Communal Turmoil in Odisha

My recent article in Dharitri, the Odia daily (September 4, 2008), looks into the social-psychology of the large-scale violence in Odisha, following the murder of a Hindu spiritual leader on August 23, 2008.

Cotton Pod . . . (Poem)

One day, the sight of a fully opened cotton pod moved me so much that I had to write this poem. I must give you a little background of this . . .

Being tired of the never ending journey of my artistic quest, once I found myself staring at a leaf-less tree, looking dry and dead, but somehow laden with little pods that looked like fruits. The state of the tree, bereft of leaves but still bearing fruits, spoke to my heart. I saw a reflection of myself in the tree. It gave me hope to struggle on, to meet my destiny.

Several weeks after, almost miraculously, someone important to me brought me a cotton pod that was fully open, with the fluffy stuff almost gushing out of it. It was also a time when a lot of nice things were happening to me in respect of my artistic work. Holding the cotton pod in hand, I felt a strong vibration in me. It was an enormously pleasant and reassuring feeling. It was like the end of a long quest . . . a sense of arrival . . . a sense of joy! Instantly, I picked up a pen and scribbled out this poem . . . in one breath . . .

Taekwondo Summer Camp, Bhubaneswar, May 5-10, 2008

I do Taekwondo. I am a member of the Taekwondo Federation of India (TFI). I have been in this process for 1 year now. I really like it as a sport. I usually practise with my Taekwondo friends. My coach is Mr Jaykrushna Parida--our JK Sir. He is a 3rd dan (degree) black-belt and also a national referee. I find him to be an effective coach and also a very friendly and caring person. He is never rude towards his students. He is often able to understand the feelings of a student. He seems to know if a student is emotionally strong or fragile. I am fortunate to have him as my coach. I think, parents can rest assured when their child is under JK Sir’s care.

Recently, I got an opportunity to join a Taekwondo camp. That was the 5th Taekwondo Summer Camp, organised by the Bhubaneswar Taekwondo Association (BTA) at Nalco Nagar, Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar, during May 5-10, 2008. It was the first time I was joining such a camp . . .

For the camp, our special coach was Mr B. L. N. Murthy, from Bangalore (officially, Bengaluru). He is a black-belt Indian coach and an international player. He was the silver medallist in the 8th South Asian Games at Kathmandu. He was a great coach. I liked his coaching style, his discipline, his technique, and his advice. He was very strict during the sessions; but very friendly afterwards. Some of our campers were unpunctual and neglectful in some ways. Our coach was rather unforgiving in meting out punishments. Though I had not been punished, I was feeling somewhat hurt and indignant to see the process of his punishments. In the end, his punishments had a good effect--punctuality and seriousness did improve in the camp. Perhaps, this was because of his love and affection for us, which I could see in his eyes on many occasions.

I really appreciate the whole concept of the camp and its effective execution. I really enjoyed the camp atmosphere. We were about 50 participants. Everybody was nice to me. Many of them were quite friendly. I did not realise how fast the 6 days flew. Despite the enormous physical strain, the camp had also created a joyful atmosphere. Thanks to the coach and the other campers, I learnt a lot from this experience. I have become a little more punctual, a little more patient, and a lot more self-confident. If the opportunity ever comes, I shall gladly join such a camp again.

Thank you JK Sir and Mr Murthy!

I am doing this course . . .

Currently I am doing an acting course at the IMS Centre for Communication Studies, Bhubaneswar. The course is being offered in collaboration with Star Plus TV channel, Orissa Television (OTV), and Dharitri, the Oriya newspaper.

These are news items that appeared in Dharitri (on May 11 and 15, 2008), reporting on the inauguration of the course. The underlined part quotes me as saying, "I have not come here to become a hero overnight. I only have a strong desire to learn. I hope to grow as a complete artist with the inputs received from the course."

As you can see, my expression "complete artist" (poornaanga kalaakaara) has been used in the title of one of the news reports. Wow!

My Trekking Stories

I love trekking. In fact, I am now a member of the Youth Hostels Association of India (YHAI) and Orissa Outdoors. But, it is a cultivated interest. It all started in 2006, when my first opportunity came. I was not so excited about it then. At that time I had some free time at my disposal. I said, “Let’s give it a try.” So I went ahead and took the risk to join that trekking programme, in the company of my alter ego—DP, who happens to be a trekking enthusiast. With some anxiety in my mind, being quite unsure of what is in store for me, we reached a small village called Shivalingapuram (in Andhra Pradesh), which was where the base camp for the Araku Valley trekking was set up. The event was organised by YHAI. It was to be my first trekking experience.

We had to stay in the base camp for 2 nights. I was feeling a little cut-off, somewhat diffident in the large gathering, not finding anyone who would understand my mother tongue. I was getting bored. But when the actual walking through the jungles and mountains started, I began to feel better. There was peace everywhere. Our group had bonded as a family—a fabulous happy family. I could mix with others using some Hindi and English. I was able to make friendship with some boys and girls. Actually, I became a celebrity in the group, due to my dramatic skills. I also became more self-confident and more transparent in the process.

I got an opportunity to feel the nature, experience the jungle, and drink from mountain streams. Everybody in our group was friendly and helpful. But eventually all these came to an end after 8 days. We left the camp and returned home. But the experience stayed with me. I had developed a distinct liking for trekking. So without any further delay, I became a life member of YHAI and prepared for another trekking expedition.

The next opportunity came in 2007. I joined the Mizoram Trekking and Caving Expedition, again organised by YHAI. When I stepped into Aizawl, the capital city of Mizoram, I was astonished to see the beauty of Mizoram—The Songbird of the North East. The blue-green mountains were calling out, “Hello actor.amaresh! This is the right place for you.” I found Mizo boys very handsome and the girls, extra beautiful. It so happened that I and my trekking companion DP had to trek in a small group, with only four local boys. We crossed several villages and met many local people on the way. It was a great chance to know about the Mizo culture, despite the language problem—we spoke no Mizo and the locals knew little English. Still, I enjoyed the whole experience so much.

Finally I would like to say that trekking has changed my life. I have become lighter inside. Even my thoughts seem to have been liberated, beyond their earlier confines. For this, I must thank DP, my other trekking friends, and of course YHAI.

Hanuman Chalisa--Oriya Translation

Yes! I have finished this translation work. It was a very interesting project for me. I got so many new thoughts and ideas. Also I had to face some conceptual problems and some technical difficulties while doing this work. But the help and the inspiration from DP, made it easy. So finally I became able to do this kind of holy, spiritual work of Lord Hanuman. Really I am very very happy--I can find peace--doing this. I want to offer my namaskar to Lord Hanuman and say thanks to DP.

Hanuman Chalisa

Now I am translating Hanuman Chalisa into Oriya.