed and scared.
The customs and traditions of his village, the one he grew up in, now irk him.
Butter tea, a staple of the hill people, now puts him off after feasting on the city’s cutting chai
Crossing a small stream by walking over a log — an everyday ritual for the residents of this area — is suddenly very difficult for him.
His parents want him to stay back in the remote village, they have a farm, they have a livelihood.
The life his parents want for him is that of a cow's or a pig's: a life full of routine and without any adventure.
He rebels, he buys a TV, he buys a car. He wants his old life back, in his new surrounding.
Slowly he accepts and remembers, he settles into a routine, finding purpose in teaching at the government school.
Taking on his father's duties on the farm, he now finds within, acceptance of his village and customs and love for the people and land he had left behind.
He crosses the bridge with ease.
This is a familiar tale of many Indians , the migrant labourer forced to seek better opportunities in the city, living a life of comfort and luxury, compared to the struggles of a small village in the hills.
Now in the current economic situation, forced to leave the city, they crave the old, silently accept the new.
I'm sure many can empathise with Tashi as he struggles to settle down to a slower paced lifestyle having tasted the energy of urban India.
The movie is about stillness, its simple beautiful surroundings accentuated by the simplicity of the lives of people.
The remoteness of the village reminds us how these folks consider places like Mumbai to be a foreign land.
But for many of us living in the city, these remote hilly scapes are sought after, we run towards them seeing them as a foreign and exotic.
It is about finding your roots, accepting change and adapting the new to the old ways.
Crossing Bridges is the first movie to have been made in the Arunachali dialect of Shertukpen and the village where this is filmed serves as a window to not just a place that few recognise, but also to a different way of life.
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