CHERISH with HARISH

I said,"We live on lots of money,very expensive medicines, very high GDP's and other high stats! Do you have any of these? We're rich..." The crows replied," We live on the never-ending skies, we breathe the unlimited supply of breezes, and we drink the never-ending water bodies. None of this can be counted. Now who's richer?!" The crows flew away and I kept thinking...

Some told me to fight for the poor man, be a communist, some told me to fight for more money, be a capitalist, some told me to fight for allah-ram, be a fanatic, some told me to fight for lost village lands, be a naxalite, some told me to fight for the country, be a soldier, but I just wanted to fight for what I liked, I just wanted to be a human-being... I wrote this and then my friend Sambit Kumar Pradhan came up with this brilliant Hindi/Urdu translation of the same piece... वो कहते हैं ग़रीब के लिए लड़ो- साम्यवादी बनो. वो कहते हैं धन के लिए लड़ो- पूंजीपति बनो. वो कहते हैं अल्लाह-राम के लिए लड़ो- कट्टरपंथी बनो. वो कहते हैं छिनी ज़मीन के लिए लड़ो- नक्सली बनो. वो कहते हैं देश के लिए लड़ो- सिपाही बनो. मैं तो मगर अपनी चाह के लिए लड़ना चाहता हूँ, मैं सिर्फ इंसान बनना चाहता हूँ :)

Years ago, the world saw the GODLY mountain, the peak covered with heavenly clouds, the slopes holding the purest of breezes. Men and women worshiped the freshness of the mountain, the beauty of the flowers, they worshiped the honest heights, so, they built a TEMPLE at the peak. Seasons passed, men and women came from miles away, to see the mountain temple. There were innumerable people, the breeze was pure no more, the heights were honest no more, there were just people and their greedy faith. Today, centuries later, there's a HUGE temple, there are a million shops on the mountain, there are guest houses and business plans, but unfortunately, there's NO GOD! (Images: Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam, Andra Pradesh and Vaishno devi mata, Jammu and Kashmir)

That's my hand (first image). Then I did this (second image) with soft pastels. Felt good :)

Some of the images from my photostream on Flickr.com You can watch more on http://www.flickr.com/photos/2 7389026 @N03/

We do little deeds, and make a lot of noise. Look at the sea, it's HUGE, still so full of peace... (Wrote it in Feb 2011, sitting at the shore in Diu.)

Work and other things have been making me lazy enough not to upload stuff on this space. This piece has been long overdue. It was a pleasant February afternoon. I had just finished my lunch and was sitting under the mess (hostel). Medhavini walked up to me with a newspaper cutting from the Hindi paper Hindustaan. She had carried this story from back home (Sitapur) and now wanted it me to post on my blog so that more people from this space get to know it. I appreciate this effort of hers. So here goes the story... Lucknow, 23rd December 2010 At the look of it, it seemed that the Akhara at the Alambagh area of Lucknow was gearing up for some procession, some fair or some wrestling championship. That's what Akharas are used for- wrestling or Kushti . But this one had a different story. On the contrary, it was gearing up for a day to celebrate PEACE. Lucknow is the capital of the same state which has witnessed Babri Masjid which led to riots accross the country. I...