Watching films has always been a treat to MIND and not just eyes. Cinema is an art, and there are some outstanding films with superb story and treatment that really gives your time a worth. I have been fortunate enough to have watched some of such films with meaning & fun belonging to various genres such as drama, true story, action, suspense, thriller, horror, romance, humor etc.

Below is a list of films that I have watched over the period of last few years. I am sharing this list for two reasons, 1. for personal archiving purpose and 2. for those who are passionate about watching films, this list can be of some use.

P.S.: After each film name I have given the year of its release into bracket ().

List of English films I have watched and Liked

1. The Godfather trilogy
2. Pulp Fiction (1994)
3. Schindler’s List (1993)
4. The Dark Knight (2008)
5. Fight Club (1999)
6. The Usual Suspects (1995)
7. The Matrix (1999)
8. Se7sen (1995)
9. American Beauty (1999)
10. What Women Want (2000)
11. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
12. The Good will hunting (1997)
13. Cast Away (2000)
14. Forrest Gump (1994)
15. Saving Prviate Ryan (1998)
16. Paranorma Activity (all three parts)
17. The Departed (2006)
18. The Inception (2010)
19. Eternal Sunshine of a spotless mind (2004)
20. The prestige (2006)
21. Braveheart (1995)
22. The Green mile (1999)
23. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
24. The Sixth sense (1999)
25. The Village (2004)
26. The Happening (2008)
27. Signs (2002)
28. The Graduate (1967)
29. Twelve Monkeys (1995)
30. Into the wild (2007)
31. The Exorcist (1973)
32. Mystic River (2003)
33. The Polar Express (2004)
34. Angels & Demons (2009)
35. The Terminal (2004)
36. The Beach (2000)
37. Catch Me If you Can (2002)
38. Road to Perdition (2002)
39. American Gangster (2007)
40. Man on Fire (2004)
41. Lost in Translation (2003)
42. Wong Kar Wai – In the Mood for Love
43. Lost Highway (1997)
44. Kissed (1996)
45. Tsotsi (2005)
46. Gladiator (2000)
47. Body of Lies (2008)
48. 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
49. Proof of Life (2000)
50. 8 Mile (2002)
51. The Abyss (1989)
52. The English Patient (1996)
53. Deja Vu (2006)
54. The Bone Collector (1999)
55. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
56. Predators (2010)
57. The Book of Eli (2010)
58. Scent of a Woman (1992)
59. Nobody’s Fool (1994)
60. Horrible Bosses (2011)
61. Hanna (2011)
62. Insidious (I) (2010)
63. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
64. The Passion of the Christ (2004)
65. Samsara (2001)
66. Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
67. Ocean’s Twelve (2004)
68. Ocean’s Thirteen (2007)
69. The A-Team (2010)
70. The Kings Speech (2010)
71. The Kids Are All Right (2010)
72. Rabbit Hole (2010)
73. The Astronaut’s Wife (1999)
74. The Italian Job (2003)
75. Monster (2003)
76. The Score (2001)
77. Payback (1999)
78. 300 (2006)
79. 1408 (2007)
80. Ace Ventura – Pet Detective (1994)
81. Ace Ventura 2 – When Nature Calls (1995)
82. Defiance(2008)
83. Limitless (2011)
84. Midnight Express
85. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
86. Righteous Kill (2008)
87. Shutter Island (2010)
88. Up in the Air (2009)
89. 21 Grams (2003)
90. Malena (2000)
91. Taking Lives (2004)
92. Taxi Driver(1976)
93. The Good, the Bad and The Ugly (1966)
94. Yes Man (2008)
95. Valley of Flowers (2006)
96. The Unborn (2009)
97. The Number 23 (2007)
98. Bruce Almighty (2003)
99. The Sting (1973)
100. The Patriot (2000)
101. The Hurt Locker (2008)
102. 127 Hours (2010)
103. Munich (2005)
104. Avatar (2009)
105. Black Hawk Down (2011)
106. Blood Diamond (2006)
107. The Aviator (2004)
108. Enemy at the Gates (2001)
109. Up (2009)
110. Phone Booth (2002)
111. The Social Network (2010)
112. Apocalypto (2006)
113. The Game (1997)
114. The Ghost and The Darkness (1996)
115. Troy (2004)
116. About Schmidt (2002)
117. Michael Clayton (2007)
118. The Bucket List (2007)
119. Valkyrie (2008)
120. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)
121. Memento (2000)
122. Revolutionary Road (2008)
123. Seabiscuit (2003)
124. The Machinist (2004)
125. Gandhi (1982)
126. Amélie (2001)
127. Unbreakable (2000)
128. Ice Age (2002)
129. Babel (2006)
130. Dances with Wolves (1990)
131. No Country for old Men (2007)

You can also share your favorite films too here below as comment, for my ‘To be watched’ film list.

