CHERISH with HARISH

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...

The yet unknown Devyani case and Dhoom-3! Hi guys, - I thought why don't I talk about issues which are going in the country, which affect me or touch me somewhere, and are ignored in the nation or the society. And as always, my big doubt -   why don't we ask questions and raise these points. This is the latest case about Devyani, an India-born US diplomat, who was staying in the US and had an Indian maid. One evening, the maid had gone to get veggies. She got them and while returning, she was stopped by a group of drug addicts and was stripped naked and supposedly raped. She was arrested by the NYPD (New York Police Department) officials and was stripped again and other DNA tests were done and in the process, supposedly raped again. Devyani did not like this. She complained it to the US officials and surprisingly, none of them acted upon it and they practically 'Ignored' this. - Meanwhile, the political scene in Delhi was active...

My photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/27389026@N03/

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 ...

It was half past midnight in my watch, half past mid-night in yours... Yours had crossed 12 and was sad... mine was still waiting for 1...all hopeful! 

And it was just any other monsoon with the same old stories of a somewhat 'Early' monsoon and I don't know what all. What was new for me was that I was in back in Delhi fter ages... having spent a nice and 'full' monsoon last year at Mumbai. I had worked hard there and was slightly confused whether is it fool-proof to start something new in a city which is famous for all the wrong reasons, or should I say, is notorious. What happened was not a part of my plan. The films on which I had worked last year as an AD (Assistant Director) had begun to release now, when I was in Delhi. When in Mumbai, I could not see a glimpse of anything of this. What I had seen always and still believe in is the fact that one should work hard for TODAY and forget everything else. First came BOMBAY TALKIES, where I was assisting Dibakar Banerjee, and I was the Da (Director's Assistant), then came out SHIP OF THESEUS (by Anand Gandhi), where we had all worked very hard and never kne...