Wednesday, June 19, 2013

'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag'

Children run at full pace to keep up with a fast moving truck to steal Coal from a Government truck transporting Coal  from a  mine at Dhanbad, 2010 -     Photo Subhash Sharma.


Soon to be released Bollywood movie 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag' -  is reportedly based on legendary 'Flying Sikh' - Indian Olympian and super sprinter 'Milkha Singh' who could run as if there was no tomorrow.


I encountered sprinters of a different kind who too would run for  sheer life to steal coal or go hungry...literally as their daily existence depended on that....Guess if these children were instead put in a athletic school will they not make super runners ? In an irony of sorts, India's sport's  talent, be it in running, hockey or archery comes from the hinterland  where sheer hardships and often times desperation trains and hardens  them.

....On my asking  how they could run so fast  one of these boys remarked  : 'Jab G... pe  Polisiya Daanda  padne kar darr lagta hai... toh apne aap aag ki tarah bhagna aa jaata hai ' as they burst out laughing..



Says  Rakeysh Omprakash  Mehra , the director of the movie Bhaag Milkha Bhaag , “The 1st race Milkha Singh ran was for a glass of milk! His first race was cross-country; he didn't even know what a cross country race was. But they said the first ten are going to get a glass of milk as their diet and will be selected for the army training team, and he ran for that.”  Strange similarities here.






Sunday, June 16, 2013

Walk The World !


Early Monday morning, came across this small group of Jain Sadhavis walking. I just stood there & watched them walk. Peacefully,steadily,definitely. Minimum baggage....no mobile, no tablet, no wallet, no ego. 

The Jain holy-men and women are known to walk from one place to another,they never take a bus or a car but walk.walk.walk.Many times barefoot. They prefer to be constantly on the move and don't settle in one place. Aka home. Who needs a home when the entire world is yours or some might philosophize that  even if you can own everything nothing will belong  to you...you just have the journey....

The best way to experience the world, to assimilate,  is to Walk; All the Greats of the world have walked endlessly from the Buddha to the Mahatma. 

When was the last time you WALKED , not to your office , or to the store or for some work but to NOWHERE...aimlessly...not wanting to reach anywhere but enjoying the 'now'. 

Go take a walk... you'll discover the world....maybe 'yourself' too....