For a long time I always watched movies purely as a source of entertainment. The way media and entertainment has painted as being dark and blamed a part of the idiot box and for not anything positive out of it. I am sure in our subconscious mind somewhere these movies which gross millions of bucks on the box office are potent enough and are premises based on which our life take the inevitable twist.

Movies make you think, they make you feel, they make you listen to others feelings, they make your conscience come to reality. Such is the power of movies. Media is always looked at as a destructive force only because of the way we look at it, because of what we take of it. The strongest words that I have heard from one of my friends were “Take the good and leave the rest”. This one thing holds true even for the movies we watch.

Media (Movies) of used as a catalyst has the power of changing lives. It has done that to me. I know set of people who try continuously in harnessing the power of Media for the good of society (MAM Movies). These guys have been the inspiration and the beacon of hope for a lot of people has had no positive thing to look forward in life. I am particularly impressed and touched by the way Americans though how stupid they have been with the wars they have caused to make some of the most inspirational movies.

It all depends on how you take something to be and how much importance you give it in your life. I think movies can be just the source of entertainment or a life changing experience.

It is changing mine and making me realize how much I can give back to the world. I just hope everyone looks at the same way!!!

My aspiration lately is to develop a self sustaining community in the hills of India. I can say this feeling did not strike me like a jolt of lighting neither it is an impulsive decision. But it certainly was one of the impulses that had been hibernating in my subconscious mind for long time. I was certainly moved by the endless mountains and landscape of Ladhak and my dream of riding through the serene yet untamed mountains standing at 14000 feet and above have become much stronger. As soon as I read a blog on road trip to Ladhak I knew this was one of the place is wanted to be.


In fact I could not believe the bike trip that I did with Brijesh and amit completing 2300 kms would be life changing in many ways. It was the most amazing experience of my life. It also made me realize that I could do things alone and also had the determination to step out and try the unimaginable.

That’s when I knew my next stop is the north of India where the monks, the stupas, the valleys and the villages were calling me. But unfortunately it remains an incomplete journey. But we in a very clichéd way keep mentioning that every thing happens for the good might turn out to be the biggest truth of my life. I never thought I could step out of the comfort zone I was dwelling in and even think about starting a life for myself. I can hear the song “There aint no mountain high enough, valley low enough river wide enough to keep me from getting to you” constantly buzzing around my ears. The song just might help me put some action into my thoughts.






Can you beat anything more beautiful than this?
Now my plan seems clear. Thanks to Sachi’s encounter with SIDH put thing into perspective at the right time. It fitted in like the Japanese quality initiative of Just in Time. I just thought about a collaborative model of SIDH and Himalayan Village. These I can clearly say are the two inspirations that I will take and form my own community of self sustenance.

My plan is to get 4-5 people who like minded thoughts and generate corpus that would enable us to build the place that I dream of. The concrete plan is to have 5-6 two bed room cottages and also dormitory which can accommodate 10-12 people. This section of the place caters to tourist and not just tourist but people who admire and respect the creation of nature. Also have a store which could sell handicrafts and other goods manufactured by the localities providing them source of income. Also have a school and activity center to educate or at least make the locals literate to get a better understanding of life. Also have a place for organic farming which I feel is the need to be addressed with growing concerns about weather and depletion of clean environment. One of the important things would be is to use renewable source of energy like solar panels and sewage water treatment. I guess this what I dream of at very superficial level.

“Ab jo hoga manzoore khuda hoga”.

There is constant conflict within my mind, I assume for everyone in this world there is. But introspection is something that could to certain extent clear some of these conflicts. I say some of them because not all of them can be answered till we have personally tried it for ourselves (The road less travelled).

I think I was always finding for something which could liberate from the regular routine, the rats race which I has become a part of and yet hated it to the core of my heart. I always wished to be someone like one of mark twains books characters like tom sawyer or Huckleberry Finn. I remember reading the book when I was kid and was fascinated by how someone could spend their time doing what they liked so much without a caring an ounce about the world around them. More than Tom I liked Huckleberry Finn for his free spirited nature. But I guess ended up being like Tom Sawyer who got an education and a regular job of a software engineer (it’s just an analogy). I am not criticizing all those who have the same life just that I don’t find it satisfying enough, don’t feel I do something that gives me goose bump or that I have made a difference in the world today.

I always wanted a life changing experience, work with people, do something that was basic. But I eventually got caught in the turmoil of being born in a middle class family and responsibility of satisfying my parents, living up to their expectation, having the 9-6 job and then come home and spend time with family. In fact the whole inspiration behind writing this piece is looking at people around me. I just observed people around me who are so engrossed in the work that they do. Do they or do they not feel the need to do something more than this, stretch their human capabilities to benefit others or at least explore the world around them. I was surprised to here that in span of one and half years of them living in Mumbai or also of having reached age where you are capable of taking you own decisions they had never been on a trek. I felt doesn’t their inner sense coax them to do something apart from their regular routine, go into the wild and explore the unknown. I have not found myself yet but have they even tried doing that. I am not trying to be judgmental but you can figure out things to a certain extent being around with them.

I have realized my dream is to be close to the mountains constantly exploring newer paradises working with local inhabitants and helping them to build a self sustainable society. Probably it’s an excuse to run away from something or just one of my temporary phases in life. I just got the new found energy and encouragement to tell my parents that I wanted to lead a life which did not demand me to crave for money or to constantly follow the thousands and millions who are already there and feel desperate about not being able to do anything or like some of them who at the fag end of their life would realize that they have not done anything significant for the very mankind they have been part of. My decision has been taken only execution is awaited.

But is this what I am doing something extra ordinary or is it something I choose not to be part of the mainstream section of society. Who am I to decide whether people who I have seen being part of this genre to be the ordinary or proclaim people who thoughts similar to mine to be the extra ordinary or people who have already done great things to be extra ordinary.

I think I have found what I want and hope to be there in sometime without having assumptions about people who don’t tread the road I do.