CHERISH with HARISH

6: 27 PM, JORHAT. It is tough for me to think of what to choose as a topic for this week's blog post. The world has been moving at a brisk pace. From a Sri-Lankan song become a viral super hit, to a country's government falling flat, too many things have been happening at the same time. To add to this, my culture celebrated Rakshabandhan, which was another celebration, in this new, yet always welcoming placeof Assam. I come from the land of Buddha and Gandhi, and catching up with the happenings of the world was never my priority. More than plans of 'Ruling' the world, I have always dreamt of 'Living peacefully' in this beautiful world. I have realised that my nation or my civilisation, gives me so many holidays (across various religions) over a month to celebrate happiness. This is what pushes me inside, and it is there, that I need to make myself content. I love reading and writing occasionally, but I also like challenging myself creatively. This is ...

(Picture: Neeraj chopra with the Indian flag in the Tokyo olympics) 8:11 pm. Jorhat, Assam Tomorrow morning would not be an an ordinary morning, as it is would be the 75th independence of my nation. What is in this flag, in this national anthem which gives me goosebumps! MY IDEA OF PATRIOTISM! I have always grown up as a student who has been a good Indian citizen, at least on paper. As I grew up, this feeling of 'Patriotism' went stronger. It was perfect till I started assisting this Delhi-based documentary film-maker Mr. Amar Kanwar, that this feeling of 'Desh-bhakti' was shaken. He comes from a school of thought, which was completely new for me. A school, which taught me to question things about my patriotism. During this time, I happened to meet many yougsters from regions like Kashmir and the North-east and know them in person. They were all battling hardships and I just questioned the fact were we all from the same India. I feel we need to work fo...

8:00 pm, Jorhat. Sunday Like every Sunday, this sunday too had started with a plan to travel to travel and explore a new place. My parents would be traveling to Hyderabad the next Sunday, so over the morning chai, we discussed where to go! My idea of traveling had always been to enjoy the journey more than the destination. With that concept, you enjoy every moment. We had a rough idea to travel to Majuli Island, the largest river island on Brahmaputra. Sounded exciting! My parents, my wife and I did not want to waste time, and we started from home. I kept telling myself, that let us not aim to reach the destination and come back, but enjoy the journey. This is exactly my learning at NID has been. They never teach me to do the process, but to enjoy the process. Once you the process, reaching your end point loses meaning. You just live the process. This is the problem with the present day education system. They aim at reaching the end point, that is completing the syllabus first,...

Priyanka Vadra in a tea Garden in Assam  8:08 pm, Jorhat First of all, I am really sorry for not posting my blog this Sunday. I have been busy buying, setting my new house here. But meanwhile, I along with my wife took a short trip in the city, to the world famous tea gardens. I had always seen them in movies or television. In fact, recently I saw an image of Priyanka Vadra visiting a tea garden (image). Jorhat is not huge city, but it is a town of a good size, where all the points of my motive, have been just around 15 to 20 minutes. That is the size of the town.  We have recently bought a two-wheeler and it has come as a boon to travel across the city. We have bought a sky-blue coloured Vespa (Pic) and we are loving taking random trips on it. Our new Vespa. The Estate Entrance So this Sunday morning, we got ready and left for Cinnamara tea estate, Jorhat. It was established in the year 1850, by the British East India company. The land was owned by Maniram Dewam, who later to...

  12:01 pm, 25 th  July, 2021 Jorhat, Assam. It is a Sunday today and it has been a lovely day at the Olympics, for Indians till now. It seems like a day for Indian women. The day started with PV Sindhu winning her badminton match, Manika Batra came second and won her table tennins match and finally, MC Mary Kom won her boxing match. I still wait for the men’s Indian Hockey team match against Australia.   I have always grown up following the Olympics. It has been a phenomenon which has been tracing my life, every 4 years.  So amidst news of Covid hitting us, came the news of Tokyo Olympics, and with it came India’s strong representation in the games. I saw it online day before. I was still digesting the news for a couple of days. But yesterday, came the big happy headline:   ‘ Mirabai chanu wins a silver for India !’   Suddenly,   my happiness knew no limits. I read every news story about Mirabai and the happiness which followed. And then came the big ...

Surise at Jorhat, Assam: 4:30 am   10:05 a.m., Jorhat It was my first morning at Jorhat. In fact, it was still night, and the dawn was setting in. I just heard a lot of birds. This definitely woke me up. I got up, and went to the window to catch a glimpse of the beauty. Being an early morning person, I definitely loved it. It has been 18 days in this town and one of the newest things I noticed here was the SUN! I could see the daylight seeping in and I was loving the moment. It is then, that I checked my cellphone, for the time. It was 4:45 a.m.! I could not believe it then. I had always heard stories from my childhood that in the East, the sun rises early. But I never knew that it would be so early. Obviously, in the evenings, the sun set early too. The Jorhat sunset time: 6:30 pm As a result, I have started having an early dinner and hence, I sleep at 10 p.m. This is suddenly pushed me back to the childhood lessons, which said: "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, ...

Traveling has been in my genes since my birth. With my father being in the Army, and my mother always interested in exploring new places, I had to get that quality from my parents in  virasat .  But I also realised that more I travel, more I learnt, so I just traveled!   I spent a major part of my life in train journeys across India. This made me an avid traveler, and in the process, a writer. I have always treasured every journey I have taken.  So when I take an India count of all the villages, cities and states I had traveled, I realized that I had covered and stayed in the whole country, except this beautiful region of north east India.   Very recently, I have shifted to the beautiful state of Assam. Jorhat was the new base and this would be my base for long. The reason was pretty simple: I got a job here, and I accepted it with my arms stretched in happiness. Science says that the color green is good for eyes and in the process, our health. I have grown up i...