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Picture taken when he was in award ceremony when his film 'My best Friend' won Best Digital Film award among all international and national entries.

Rihaan Patel is an aspiring film maker, who has made several short films and has won several awards. He is based at Ahmedabad, India. A specialist of VFX – aka Visual Effects – he is dedicated to bring more of his talent in form of short films and documentaries. SpeakBindas does interview him, where he discusses some of the interesting elements related to filed he is creatively dedicated to. Read on.

Interview

Q.: Rihaan, What inspired you towards the field cinema?

Ans.: My ideas come with images and sounds. For me, cinema is the most appropriate medium to communicate. I find pleasure in creativity so cinema became a way of my life.

Q.: On your Youtube channel, I have seen some of the amazing clips where you have demonstrated the use of VFX, for instance one where you show a person walking on a foreign road which infact is shot in India. My question to you is that, according to you what is the future prospective for a VFX specialist in India and abroad? Should youth be interested in this arena, can they have a good career too in addition to satisfying the creativity? What are the options that you see for an enthusiast person interested in a career in VFX. Please elaborate details on this.

Ans.: Visual Effect became need of film industry. Many things are physically impossible to shoot on film set. So in that scenario, VFX people are hired to fake it in such a way that it looks real. VFX work should never be visible on screen. VFX known as an invisible art. VFX people are in demand whether they are in India or abroad. Now days filmmakers are becoming more quality conscious. In Indian film industry, VFX is employed in films like Ra.One, Robot, Singham, Paheli, 3 Idiot. So day-by-day, we need more VFX professionals to fulfill the need. Ex.. 10 second long shot can take up to 15 days to complete. So just think how slowly the process is? What would happen to 2-hours of feature film? Avatar took 10 year to complete. If somebody is creative and want to become VFX artist then he/she should go for vfx composting, layout artist, color correction etc. But for start, knowledge of cinema is very important. They should know that how final shot should look like..

Q.: There is one interesting thing that those friends would like to know who are good with story-telling, concept making but fail at putting it in form of a visual format, i.e. a short film. Based on your experiences so far, can you give some practical guideline which can help them bridge the gap between ‘thinking it’ and ‘doing it’?

Ans.: Thinking it and Doing it.. There is one gap between them called Communication Gap. Story-writer write down the story in linier format. Screenplay writer writes for Screen. Director has a vision of that screenplay and he discusses it with actors, cinematographer, art director, and costumer. But here, form of discussion is very important. It should not verbal but visual. Film is by design not by chance. Every decision should have artistic and technical justification, for that, exposure of cinema is important. Filmmaker should watch all genre of film whether he/she like it or dislike it, for their own knowledge.

Director should share his idea with storyboarding and concept art. This is called pre-visualization. It helps other to understand his vision easily. Filmmaking is just not shooting. Filmmaking is divided into three major parts – Pre Production, production and Post-production. Each of them is part of FILMMAKING, which should not be underestimated. If any part is weak then make it stronger.

Q.: These days, film making is just another business. I am talking about full length films, where we know that films are made in such a way that it should be liked by the majority of people – popular star cast, songs, beautiful locations, story etc.. And, we also see that some of the most talented films do not even reach to people due to lack of finance needed for publicity. So money is important, even to distribute the creativity. In such a time, can you discuss the potential of earning money through a short film?

Ans.: If somebody know complete workflow of short film making then they can earn money by doing marketing videos, Television commercials, internet videos, live events. Doing freelance writing, directing, editing, cinematography, production manager are add-ons in part of earning.

Q.: Cinema is an art. And for every artist, his creation is the return. How has been your experience of making short films, from starting to so far?

Ans.: Process of short film making taught me everything. How to work in limited resources. I had to work in limited fund provided by parents. So I could not afford expensive camera, trolley, crane, lights. Everything that I accomplished was being in limited resource and fund. It was difficult. So I made my own trolley and crane. I used that trolley in Dust of Orphan. After getting award for ‘Dust of Orphan’ my father gave me extra fund to hire professional Crane and set designing unit. With help from him, I made The Burial of Daughters. I won awards and recognition for that film. I spent lot of time behind short filmmaking and watching movies. I hardly gave time for social life. Film became my world.

