CHERISH with HARISH

Day 16th Oct'20, 8:30 pm, Kazipet After spending 5 days in this beautiful town, I told my local relative, my brother-in-law to take me around the town's natural places, which he thought could be tourism centres.  I told him, not to take me to malls or buildings, but to places, which he had described to me with so much of interest, last night. This included a natural spring of water, which had huge fish. It had lovely, green fields, and such beautiful things. I was excited.  As a result, this little town of Telengana, I was pretty excited to go around, watching it. I had taken an early bath, had a quick breakfast, and was all set to go out. And then arrived the spoilsport...the rain! It came in and  started killing my day's plans of watching the localities!  I was trapped in my room the whole day. I did not want to waste the energy. I started browsing about the town and then, I started clicking pictures from my room, of what was visible to me. I was bored! I started reading

 12:50 pm, Kazipet I am loving this non-stop rain, I am loving the Non-stop- travel... I have not been staying at one place for the last one year or more. Currently, my journey started in Delhi. I reached Hyderabad, and spent a lovely week there. Not preferring a hotel vacation, I lived in my nice room, on the terrace From there, we got a news of my aunt's surgery in this town of Kazipet. So, I packed my backpack to this lovely town of Kazipet. My parents were with me in all this travel, which is amazing always. After two days of reaching this brilliantly simple town, I shot my weekly episode of TRAVELLING WITH HARISH, my youtube channel. I have started enjoying and writing in these non-stop rains. The rains have always pushed me into self-introspection and hence, my stupid work! In these green confusions of Corona and Telengana, I have been experiencing some amazing greenery, and hence, this writing! I sit in this little room in Kazipet, with lot of rain outside, which is pushing

 Till very recently, I did not know that the Harappa culture, did not have 'temple' buildings during their time. They did believe in the concept, but it was very personal. They believed in the sun God, the trees, the nature, the skies and similar things. It was quite later, that the temple buildings were built. More about this, I spoke in my latest episode on my youtube channel, Travelling with Harish. The episode is called, 'LESSONS FROM HARAPPAN SIMPLICITY. Do watch and if you like it, please share. Also, if you want to listen about any topic, write it in the comments. I will do my research and present an episode for you guys. :)

It was a humid evening in Delhi. As I was working on my desk, I got a Whats-app message from a cousin, who does not message me often, but she does it more than any other cousin. She stays in Colorado with her husband, but had come to India for some work. She told me that they were laughing with her elder sister were talking about me and laughing out loud thinking of my 'STUPID JOKES'. Age-wise, I fall in between both of them and somehow, but our frequencies match as if we were the same age. Again, we don't meet often, but whenever we meet, we talk as if we had met yesterday. I smiled as I read the whats-App message, that there is someone in the world thinking about me. I asked the younger one (the Colorado resident), till when is she in India. She said the date and she said, "...if you are not busy, please come!". This was good enough for me to plan for Hyderabad and meet them. I had somehow finished my projects and I was on a break. It happened so fast tha

(The Puttur Diaries-3 Contd.) A recent visit to the age old temple of goddess Padmavathi was uncalled for. The temple is quite old with a Hindu story as old as the temple itself. They say that the place, Alavelamma is as old as the 'Devasthanam'/ the religious temple itself. The story goes that the God came, married one of his wives, took her with him to the big temple, but left the other wife here, at this temple. This temple is beautiful, with a town well-settled around the temple (Puttur) and has a population of its own. The God, who is believed to be a Roopam of Lord Vishnu himself, has been moving around the hills in the search of truth. This place has always been beautiful with people coming from areas around (Andhra and Tamil Nadu) in search of truth which is their own search. The place had a queue and a prasadam of its own, with many kids in their own worlds. I saw a lot of half naked kids in their parents' hands. This is what looked like a world of happiness t

These are men who walk from Puttur to Tirupati. They take long walks from Puttur and take non-stop walks and respond to words like 'govinda', which you need to shout at them. So they are constantly walking and forcing you to talk about them. It is fun! The power here is going bad, but I like the way it is going bad, the way it is shaky and moving things, for me, forcing me to write and shoot things. It is the constant power cuts which are forcing me to write plays and Gokul and that is keeping me happy and I like the way they are placed. Isn't it? :) Though I am getting some fits here and there but I am also getting to read my friend's book 'A Night of Journey', a book by Ayn Rynd, which sounds nice. Thanks for the book Sumedha. Meanwhile, the writing continues. Will keep you posted.

