from the hills

Skills that you have honed in the long run and what is admired by people are some of your unique possessions that place you in a different place from the mass. Its a definite experience with each individual for they got to have their own. Having had my piece of fun and experiments with digital media with some pretty cool software, then popularly called Macromedia Flash, time took me far from it. After Conscience I haven’t done much with it for my priorities stood different. What am amazed to see in front of my eyes today is just another thrilling experience. Perhaps these young minds who cant even describe themselves in the so called "English" have a lot from which we can possibly learn. I am in one of the remotest areas of Maharashtra. The place is named Sahad! Inside a not so well lit computer lab, one of the most reputed ones though, there goes a creative rampage on the machines, with a few dedicated, extremely talented individuals whos personality might just never coincide with the skills they own. Industry might just fail to make a choice! For their looks are just as deceiving! Yet when their fingers touch the keyboards with Adobe Flash in front the frames , scenes, timelines just dance to tunes. For me, am placed at the same situation, to wonder at how creative these individuals might be and the wonders they might do given a right platform. Not yet though.

Addressing a huge gathering of youngsters has never been tough though! There are a few things you would always want to be repetitive over and over again. Those few moments! .. yet they happen at the least expected times you just can't hold it later than the stipulated time. Your span and your decisions take you different places each day. Next morning I will be on for my next trip to a fairly remote area, the suburbs of Maharashtra, India. 13 hours away from Mumbai, the soul of India. The unpopular hill station Tooranmal!

The past 3 hours had been very coosy on the restaurant bed ... of course lonely under the blanket ... Never felt like getting up for a tour to Toornamal hill station... for my state was more addictive. Pushing myself off the bed and getting ready .. to drive 25 kms away from where i stayed, with a couple of friends on that early winter morning was just as memorable.

The sun was still in deep slumber when we started. Temperature close to 5 degrees... Your daily routine probably doesn’t give you a chance to look at all the beautiful things round you .. for you loose out on the setting sun .. can you remember the last time you jumped in the flowing water??? never mind .. we are all in pace to achieve something huh! Yet those times when there’s nothing on your mind .. you tend to be a lil free .. i bet you wont stay away from being amazed at the smallest things which at one point had been the subject of your ignorance.

Far away from the huge sexy buildings and my usual sweet machine i was there driving between the roads with sunflower gardens on both the sides ... flowers pointing towards the rising sun on my right... I was driving north. Sun wasn’t as hot .. and never hurt my eyes even if i saw straight .. how relative?

I always wanted to stand on the peak of a mountain .. always fascinated by great heights ... wanted to stand alone taking a birds eye view of things .. this day .. it was about to happen in some moments ... it would have been great if i could float! With the steep curves .. you look down and there’s this bright sunlight touching the ground and as your altitude rises the area you can see increases but the details decrease! There’s no one out there on the hills except for the different species of trees .. some laden with leaves and flowers and some with none. Calm your mind, probably these want to speak off all those years, off people, of nature, off everything these have seen and experienced. As you go higher, there’s this sudden sense of attraction as if someone’s calling you to be with them for ever.. it happened when i dipped my feet in Ganga .. its happening now.

On top as I stand and look around, some simple questions torment my mind .. the reason as to why for something’s .. not how. The bigger whole in front of my eyes looks enchanting .. yet if you get closer .. the smaller problems would jst pop up. I wish life had been so simple like the bigger whole :) .... There’s this guy from he hills with the torn shirt .. trying to get some heat of the sun for there are no woolen clothes at his disposal. Gives me a strange look ... I wonder since how long he's been waiting for some food... There’s these kids trying hard to engage themselves playing with all possibilities on the hill ... with twigs .. stones .. wood .. sorry there are no bats or balls or technology for them. Its so alien. For some moments, you would start think why is there such a huge difference .. some deprived some with an excess of what is required. Its not about order or chaos. Talking to them is hard for they hardly understand you .. Unlike ours, timed days, for them its so random. The morning starts with a hope for food .. a push to work .. and gradually the day has to be passed .. sometimes being lucky if you get a meal .. else got to put the damp cloth on stomach .. and back on bed for the next day.

Each day with an increasing uncertainty of their own existence. Yet there’s smile. There’s hardly any complain of situations. There’s hardly any ambition or a goal .. however a motivation to satisfy their complaining stomach is probably a strong reason for survival. I wonder what effect would the GDP, Index, Economic growth or the Education for all initiative would have on their daily lives..... May be am wrong yet i don’t find a reason.

Its not just abt the people out there .. there’s a lot more .. for the beauty of the natural creations is just as mesmerizing ... Cant describe it more than what you can see in the images! You got to be here to feel it. Apart from the nature, when it comes to food, kachori misal, bhakari(jawar), kharda(chilli), sev bhaji, udith papad offer you a striking taste … especially when you have it typically served on the cot under the moonlight … on the way back home. There’s a striking taste in the dishes from rural india … you cant have the delicacies yet you cant resist the temptation to eat some more.

Dear but there’s one thing that’s still so permanent. I have spent hours .. saw all things .. spoke to people .. was amazed by the beauty of nature out there .. stood for a long while at the SitaPoint .. sat in bench facing the 200ft deep Waterfall .. yet there’s always something coming in the way ... popping between the fragments of my thought .... its you……... your memories unlike the constant sun rays is so random .. it never stays constant .. nor leaves .. yet persists … I have nothing from you but some memories from the hills……