In ‘Shreemad Bhagvat Geeta’ Lord Krishna has said “Keep doing ‘Karma’, don’t expect result’. This is what I did; I kept sharpening my skills for filmmaking.

Q.: So far, I have watched your three short films, viz Dust of Orphan, The Burial of Daughters, and Champal. I must say that, you can represent the human values very well in form of visual treatment. Like in Dust of Orphan, a story of an orphan girl is delivered, in The Burial of Daughters, depiction of India’s one of the shameful mindsets is presented while in Champal – it’s about poverty. Is there any reason behind, particularly choosing the subjects with social message & sadness?

Ans.: Social reformation is the reason behind selecting such a concept. I didn’t feel good about what happened with orphan girl in ‘Dust of Orphan’, girl child in ‘The Burial of Daughters’ and consequences of greediness in ‘Champal’. All those things dazzled me and made me to think. My preference is to work on genre like Epic, Fantasy, Adventure, War, and Romantic Drama.

Q.: Are you inspired by any personalities from the Cinema filed?

I’m influenced by film personalities like Christopher Nolan, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Ashutosh Gowariker, Ridley Scott, Peter Jackson & Michale Bay.

Q.: Which are your favorite films?

Godfather Trilogy, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Inception, Schindler’s List, Lagaan, Forrest Gump, Transformers, Kingdom of Heaven.

Q.: What are your future projects?

Ans.: Currently I’m doing research for screenplay of adventure film. Along with it, I’m supervising VFX for one feature film. And I’m involved with various projects of motion graphics and visual effects with my company New Age Cinema.

Q.: How can someone contact you?

Ans.: You can get in touch with me through my website: www.rihaanpatel.com.

Join me on facebook: www.facebook.com/rihaanpatel

We share lot content about world cinema on www.facebook.com/newagecinemaofficial

You can watch his creations at below links:

1. Dust of Orphan: http://www.thirteen.org/sites/reel13/shorts/short-dust-of-orphan/1280/
2. The Buria of Daughters: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2881631287354
3. Life Colors Purity: http://vimeo.com/24462294
4. Champal: http://www.freewaymotionworks.com/afp/watch/editing.html
5. Fading Yellow: http://vimeo.com/31465015
6. Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/rp176

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Shubham Choudhary

Shubham Choudhary, a writer, a poet, a blogger and an aspiring author. And well, something beyond that too. Now those “some” things comprise of a geeky engineer who studied a lot to get through the so called toughest competitions in the world known as JEE and AIEEE, an aspiring RJ who has won many awards for the same and a budding entrepreneur.

Interview

As per your view, who do you think Shubham Choudhary is?

Just another guy, who probably has too much to say to the world. Is totally mad! Who does what his heart says and who lives every moment to the fullest.

Your blog is getting quite big hits and your articles are also being published on reputed sites, so was this talent of writing you had right from the beginning or you figured this out lately? And when did you realize that you should go for it?

Ans:   If we talk about the start, well I used to take deep interest even in the articles I wrote in my English exams in the eighth grade. But I never thought I would write on any bigger level. It all started when I joined TheWittyShit.com as a wit-maker, and then around six months back, inspired by some prolific blogger friends and having a lot of time to do nothing, I started my blog ABugInMyMind. I never publicized it, but once people started noticing it, just like everyone else, I also started loving the appreciation and then the things just kept getting better.

If you had to pick one of your favourite article/poem, out of the hundreds you wrote, which one would that be? And why?

Ans: Without being idealistic, I guess the “5 questions guys can’t answer” was one post that I enjoyed the most while writing. In poems, I would choose “I miss my childhood”. Both relate to me a lot, in different ways obviously.

Everyone gets inspired from something/someone, what is your inspiration?

Ans: I think everyone in the world has something to inspire you. I learned how to smile while you struggle from my father, how to forgive from my mother, optimism from my sister. Among the general names everyone takes, Sachin Tendulkar is the person from whom I practically learnt actions speak louder than words.

One of your very popular quotes on a website was “if your to be wife mistook you for a waiter, how would you reply?” and you posted that “no problem ma’am saari umar toh aap hi ko order dene hain”
so do you really believe like that or was it 2 get some girl likes?

Ans: I guess girls would be reading this interview so yes I do think that. Ha ha, actually yes, I think in a relationship, though everyone says equality must be there, but at the end of the day, girls are the leaders

Among guys of your age having a crush, dating etc. Are quite common, so is there someone whom you would like to propose this valentine? And only yes or no won’t work.