So, my schedule here is quite different was in Delhi or Mumbao or Hyderabad or in any other town I was living in. It is so little that you have just time and nothing else to think and rethink to think about schedules and nothing. I know it gets boring at times. The problem here is that there is no power when you want to work, with frequent power cuts and I have to get down to ways of writing on my diaries and note pads, which is nice and warm for me, and I always thought that is how I always was, right from the ground and not the other way round :) So one thing which I have learnt here is to make chai for myself, which is like a huge accomplishment for me, as now i don't depend on any one for chai, but I won't mind one anyone doing it for me. So I make one for myself and that also gives me a motive to get up early listening to the zaan, make chai and in the process begin writing or may be just thinking. If that ways I look at life, I feel it is so much more fun than the way

Puttur Diaries April, 2014 The beginning I had been diagnosed with brain hemorrhage in AIIMS in Delhi and things were not moving the way they should have been. Not for me, not for Kamaan, and sadly, for anything. Was really nice was that I had some people around who loved me and cared for me. Firstly it was people like Tushar, who was somehow really involved with my work, thanks to the woman who was always with me: My mother. Always supportive, always helping and suffering with all the journeys I had been sadly a part of. So we reach this place called Puttur miles away from Delhi, and periods away from a condition I was in. Pa was working in this organisation, letting people getting admitted in it and hence, he had got an accommodation in the village, which somehow reminded me of the way the British officers would come to India, long ago. They would come, reach this beautiful place called India and explore. More than the place, they would look inside and explore themselves. This is

So the big shift happened from the hospital to the new house, with new ideas and projects coming in. The theatre moving in directions unknown and unseen to mankind, may be to the living beings, but it kept happening all happy and positive! What is nice is the fact that the speed did not lower , and we continued the way KAMAAN had stopped, with the client-owned projects were encouraging us, to write and direct more documentaries and theatre. With the travel and the beautiful locations we moved and is still fun. But as we move amidst all the questions and doubts, what is nice is the fact, that somewhere, THE BIG SHIFT IS STILL HAPPENING...

5th September, Amroha, 9:30 pm The sky right outside the train window looks magical. There are very few or no lights at all, so I get to see the sky with most of the starts in the sky. These are stars which I have just seen once in my life, in the  Andhra sky in my father's village long ago. I look into the same sky and it takes me back into time, years ago. Times have changed, I have changed, but what hasn't changed are the skies and the beautiful stars. Like the stars, there is some twinkling of the Fireflies, which adds so much more to the visual. This journey is just marvellous. :) ... Muradabad, 10:15pm Finally, I have started liking these two guys sitting with me. They are quite happy at the fact that I am a South Indian and I speak in such good Hindi. Happiness. Meanwhile, I try and catch their accent, which is more interesting. They have begun introducing Banaras. Excited I am! (to be continued...)

The recent trip to Banaras (Varanasi) is been recorded in my diary entries. here we go... 5th September '13 Simbhala, UP, 8:35 pm I am entering the interiors of UP, which I always wanted to do. Staying in Delhi does expose me to a lot of UPites, but when it comes to UP itself, no one else can replace UP itself. I just wanted to get a hint of the journey of the the way changed from the British United Province to the Hindustani Uttar Pradesh...both UP's. 'Trying' to get the UP accent is quite different from 'Getting' it. This is so peculiar, so effortless, so beautiful. There are different accents across India.  It is true that India has 18 languages, which is quite a lot for a nation. But what is stranger is the no. of  dialects which this nation has. They say that every 40 kms, the dialect changes, which makes the land multi-cultural and diverse. For instance, one one hand I have this guy in my compartment from Banaras, who is extra respectful and on

February 2013, Jungpura, Delhi. This is the weather I have always loved about Delhi. The February sun is like the best thing you could ever get. It is comfortably cold and I am very happy that it is COLD. I had missed the cold ever since I moved to my days n Ahmedabad and Mumbai. So I am back! The one year spent at Mumbai has been quite rewarding in terms of work experience. I just want to be free now. What is freedom? How do u define it? Freedom is defined as being able to do anything anytime, irrespective of the timing, or the place where you are. That I believe, is freedom! I wanted a change of space, which I have. Will (hopefully) get a nice place to stay. And I want to write and keep writing... "In this nice and lazy weather, with sleepy eyes,  I write and get lost.  From the lost world, i hear sounds of Delhi I have lived in.  It is the same city which has survived ages and still stands upright with all the walls and the gates.  As I write, I wonder what is r

This hot summer afternoon, I sit next to the lake, An artificial lake they made a couple of years ago, With a massive afternoon in the center, Cooling everything around, From the ducks in the lake, To the breeze around. I sit there facing the cool droplets hitting on my face, And I wonder how true the truth is, How real is the reality? Are the people who walk around the lake real? Or is that sweet smell of water falling on the mud more real? Are the Gods we worship more real? Than the ‘heroes’ we see on celluloid? I ask, as I sit next to the lake… Are the people whom I see every day more troubled, Than the people I face inside me? I still wonder who is more real. Are the smiles around more real? Than the crying sounds I hear in the background? I ask as I sit next to the lake… These are unimportant questions, coming up from deep inside, these are doubts which won’t make a difference, but yeah, I ask as I sit next to the l

