CHERISH with HARISH

Gurgaon I have always believed that if you want to see India in the best possible way, take the Indian Railways! We had started about a fortnight ago from Delhi to basically rest to Hyderabad, but I had no clue that there was so much in store already. I had gone with no expectations, but just to meet my aunt, Tuffy and lots of rest. But I had surely expected train journeys, which always make me think, think and may be think more. But I got gifts which were not material, but very emotional. I loved Hyderabad's evening breeze, which is amazing always. That I guess is the only constant in this ever changing city, for the better. This breeze is an icing on the cake after you get up after a nice afternoon nap! But what was nice was meeting and chatting with my cousin Nannujiji, who had come from Brisbane, who had come back without any airs. I like it when people don't forget their roots and habits. She was exactly the same person I had seen when she left India, twenty years ...

I was quite exhausted after directing a short film and finishing a play. Everything happened in a great way, thanks to the universe. I wanted a break, so I took a week off to Hyderabad, which had no cousins, only 'Tuffy' (my uncle's lovely pet and an old friend!). I had decided to just eat and sleep. We had got the train tickets reserved and I got this news that this cousin of mine was returning to India, from outside, after about 6-7 years. I was still aiming at re-charging myself. I had brought a book of Tagore's short stories, which I had started reading mid-way. I had also thought that I will start working on the next play and street play. But again, my major motive was to sleep. The week passed off in days and I kept looking for the week! But one thing which was good was that I got a video byte and I was happy for it. I also attended a couple of functions and loads of non-veg stuff and majorly, Biryani! I also attended my older aunt and uncle and realised ...

I have been very busy in the last few days. I was enjoying it too. I was preparing for a play to be staged in New Delhi on the 23rd. I had written the play, and I was busy teaching the dialect to the students and the major part was directing it. I was struggling to meet the self-created deadlines. But when you do that, you end up working faster and hence, you become stricter with your work. You start worshiping your work. I had suddenly been strict with my students and Kamaan for 'DRAMA JANTAR KA!' too. I was fighting time Worshiping? Yes, Last week, at the same time, I had got a film project from a reference. Amidst all the chaos of the play, an organisation approached me to make a film on their patients, who were suffering from Dementia. I always had a special corner for people with mental disorders (...as I have one too!). I could not say NO. It is just that they needed to finish the film in just a week. I said yes to them and started meeting and looking at the patient...

I was working on my play's direction and I got a message on my phone to meet up. It was not a wedding, not a function. It was plainly a 'REUNION' and I liked that fact. I love it when we meet for a reason and not mix it with another meeting. It sounds a bit idealistic, but it's fun not to mix meetings and cover a lot of things. I don't believe in the idea of a 'World tour', where you just go to a monument, just touch it and come back. I would like to read about any place and then see it thoroughly. Similarly, I don't like mixing meetings. I love it when I go there for only one reason, TO MEET. This might be one of the reasons that I sub-consciously hate weddings. I am sorry to all my close friends whose weddings I have missed in the last few years. I always prefer meeting in a somewhat 'isolated' reunion and talk about MEMORIES. I love that journey to the past. So after my tiring rehearsal, I left for the 'RE-UNION'. I was early and I ...

WORDS I wrote them randomly, the dictator called them 'Sense-less'. I wrote them in a rhyme. the dictator called it a 'Stupid song'. I kept writing them effortlessly, times changed, the dictator changed. The first part was called a STORY, and the second, a POEM. I realised that it was not the dictator's fault, just my doubts on myself! Dictators will come and go, but I should not stop writing. People will like it or not. I should not stop expressing. I should keep on 'PLAYING' with words, A lovely game. Isn't it?

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...

I write I write street plays, I write stage-plays, I write poems, I write songs, I write stories, I write films, I write book (s), I just write. It is fun to write. No one (at least in India) knows that it can be a profession to be just a writer. I am enjoying being a writer and I am loving it. And the best part...I am trying to earn from my writings!