Ans: You had to say the last line didn’t you? Yes, crushes are common, I am lucky to have had a few myself, and luckier to have overcome them. But I have never been in a relationship. And it’s not that I am waiting for that perfect person, but maybe I am not that perfect person myself.

You didn’t answer about the valentine?

Ans: oh you noticed that! No. I would rather celebrate the teddy and chocolate day before that.

So are you inspired from some TV character, I see a lot of Barney Stinson ideology in your answers!?

Ans: A lot. Barney Stinson and Chandler Bing, two characters that have really changed the way I think. Being inspired from Chandler, I don’t mind when someone criticizes or insults me, being inspired from Barney, I can easily revert back in the same way to that person without him knowing that.

Moving to a different topic, with all these young authors gaining popularity these hands, you also plan to go on something like that or will you b confining yourself 2 articles/blogs only?

Ans: Confining myself, no way. I am nothing right now with like a thousand better writers than me in my own circle. In fact, I am presently working on a story which someday I would like to see as a novel, nothing planned though.

You are working with a start-up called TalEx, what is it about n what’s your role in it?

Ans: TalEx, it’s a start up by my friends at IIT Hyderabad later on joined by me. We basically connect the young talents to the people who need them. If you’re a photographer, writer, designer or anything else, and don’t know where to showcase your talent, TalEx is there for you. I am currently managing the operations part of the company, with many of the big names like Spykar and Snapdeal associated with us.

So how does it feel to be an entrepreneur, an engineer, a writer, a blogger, an aspiring RJ and so much more? Isn’t it a little too much even for a multi tasker?

Ans: How can I say anything else but awesome! And yes, it is too much, and I am paying for it in terms of my semester results. But if I hadn’t done any of it, then even being a class topper wouldn’t have made me happy. Believe me, I used to study when I was in tenth

Apart from writing what do you like to do in your leisure time?

Ans: leisure time, what is that? Just kidding, I hardly get time to do anything else, but when I do, I dance like crazies. I am not a dancer, but generally it’s only me, my room and super loud speakers.

So do you see those bits of fame coming your way? Any fan mails you would like to tell us about?

Ans: Frankly, I am still wondering if I really deserved this interview. I have just started my journey as any of the things you mentioned above, but fan mails, yes a few. Although I can tell you about the first hate comment on my blog which said “Stupid post” and a 30 lines after that. I actually felt good, because that was the first time I actually came to know how it feels to be criticized!

Rapid Fire:

Your passion:

Writing, and engineering (though I am not very good at both)

Your love:

Life!

One thing you can’t stand:

Excuses.

One thing you’re always ready for:

Struggles, challenges and pizza.

One quality that makes you different:

Optimism and a smile in every situation.

One thing that you want to change about yourself:

Laziness. (only if there was some potion that could make me disciplined and punctual).

Favourite Author:

I don’t read that much. But Cecelia Ahern is my favourite.

Favourite Actor/actress:

Gerard butler/Scarlet Johansson.

And lastly, five years from now, where do you see yourself. ?

Ans: Big question, I can’t say. But wherever I will be, I will be doing something that pleases my heart and not just makes money. (Though it has to make money too )

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Reading books is one of the ways to really understand who you are as well as who you are not. It brings the entire new world in front of you, and sometimes reflects what is inside you. Few things that I myself have observed which I consider as the important factors of reading books are:

It provides you with the direction

Sometimes we feel stuck and can not take appropriate decision to move ahead in our life. Sometimes we feel that, this is it, no further going, when the matter of the fact is that, the way would be right ahead of us, but we would blind about it. In such a case, books play the part of a torch which sheds the light upon the darkness and shows us the right way. Such cases happen mostly during reading books about self-help. My experiences tell me that, I have indeed found some insight towards my future after I read books like The Secret(Rhonda Byrne), The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari(Robin Sharma) and The Alchemist(Paulo Coelho). May be entire books is not meant for you, but some part, some page, some para is indeed for you which opens up the lock you were finding the key for, for a long time, and puts you in the direction of your dreams and goals.

It increases your thinking capacity

The more you read, the food your mind eats! So to say, your thinking ability increases in such a way that, you become more aware about your words when you discuss with others. Sometimes, you become the center attention of a group where you do participate in the ongoing conversation. This happens due to the increased thinking you received from reading books.

It also kills insomnia!