I have a terrible ear ache now, because of the cold.   It is quite a childhood thing. Whenever I would have a cold, I would have an ear ache and I remember as a kid, it would be bad. As a kid I would never cry easily, but this ear ache was terrible, making me cry the whole night, in pain. I remember how my mom would get me books (at night) with pictures of exotic animals, to deviate my mind but I would continue crying. I remember my mom’s sad and helpless face. I remember what the doctor would say back then, holding my ear, “ It is a child’s membrane. It would stop as soon he is 10!” I am 24 and it is still there, pretty much like the way it was back then, when my mom would face the ear ache of her only son, while her husband was posted in the field guarding the nation. Tonight, just to deviate my mind from the terrible ear ache, I decided to write on my blog and you know what, it’s helping! I can have pain-killers and sleep, but I do not taking allopathic medicines o

MAMI, as it was called till last year was changed to Mumbai Film Festival (Thanks to the change in the sponsors) and it was on. I went to the movie hall to find out more about it. Before going to the hall I had heard that if have an AD's (Assistant Director's) Card, I would have to pay less. I reached the counter. So I saw the categories: Normal- 1400/- and IFTD (Indian Film and Tv directors) card: 1000/-. I was about to go for the 2nd option and I saw the third category ( Students- 800/- ) I saw this and I was happy. I took out my expired NID card and got entry. The joy of a film festival apart from the films being screened is the fact that I could watch any 'n' number of films for 800 bucks. With that excitement I entered cine max. And what was better was that the films were getting screened at the Gold class halls. So unlike the Osian's (Siri Fort, Delhi), there would be halls with a better sound and better chairs too! The joy was amazing and indescriba

So I am back to my blog. I don't know why or why not? I am just back! So the stay at Mumbai has been getting better and the more accustomed I am to the city, there are new and interesting places I see. There are slums, there are tall skyscrapers and then there are PEOPLE. The city is filled with people, and too many of them! The city is what it is just because of this gem which it has...ITS PEOPLE! People fighting, people competing, people getting lost, people smiling...they are everywhere. You cannot imagine a frame in Mumbai without it's gem...its people! After staying in Jogeshwari for the last 6 months, I am moving to my new house in 4 bungalow (Andheri). Staying here alone is what is fun. I make coffee, I watch films, I sleep, I sketch,I read, I think, I write, I do anything, there are no schedules I follow according to the world, No time-tables I follow...I just need money to sustain a living. That's it. Why do i need more? There's no need as such. I just

In NID, after every big festival there is a community dinner organised, where the dishes of that particular region are served to the whole community. It was the Onam Community dinner in 2010. I happened to sit next to one of my seniors, Sanaa. The conversation started with pleasantries and moved on to specifics, "So what is your next project?" asked Sanaa. I replied, "I am looking for subjects for my documentary. I am confused." Sanaa thought about for a moment and asked "Have you heard about this 'criminal' theatre group which is based here in Gujarat?" That sounded very new: ' a criminal theatre group'. The subject sounded very interesting because I knew very little about it. This conversation at the community dinner started the process... I looked it up on the internet...I came in contact with people working on this issue. Then I visited the community in Chharanagar. The tribe is called 'Chhara' and the group is called '

Chapter-2 The space 4 th May 2010, Kharaghoda After a long walk, we reached our location. It was blank. Absoutely bank! The only thing which I could see cleary was the horizon An infinite, wide horizon which had stories to tell, stories which it had seen. The strong sound of the breeze constantly made me realise that there’s no one here- no people, no vehicles, no city, no village… just the salty sand, the wide horizon and the strong breeze. We stood there watching it for sometime. Achint and me looked so small in front of the huge Rann. Or may be, the whole humanity looked so small in front of it. It was powerful. I could sense why people in the older days were scared of travelling too far. They thought that the earth is not round but flat. May be sights like these scared them to travel beyond a certain point. Like them, I could feel that fear again. I asked myself, “Is the earth actually round?” We started looking for space for our sets. Achint was guiding

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

POINT ONE Anoop and me travelled to Adalaj, a small town 20 kms from Ahmedabad. It has vav or stepwell built in the 16th century. It's believed to be an architectural wonder, which goes 8 stories below ground level. As we started going down it started getting cooler and more importantly, quieter. As we went down this lack of connection from the upper world made the vav calmer. Another thing which worked in our favour was that Anoop and me were not talking to each other. We were quietly clicking pictures. We were left with ourselves and the vav . We reached the base, the best point of the structure. Immensely positive with a very cool and silent ambience. The only thing which we could hear was the sound of pigeons flying in and out of the step well. We thought of sitting there quietly for sometime. After about 2o minutes a bunch of irritating local tourists entered. There were about 15-20 youngsters. They were constantly talking, but it all got worse when they started shouting. Th