CHERISH with HARISH

9th December. Badamma's place, Hyderabad. I am at badamma's place (badamma is mom's elder sister) for two days. Badamma has no kids at her home (as both my cousins stay in other cities- Chennai and Brisbane). She was really happy to see me. Have been talking and more than talking, I have been listening to badamma. I see this joy in her eyes when she talks about Yaseen (her grandson). Today, in the morning we got this cute piece of news that Yaseen has got into class 1. So, she's damn happy. Yaseen lives at a place, which is miles away from here; he is just 5. I am sure hedoesn't even know that someone in India loves him so much. As he would grow up, may be then he would get to know. Badamma is making kheer for celebrating Yaseen's 'success'. Love is an amazing thing. the one who gives it is happier than the one who gets it. I think it is one of those very few things in which the one who gives ends up happier. This is what is God, or the POWER, or whatev...

The coach is pretty cold, comfortably cold, lying down on my berth I think The windows of the train are being closed, I can't see where I am, I am not in the city from where I started, I am not in the city where I have to reach, I am somewhere in between, I am NO WHERE. With some music in my earphones, and a pen and my diary in my hand, this NO WHERE becomes an experience. It's the journey which has to be fun, the people you talk to, the places you see from the window, the food you buy from the pantry car, the rhythmic sounds of the train, the loud sounds of 'chai', the slight dance-like movement, which the train gives you, the metallic smell of the train, The rectangular berth which becomes your identity for the rest of the journey, the sounds of other trains pasing by, the stupid conversations with fellow passengers, which teach you more things than any of 'those' intellectual conversations, the journey has to be fun, NO WHERE has to be fun. Yes, it has to be...

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...

A nice semester this was. Too much of thinking...too much of work... and lots of fun. I directed two plays...directed a film to which I gave everything (almost), a bit of random travelling (love it!) and some plans for the near future. One thing which this sem taught me was to be 'random'...to live in the present, and live to the fullest. The future would follow in the same colour scheme. 'Kuch toh dekho' ( VC street play), 'Dustbin' (khel), 'Kuch toh dekho' (for MBICEM) , 'Growth' (a short film) and 'Shwet-shyam' (fiction film @ NID) ... Sometimes we think too much about the future, and spoil the present. I think it's good to be random. You see the unseen, you hear the unheard. So when you work hard then, you are honest to yourself, as you chose to get into the situation! 'Good things happen to good people.'  Plans for 'Jantar'  and 'Gum-Naam' (plays)...a short film ('Asleep') and the documentary proje...

That early morning breeze which reminds me of all the childhood memories, that glass of cold water which I hold after spending a hot afternoon, that's where I see God. That fire I touch on a chilly winter night, that deep breath I take after a tensed moment, that 2-minute nap I take after hours of hard work, that brilliant idea I get sometimes get, out of no where, that is where, I see God. That chair I get to sit, after standing for long, that peace I get once I close my eyes, that appreciation I get from a stranger, when I need it the most, those accidents which take place, where I never get hurt, that is where, I see God. Those moments when an unknown stray dog showers love on me, when my lips make a circle to say 'Om', those people I meet whom I wasn't supposed to meet, that love with which a mother looks at her new-born, that is where, I see God. That sound of the serene flowing river, tha sight of that beautiful mountain, that wet smell of the rains, the sun rays ...

Sometimes I get these wierd questions, whose answers I know, but I still don't know. Who am I? I know my name, my existence but what more than that? Am I the body, the soul, the thoughts or am I just a collection os fome energy? Is it when I breathe that I live, or is it when I think that I exist? Would I still be called 'me' once I leave the body, or will I stop thinking after I die? Where am I? Is this world really huge? or is it just a minute layer, a small part of that HUGE structure that we can't see? Does our world end where we stop seeing, hearing or feeling? Or are there more layers, deeper and invisible, unheard and unexplored? Do the stars I see in the sky are a part of the same layer? or is it some distant layer? They say they don't know where the universe ends, but do they know where does it begin? Am I a part of the universe, or is the other way round? Is the universe a part of me? What do I do? When I live life, do I plan it? Or is it already a part o...