Normally, it is said that the books that we don’t like gets us sleep! My experience is just opposite. The books that I don’t like, I don’t read at all! But the books that I like, and which I read during the night when I’m physically tired, it helps me get sound sleep, indeed. It’s like as I like reading some particular book, I don’t feel like leaving it unfinished but then my body is answering me with the tiredness, so two things do collide with each other – interest in book and the tiredness – and ultimately the tiredness win, and I do get to sleep. Try it, but of course with the book you like reading.

It clears out the confusion

Sometimes, when you’re stuck with some situation and not sure how to move ahead, and you’re in utter confusion about taking any decision, as no solutions seems available, this is when you find something related to your situation while reading the book, and you feel lie “Voila, this is it. This is what I was looking for”. And then you act upon it, which solves your confusion. For example, while reading The Alchemist, you get to know that the real treasure is within you, and you happen to find out your skills, your passion that you had never realized earlier, though they were there. This is when the life seems easy and you get out of the confusions and move ahead with clarity in mind.

Affirmation to own thoughts & belief

Have you ever felt that in some matters, you differ from the people & society around you? You do feel that you’re right though you are the only one who thinks in a particular way, but then you also wonder & worry about the fact that how come you can be right when so many others are thinking just the opposite?! This is when you read some book of some integrity or of some well-known author which reflects to your thinking & belief pattern, and you realize that yes you’re so right with your unique thinking and belief!

It helps you understand people’s psychology

An author would have read and studies a lot before writing any book, fiction or non-fiction, which reflects in his words. His knowledge & research of variety of things and people do reflect, which you get readymade. Of course, it’s not necessary that you do agree with everything is written there, but then you for sure get something as readymade which you would have never come to know otherwise. With this knowledge, you understand things which helps you understand some part of people’s psychology.

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Sometimes, after some period of time, we have to re-build our original personality, who we are in real, because time and situations do change us, and we can’t even realize it until we find ourself stuck up with the kind of person we are not, what we have become. There were times, when we were what we were, and then time comes when you are what others have made you, and you too are aware about it and still became it, as sometimes society rules over you, but then instead of giving such bullshit crap reasons of failure, if we indeed realize this phenomenon, we should start regaining and recollecting broken pieces of our original existence, original personality, don’t you think so? I guess, I should start with myself first

Recently, I was given this thought by couple of old friends who knew me the way I am not at present in totality. They said that, they found me more adjustable kind of guy who I am not in my natural way. This made me think about it for a while and I found out that they are so damn right!

I mean, I never used to be kind of person who would give a damn to a thing he doesn’t like. I mean, my communication and way of approach was direct, without any miscommunication nor with the communication to make others feel good or so, but then, as I grew (for that matter, grew up-side down), I adopted the habit of living for others, I mean, living the way I felt that they would accept me. Fuck! This is not how I used to be, and why the hell anyone should be?

After all, no matter what we do, or what we don’t do, we all got one life. And if at the end of it, I get to feel that oh! shit, I didn’t do it regardless I wanted to or say I feel that oh! shit I did it even though I didn’t want to, how shitty I would feel then?!!

Life is meant to be the way you want it to be, live. Every moment counts. And that every moment is full of existence, full of approvals from your side because that’s your fucking life. You shouldn’t live it to make others happy all the time, by killing your original personality.

And I don’t want to blame others here for having such change in our life. It’s just us who are responsible for anything and everything related to our life. No escaping or crying reasons, coz nobody will kill you if you don’t do something, utmost, they would hate you or stop communication if they find it so irritating or whatever, but then, it’s you, who should think twice whether it’s for you or not?

I remember, in early days, my communication style, writing style was full of fun, coz while used to write, I never used to think how would others feel. And you know what? Others used to enjoy it as well. Then, after as I felt that I am somewhat known among some people, while I was writing, the thinking also started that how would they feel about it? Now, this gives me creeps. I mean, if I’m writing, why the hell should I bother in advance how would they feel? And hence, the writing found a different shape, which was not original.

But having said this, and having realized this I am on the verge of recollecting all those broke pieces of my original personality, that I used to be, that I used to like about myself. Now, I rock – to myself.

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Finding a treasure is indeed an amazing experience for a treasure hunter, such is the joy of a writer of finding his own article which he had written few years back, and by now totally forgot about it. Such a case happened with me. I happened to find out below article titled “A Discrete Community” which I had written in the year 2005, six years back!! Voila! I am not surprised for the reason I found it out, but I am surprised for the reason that my thoughts were so similar with what I still have for some concepts. The below article talks about the ‘commune’ concept, where like-minded people live totally in absence of the worldly matters, situated at far away place, out of touch of humanity. You must now remember the film “The Beach” too, which also talks about such a theme.

