CHERISH with HARISH

इन तेज़ चलती गाड़ियों के बीच , न दिखे सड़क के उस पार कि गलियां । भूल गया हूँ , इन अंधेरी गलियों में, आँखों पर पट्टी बाँध आँख-मिचौनी खेलना। अब आम बहुत मीठे मिले हैं, पर भूल गया हूँ, उस आम के पेड़ पर चढ़, खट्टे, अध-पके आमों को तोडना। अब ज़िन्दगी चले हैं सीधी सड़कों पर, भूल गया हूँ,उन छोटी-छोटी पग-डंडियों पर खो जाना। अब जब भी पग नीचे जाएँ, चप्पल ही संभाले हैं, भूल गया हूँ, नंगे पैर उस ठंडी माती पर चलना। अब दूर-दूर तक सब दिखे हैं, पर भूल गया हूँ, उस करीबी धुंधली परछाई को देखना , जो शायद मेरी ही थी ।

The beginning Achint wanted to shoot his diploma film in the Rann of Kutch in the first and second week of May. Many believe that May is the worst time to be in the Rann. May be that was the adventure of the whole shoot. We packed our bags. Our journey started on the morning of 1st May, in a van which carried the entire luggage, the driver, Achint and me. The journey was long. I have seen the Thar, but this was my first visit to the Rann, a desert of some other type. After around two hours of traveling we stopped at a dhaba to have some chai and faafda! As we moved further it got hotter and boring as there was very little variety in the visuals that could be seen. So, I dozed off. The hot breeze woke me again after a short while. I saw trucks, some villagers working on huge heaps of sand. As our van got closer to the heaps I noticed that it was not sand. It was salt! They were white salt crystals which were brought from the Rann and now would be sent to factories for refining. I had he...