CHERISH with HARISH

A group of twelve men and women, from Kabul had recently visited India, to see and learn things at the Indian NGO's so that they could take and go back things to Afghanistan which would help them in rebuilding their society. These men and women had come through this organisation called Action Aid, Afghanistan. I had got a call from Action Aid India to make a film on this journey which these young men and women were taking. I got excited and I started shooting and travelling with the Afghan team for the next 4 days. This trip has been an eye opener not just for the Afghans but also for me. It has taught me a lot and also made me realise the fact that this country has so much to offer and I need to travel and explore so much before I talk . The film is getting ready and I would share it soon. Cheers

I got up early and i slept again. I definitely got up, but did i sleep well? With men dying in the mountains, and kids crying next to the dead bodies. I could not sleep at all. I just got up...

That open window, right above my pillow, has happy questions, with unhappy answers. The sun rays enter, wake me up, from dreams, unseen and unknown. Just because of that window, that open window above my pillow, that I keep forgetting my doubts and my problems, unseen and unknown. Questions I have, about life and death, murders and suicides. I stare into that window, and miss my parents, who are happy just with the memories of my happiness, all unseen and unknown. So, it is just this windo, which answers my questions, all unseen and unknown. JUST THAT OPEN WINDOW and nothing else.

Delhi is super hot this year, I think much more than the previous years I have lived here. Also, adding to this is the fact is that I have been living in a room with the fan not working and the cooler without a pump, so what happens is that the cooler throws air, which is hot and killing! I have been staying alone in Delhi and I am liking the experience till now. It is nice and pleasant. But about 8 days ago, my fan stopped working and right on the next day, my cooler's pump stopped too. I stay alone in the room, so I complained it to my landlady about this and she gave me the no. of this electrician called Bablu ji.  Now the thing is that when Bablu ji comes to repair the fan/cooler, I have already left for office and when I come back (which is late), I can't get Bablu ji. Amidst this mismatch of time between me and bablu ji, I had started to grow accustomed to the whole concept of living in a room without a fan and a hot cooler! In the beginning, this was a hug...

6 am, Delhi. Post school, this has been a time I would never be awake at. But a recent trip to Jharkhand, changed things for me. When I am home in Hyderabad, this is when my parents would also wake me up for early morning chai and after chai, they would leave for the morning  walk and I would get back to my happy slumber. In Ranchi, I was spending a couple of days at my mama's. So every day I would get up at 6 and with my mama , my cousin and mai (mama's wife!) I would go for a walk. But this Jharkhand journey was one of those trips where I am open to everything new. Things which might have been happening in my life, since childhood, but in some of these trips, I leave all my beliefs on one side, and I UNLEARN. I had actually gone there to do some research for one of my documentaries, but I was open to everything coming my way. So, me and my cousin, Divya walked behind and my mama-mai walked forward. It was early morning and I could feel the freshness in the ai...

न सोच न समझ , न सच न झलक , न मंज़िल न कोई रास्ता , क्यूँ बेरंग से बढ़ रहे , किस रंग में बेरंग हो तुम ? किस रंग में ? न माता न पिता , बस हैं कुछ दोस्त साथी , जो आज हैं , पर देखा न उनके संग कल , वो जाने हैं आज क्या हुआ , पर न भनक उन्हे बीते हुए कल की , क्यूँ बेरंग से बढ़ रहे ? किस रंग में बेरंग हो ? किस रंग में ? आज का दिन गुलाल का था , न था लहू का , न था हिंसा का , न था मदिरा का , न था गुमने का , कहाँ से आए ये रंग ज़िंदगी में ? किस रंग में बेरंग हो तुम ? किस रंग में ? किस रंग में ? किस रंग में ... © के॰ हरीश सिंह 2013

Moving on! Vikrant was a new employee of the Central  Public Works Department, which the world knew as the famous CPWD. He had finished his engineering from a prestigious engineering college and his family was quite happy at the fact that he had got a job in CPWD, an organization which was as old and as trustworthy  as ever. It had been three months and the feeling of this new job had not yet settled in. Vikrant had just moved to Delhi and got a house here.  It was a nice life here in Delhi, compared to his hometown in UP. The best part for him was his family was no where around. Though they would never be after him to come and sleep on time, but it is just this responsibility which Vikrant had towards them. Now, all of a sudden, he did not have any and wasn't he happy about it! Somewhere in central Delhi, Vikrant's team was doing a field survey of the number of slums in the area. They were going from one slum to another and checking and collecting documents from...