More to read, in the below article itself.

Image courtesy

A Discrete Community

I often imagine about such a discrete community which is situated far from the human populated land, situated somewhere in the mid of jungle or on a far away situated island, totally dependent on natural resources, with no material facilities at all, living their life by making use of natural resources as much as possible.

In the background of such community I see that all the people of this community are master in one particular field like one is good at cooking, someone at collecting woods for generating fire, someone master at building huts or small houses of woods to live in, someone strong enough to fetch the drinking water from the near by river, someone good at fishing (for food of course for non-veg lovers) where someone good at farming the needful vegetables and fruits.

But in this community there no one called the ‘Boss’ or ‘leader’, all are masters of their own existence, no slavery at all, but still deeply attached with each other with emotions, without thinking about the outside world, enjoying their life totally with nature, chanting prayers in the evening, singing songs by making a camp-fire at night with the company of stars in the wild black starry sky, going for swimming in the near by beach together, enjoying the waterfalls, climbing the mountains situated on the island or jungle alone or in group, revealing the truth of jungle or island and doing everything that can be done without harming anyone either in the community or in the jungle or let’s say by doing nothing at all!

I know this wouldn’t be an easy life to lead, obstacles will arise, have to struggle a lot in the beginning to associate ourselves with nature, learning its signs and basics of how it works, building the community place, arranging for daily life resources, mostly food, drinking water and accommodation, but with total dedication all this can happen in real.

So what would be the first step for making this community a reality? The first step would be a search for such perfect place which is situated in a lonely place, out of reach of other humans. We would also need to see as if the local Government doesn’t put its feet in the way being an obstacle in this dream of us. This would be the most difficult task in making this community. I wonder we can find such a place either in Africa or in Antarctica. You can suggest any other place in other continent if you know. Once we clear this first step, the rest of the things would come its way, of course they won’t be easy either as nothing is easy in the beginning, but as I said, provided sufficient devotion and dedication it can be achieved.

How many of you desire to participate in this community and why? How many of you have imagined about such lonely life style already? If you have imagined so earlier, what is it you see that you’ve mastery upon? I mean how you can contribute in lessening the daily struggles of this community, like are you good at cooking, fishing, fetching water, building the wooden dens or what? What more inputs you need to add to my above thoughts? You feel some of my thoughts are not as they should be? If yes, which are they? And what do you suggest in place of them and why? Do you know any such place where we can build such community?

This is just the beginning in my thought process, yet a lot more to come in this subject, but first let me know your thoughts too on this subject so as we can proceed further in the world of fantasies and imagination.

——

Ok, so if you have had strength to read till here, I first congratulate you for doing so . I am sure that some of you might find this thought of mine as lunatic, but then so called lunatics are known to have made a difference in the history of mankind. I am not sure after six years of writing this article, about really having such a permanent commune but I am damn sure about having such a place where like-minded people get-to-gather and live for a week or weekend without any material thing which becomes hurdle in our existence. So to say, of course, it doesn’t mean we don’t even wear material clothes, we do, but then, it depends!

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Gulabdan Barot

Some artists are popular for one of their creations which becomes their identity. Such is one popular joke by Gulabdan Barot which has become his identity in major. That joke is titled as “Jaamin Jadta Nathi”. One day while surfing the television, I came across a jokes program where I saw Gulabdan Barot for the very first time. And as he started sharing the amazing joke about Jaamin Jadta Nathi, I couldn’t move from where I was sitting. It was full of humor.

Video Interview of Gulabdan Barot

Gulabdan Barot is of course a popular humorist, but his creativity is spread in other fields too such as writing, history and poems. One of the said best thing about him is that his most of the creations are new and self-developed. He find humor from routine daily life.

Honestly speaking, when I went to interview him, I had no much idea about other parts of his personality, i.e. he is a very good poet. Couple of poems he has recited during this interview, which indeed are full of wisdom. Some of them are full of humor too. His poem about Rajkot is very much appreciated by other humorists too.

One of the things that I found very interesting about him is that, he is very much good with meanings of words which are spoken in routine language, but most of the people are not aware about its meaning. He also shared couple of stories where he mentioned the reasons behind blind-mythological rituals that we follow, without any understanding about it, such as he talks about why do people offer oil to lord Hanuman? Rather, his message was that we shouldn’t be doing it. He has given clear-cut explanation about the same too.

He is also writing a book where in which he talks about the sadhu jagat – saint realm combined with information about different religions and hindu sects. In this interview, you will get to hear him giving never before heard information about our own culture and religion. His study of history and religion is indeed appreciable.

