"Stop thinking about anything else right now; just pack your bags and go home. Or to a place that feels like home. Even if your wise friends advice you not to do so, and call it as running away from the realities of life, or label it as escapism. Do not pay heed to their suggestions. Just go home. Because home is the only reality that matters.
And home is not simply a place where you were born or grew up or where your folks are. Home is a place that should help you understand what heaven might feel like. It has to be a place where your worn out body receives comfort, a place where your broken heart feels alive, and where your distressed soul finds solace. It has to be a place that shields you from all things that rupture your inner peace. It has to be your refuge from all the pain and suffering that the world inflicts upon you. And it has to be a place that restores your strength and fire for all the new battles that life is going to put you through.
Home is also about people. People who are well aware of but have absolutely no interest in reminding you of your flaws or failures. People who find their lives incomplete without your presence and without whom you truly are alone. People who happily let their lives revolve around yours and willingly accommodate all your necessities, uncertainties or eccentricities. People who miss you dearly when you are gone, and who joyously celebrate your homecoming.
And home is about memories. Memories that warm your heart and make you believe that you have had a good life. But home is not only about memories of yesteryears. Home is also a place where you return to make new memories. It incites nostalgia not only for your past but also for things that haven’t yet happened, times that are yet to come and events that you are yet to experience.
So home is where you truly live. And I want you to go wherever you believe your home is. Go there and do not carry any baggage with you. As they say, travel light. There is no need to carry this burden of rights and wrongs or aspirations and rejections. And when you arrive, do not seek answers or any solutions. Like a child, let your mind remain pure and innocent. And try to seek peace and pleasure in whatever little or sufficient your home has to offer. Actively acknowledge and celebrate each and every moment of the time that you spend there. Let each and every experience of yours be filled with passion and excitement. Gaze at the sky and drink its blue, feel the sand and soak up its red, touch the light and shine in its gold.
And while you do this, I want you to do one more thing. Document it. Photograph, record, write, sketch, paint; whatever works for you, but document what you observe, feel and understand. Do not document with an intention to earn rewards from this experience. Because this experience in itself should be your true reward. Do not document to broadcast or exhibit. Because – believe it or not – no one really cares. And do not document to prove a point or to claim some sort of a victory over, what you describe as, your ‘inner demons’. Because this is not the end but just a beginning, a small step towards the larger goal that I want you to work for.
Document to recognize, document to appreciate, document to preserve.
And when you return, we will talk again. This conversation isn’t over yet."
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And home is not simply a place where you were born or grew up or where your folks are. Home is a place that should help you understand what heaven might feel like. It has to be a place where your worn out body receives comfort, a place where your broken heart feels alive, and where your distressed soul finds solace. It has to be a place that shields you from all things that rupture your inner peace. It has to be your refuge from all the pain and suffering that the world inflicts upon you. And it has to be a place that restores your strength and fire for all the new battles that life is going to put you through.
Home is also about people. People who are well aware of but have absolutely no interest in reminding you of your flaws or failures. People who find their lives incomplete without your presence and without whom you truly are alone. People who happily let their lives revolve around yours and willingly accommodate all your necessities, uncertainties or eccentricities. People who miss you dearly when you are gone, and who joyously celebrate your homecoming.
And home is about memories. Memories that warm your heart and make you believe that you have had a good life. But home is not only about memories of yesteryears. Home is also a place where you return to make new memories. It incites nostalgia not only for your past but also for things that haven’t yet happened, times that are yet to come and events that you are yet to experience.
So home is where you truly live. And I want you to go wherever you believe your home is. Go there and do not carry any baggage with you. As they say, travel light. There is no need to carry this burden of rights and wrongs or aspirations and rejections. And when you arrive, do not seek answers or any solutions. Like a child, let your mind remain pure and innocent. And try to seek peace and pleasure in whatever little or sufficient your home has to offer. Actively acknowledge and celebrate each and every moment of the time that you spend there. Let each and every experience of yours be filled with passion and excitement. Gaze at the sky and drink its blue, feel the sand and soak up its red, touch the light and shine in its gold.
And while you do this, I want you to do one more thing. Document it. Photograph, record, write, sketch, paint; whatever works for you, but document what you observe, feel and understand. Do not document with an intention to earn rewards from this experience. Because this experience in itself should be your true reward. Do not document to broadcast or exhibit. Because – believe it or not – no one really cares. And do not document to prove a point or to claim some sort of a victory over, what you describe as, your ‘inner demons’. Because this is not the end but just a beginning, a small step towards the larger goal that I want you to work for.
Document to recognize, document to appreciate, document to preserve.
And when you return, we will talk again. This conversation isn’t over yet."
-------------
The ritual of Sandhya Puja. Beliatore, India. 2015.
The festival of Durga Puja. Barjora, India. 2015.
During the festival of Durga Puja. Barjora, India. 2015.
During the festival of Durga Puja. Barjora, India. 2015.
Sonamukhi, India. 2015.
The Durga Temple. Barjora, India. 2015.
An evening recital of music and poetry. Sonamukhi, India. 2015
During the festival of Durga Puja. Barjora, India. 2015.
A gaye holud ceremony prior to a marriage. Durgapur, India. 2015.
Shantiniketan, India. 2015.
Barjora, India. 2015.
Barjora, India. 2015.
During a marriage ceremony. Durgapur, India. 2015.
During the festival of Durga Puja. Barjora, India. 2015.
A mother and her child. Ahmedabad, India. 2016.
New Delhi, India. 2016.
Bankura, India. 2015.
Morning at a vegetable market. Barjora, India. 2015.
Sisters. Sonamukhi, India. 2015.
Barjora, India. 2015.
Barjora, India. 2015.
Barjora, India. 2015.
Barjora, India. 2015.
At the hospital before a surgery. New Delhi, India. 2015.
At a Shiva Temple. Barjora, India. 2015.
Barjora, India. 2015.
Morning prayers at a temple. Barjora, India. 2015.
Near Durgapur Barrage. Durgapur, India. 2015.
Barjora, India. 2015.
During the festival of Durga Puja. Barjora, India. 2015.
The Elemental Conversations Within (I)
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