CHERISH with HARISH

A film which I came up with during the Lockdown. I had worked for 6 years on coming with the long-standing doubt which had always stayed with me. Here is a throwback to 'Project Me: In 2020':

9:30 a.m., Monday. Jorhat. Fourteen days had passed and we were walking back in this city, which we had left about a fortnight ago. I had been travelling all my life, but there was something which was unique about this trip. Now why was this trip important? When I look into the answer of this question, I find multiple answers. Firstly, I had begun to settle in the north-eastern part of the country and I was loving it. Secondly, we were married and this was our first trip together. Thirdly, this was the first vacation from my job at NID, Assam, and I was really looking forward to going home. But the most important reason being, we had survived this danger of Covid. Many people would not consider this reason that important. But with so many colleagues and relatives losing their lives, I would consider this reason to be the most important. With both of us getting a vaccine very recently, it was a recent good enough to take a Diwali break and celebrate the festival with our fam...

(Picture: Neeraj chopra with the Indian flag in the Tokyo olympics) 8:11 pm. Jorhat, Assam Tomorrow morning would not be an an ordinary morning, as it is would be the 75th independence of my nation. What is in this flag, in this national anthem which gives me goosebumps! MY IDEA OF PATRIOTISM! I have always grown up as a student who has been a good Indian citizen, at least on paper. As I grew up, this feeling of 'Patriotism' went stronger. It was perfect till I started assisting this Delhi-based documentary film-maker Mr. Amar Kanwar, that this feeling of 'Desh-bhakti' was shaken. He comes from a school of thought, which was completely new for me. A school, which taught me to question things about my patriotism. During this time, I happened to meet many yougsters from regions like Kashmir and the North-east and know them in person. They were all battling hardships and I just questioned the fact were we all from the same India. I feel we need to work fo...

8:00 pm, Jorhat. Sunday Like every Sunday, this sunday too had started with a plan to travel to travel and explore a new place. My parents would be traveling to Hyderabad the next Sunday, so over the morning chai, we discussed where to go! My idea of traveling had always been to enjoy the journey more than the destination. With that concept, you enjoy every moment. We had a rough idea to travel to Majuli Island, the largest river island on Brahmaputra. Sounded exciting! My parents, my wife and I did not want to waste time, and we started from home. I kept telling myself, that let us not aim to reach the destination and come back, but enjoy the journey. This is exactly my learning at NID has been. They never teach me to do the process, but to enjoy the process. Once you the process, reaching your end point loses meaning. You just live the process. This is the problem with the present day education system. They aim at reaching the end point, that is completing the syllabus first,...

Priyanka Vadra in a tea Garden in Assam  8:08 pm, Jorhat First of all, I am really sorry for not posting my blog this Sunday. I have been busy buying, setting my new house here. But meanwhile, I along with my wife took a short trip in the city, to the world famous tea gardens. I had always seen them in movies or television. In fact, recently I saw an image of Priyanka Vadra visiting a tea garden (image). Jorhat is not huge city, but it is a town of a good size, where all the points of my motive, have been just around 15 to 20 minutes. That is the size of the town.  We have recently bought a two-wheeler and it has come as a boon to travel across the city. We have bought a sky-blue coloured Vespa (Pic) and we are loving taking random trips on it. Our new Vespa. The Estate Entrance So this Sunday morning, we got ready and left for Cinnamara tea estate, Jorhat. It was established in the year 1850, by the British East India company. The land was owned by Maniram Dewam, who later to...

Surise at Jorhat, Assam: 4:30 am   10:05 a.m., Jorhat It was my first morning at Jorhat. In fact, it was still night, and the dawn was setting in. I just heard a lot of birds. This definitely woke me up. I got up, and went to the window to catch a glimpse of the beauty. Being an early morning person, I definitely loved it. It has been 18 days in this town and one of the newest things I noticed here was the SUN! I could see the daylight seeping in and I was loving the moment. It is then, that I checked my cellphone, for the time. It was 4:45 a.m.! I could not believe it then. I had always heard stories from my childhood that in the East, the sun rises early. But I never knew that it would be so early. Obviously, in the evenings, the sun set early too. The Jorhat sunset time: 6:30 pm As a result, I have started having an early dinner and hence, I sleep at 10 p.m. This is suddenly pushed me back to the childhood lessons, which said: "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, ...

8:30 am, Sunday. Hyderabad. Winters in the north are cold. But I am loving the pleasantness of the winters in Hyderabad. This is a major part of so many better things for me. I will be sharing ten points of positives, the city's moderate weather is offering me. Let's begin: 1.  Weather is always a great thing in life, in general Before Hyderabad, I was in New Delhi. It is known for its extreme weather. Weather is like a lovely background music tune, which influences all the things in the foreground.  At least that is what it does for me. The lovely, cosy breezy evenings are pushing me to work well. To say the least, they are pushing me to think more, and I am loving it 2.   Comfortable weather has improved m y reading  I was always a voracious reader. But off late, the lockdown and my abrupt shifting to this city, had taken me away from this beautiful habit. But one thing which is pushing me back to this, is again the lovely weather. The amazing Hyderabad breeze...

 8:30 pm, Hyderabad This city has been experiencing massive rainfall. For my international readers, I must inform that 'Hyderabad Flood' is a hot event now. I wanted to stay more in Kazipet, but I had to get back to my work. I actually had to get back to my universe. I crossed all the pleasant clouds, and to my happiness, the sun was out.  All masked up, following all corona preventive measures, we drove for Hyderabad. I realised that the government corona app, also showed me good signs in the rural areas. I had started travelling towards the state's capital. I have always liked travelling more  in the rural areas, but I have always loved coming back to my 'UNIVERSE'.  Now, how do you describe this universe. This universe is a mental zone, which has my own area, my own music, and most importanly my own bed to sleep. This time, this universe of mine was in Hyderabad. I had all of my work lined up in my mind. I was still figuring it out, and I was passing all rocky hi...

 9:25 pm, Kazipet. HAPPY AUNT We had come to this town, primarily to help my aunt undergo her surgery. It was my mother's sister. I was just excited about this exploration of this new town.  First things first, my aunt's surgery was successful and yesterday, she came back home, happily. As she returned to her peaceful bed, back home, my instincts of roaming around Kazipet were getting restless.  I have already described it my in yesterday's blogpost, of how I was all set to watch this town. But the rain played spoilsport, and dejected me. But what came in as a huge surprise was the lovely BIRYANI, an Indian dish cooked by my 'Masterchef' brother-in-law. Rain continued till late night yesterday. But I had slept with a hope and a big prayer of watching a clear sky and obviously, NO RAIN! CLEAR SKIES I woke up in the morning, rubbing my eyes, I walked out of my room. I saw this sight and my happiness knew no bounds. I saw the tulsi plant standing upright with no rain i...