Being an artist, a humorist, he has visited some foreign countries too. I was inspired to ask him about how has been the response to his program by Guajratis living in other countries. He shares his feelings about the same in this interview.

Being a retired forest officer, he is a wildlife lover.

This is one of the interview that I enjoyed very much. I am sure that, this effort will feel your time with happiness. Go ahead, watch it.

In conversation with Gulabdan Barot

To organize his program, contact

Cell: +91 97245 00727 (Rajkot, Gujarat, India)
Email: gulabdan.barot@gmail.com

———-

I am thankful to Jaydeep Maniar, a friend and an active reader of SpeakBindas for suggesting Gulabdan Barot’s name for an interview.

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Girnar mountain range

About Girnar Parikrama

Girnar is very famous mountain in Gujarat. In fact, it’s a mountain range. Every year, on the occasion of Dev Diwali (which falls after 15 days of Diwali festival) people from different parts of Gujarat participate in the Parikrama (pilgrimage walk circling the mountain Girnar). The length of this parikrama is 36 kilometres.

Mountain Girnar

My experience

I left from city Rajkot on a fine morning of Saturday, i.e. November 5, 2011. Reached to Junagadh city at 10:30. Straight away went to visit Madhavanandji, a saint living at Brahmeshwar Ashram near Damodarkund. After having some conversation, followed by Prasadam, I started my pilgrimage walk at 12:00 noon.

At the entrance, all what I could see was people, people and lots of people all around me. Of course, it had to be that way, as every year lacks of people do come for parikrama.

Young Nagabava

I had taken few things with me such as camera, water bottle, brush, light bedding, my books, cap, extra pair of clothes, extra pair of footwear and I guess that’s it. Just when I had started walking I noticed a Nagabava sitting at the side of the path. Out of curiosity (and that’s my normal nature), I went to meet him. He was circled by few other people too, with whom he was exchanging his Chalam (a special kind of smoking instrument). He seemed very young (later during conversation, he said he just 25 years old). He asked me sit beside him as he saw me observing him. So I went. He asked me few common things such as where do I come from etc. During our conversation he said that he had taken sanyas right from his childhood and then after he kept moving from place to place. I asked about his Guru and fortunately I knew about him – Indra Bharathiji, who happens to have a very big ashram in Junagadh. In fact, I haven’t met him but have met his Gurubhai Ishwar Bharathiji, who has an ashram in Sasan and now taking care of his Guru Prem Bharathi’s Ashram at Ghantvad village near Kodinar. So, there was not much conversation with this Nagabava for couple of reasons that I was a bit in hurry to go ahead and may be I didn’t sense anything interesting in him.

The first halt of this parikrama is known as Jinabava ni Madhi, which is around 10 kilometres from the inception point. After walking to couple of kilometres, I observed another sadhu standing with support of a swing kind of instrument which was tied with a tree nearby. He was a bit aside from the path, so not much people were around him. I felt some sense to see him so I went to him and uttered “Aum Namo Narayan” (which is the signage namaskar you do when you meet a sadhu). He reciprocated and thus started our small conversation. I came to know from him that he has his ashram near Khambha of Amreli district. His name is Mahant Shivsharangirji. The unique thing about him is that he is also known as Khadeshwariji for his special kind of worshiping by taking a religious oath to never sit down for fourteen years. This is why he was standing with the support of that swing. It had been five years since he has been following this oath, still more nine years to go. I gave him my third book “Turning Point”, and left to proceed further.

Khadeshwari ji

Ghodi

The word Ghodi is used in rural language for a small hill, rather for its path going up. The first Ghodi I experienced was towards the way to Jinabavani madhi. It indeed is tiresome as well pleaserious. As you go against the law of gravitation you do feel the lack of oxygen within you, but then you have hundreds of people ahead, behind and beside you climbing it. During the entire parikrama, I did cross such three Ghodis, the second of which was indeed memorable for two reasons, one I climbed it during nighttime and second it was the toughest of all, that toughest that at few points, I felt like I shouldn’t have come here! But then, when I crossed that negative feeling disappeared with the perspiration. I was amazed to see very old people (70+) side by side me climbing as well as young people with very small kids (2 years). It’s all about faith. This is the example what faith can do, if you have it in you.

I walked

I had started at 12 PM on Saturday and finished at 08:30 next morning, so It took me 20:30 hours to finish the parikrama, out of which I had taken three hours for taking sleep for three hours at night from 10:30 to 1:30.

Food stuff

I drank water a lot. Then I had buttermilk, orange, coconut water, food at one of the Annakshetras (where food is provided for free), tea and gathiya.

I felt tired

As I said, I felt tired indeed while climbing up those Ghodis, but then I already knew I was going to go through them, so in overall, despite of them, or rather say due to these Ghodis, in overall, I enjoyed parikrama a lot.

Who accompanied me?

Me somwhere in jungle of Girnar

Generally, it is said that the real fun is doing parikrama in a group. But my experience tells me otherwise. I was all alone, rather say with myself. I enjoyed my company a lot. When I wanted to walk, I did walk, when wanted to rest, I did rest, when wanted to eat, I did eat, so in a way, I was the master of myself. But having said this, I believe that parikrama in a group too would be great, and I’m looking forward to it in the years to come.

What do I take from Girnar Parikrama?

Well, looking at the normal life I have, I find it very interesting with the tough physical experience I had from parikrama. Otherwise, I never walk even a kilometer a day, and here I walked thirty six kilometres, that too with inclusion of climbing hills. So, it was indeed fun at the end.

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Go here: Girnar Parikrama photos

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After having written two books viz SpeakBindas and Bindas Balpan, here comes my third book called ‘Turning Point’. This book talks about turning points of thirteen different people from different sectors. It talks about incident & situation which changed their life and gave a new turn to their existence. These thirteen people are:

1. Dilip Joshi (Actor, Mumbai)
2. Khodidas Patel (Industrialist, Rajkot)
3. Dr. Hansal Bhachech (Psychiatrist, Ahmedabad)
4. Dr. I. K. Vijliwala (Doctor, Bhavnagar)
5. Vasant Gadesha (Industrialist, Rajkot)
6. Vasantkumar Pathak (Educationalist, Rajkot)
7. Dr. Devendra Kalaria (Dentist, Rajkot)
8. Harnish Jani (Humorist, USA)
9. D. V. Mehta (Educationalist, Rajkot)
10. Jayesh Madiyar (Businessman, Rajkot)
11. Jitu-Rehana (Social activists, Rajkot)
12. Ratilal Chandaria (Creator of GujaratiLexicon, Mumbai)
13. Devang Vibhakar (Editor, www.SpeakBindas.com, myself!!)

Basic book details:

Pages: 80
Publisher: SpeakBindas
Price: Rs. 90/-
Language: Gujarati
To buy: Contact, speakbindas At gmail.com

Book front page

Turning Point book front cover - Devang Vibhakar

Book back page

Turning Point book by Devang Vibhakar

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The heading above may appear to be tampered and manipulated because when failure embraces you, all the philosophy and positive talks are seen walking straight out of the doors. It’s pure magic how it turns pleasures of recent past seem an oasis of present. It makes the shadow lurk in dark even in a broad daylight. But,when failure sinks deep down a different flavor and understanding emerges out of the being.

Failure is the logical offspring of plurality. No solo act in this world is capable of reproducing things. Things to come to existence needs plural to make each other hence reasoning a single act, incident or decision as the sole reason of failure is searing the unborn. Many factors interact, intersect and intervene with each other to pronounce things as they are. As life is not all about black and white but the grey also matters we need to develop the habit of reading between the lines. Merely Gluttoning our assumptions may lead to an impotent life. Checking the multiples and meditating on our decision may flash the error bright and bold on the grand 70mm screen called life.

Failure is the outcome of fear. Fear is one of the basic human emotions genetically coded by nature. It suffers from gender crisis in the sense that a debate can be raised whether it incompletes human or it’s a thing which makes human limp towards completeness. Being fearful is not a matter of shame as we cannot surpass the obvious.Running helther skelter to avoid fear is what inflicts shame on the character. If fearful henceforth rejoice as this emotion can make you stroll the path of strength and grit unvisited yet. It helps you break the shackles and traverse to the polarity of braveness.

Failure makes time worth treasuring.Time may sound synonymous with watches and clocks but failure conjuncts it with a deeper meaning. The teaching which it imparts is priceless.No money can get you enrolled to this course. The only way you can be a beneficiary of this practical oriented course is by tasting failure. It renews,re-invents and rejuvenates your attitude and behavior. It cleans you up fresh and spurs up the hygienic quotient.

Having said all this, I want to get rid of my failure as soon as possible. I haven’t befriended failure and don’t even want to. I will try that we both maintain long distance relationship here on. But, I will never be bitter towards my failure as it has sparked new sensibilities and shaped my attitude to the extent which can be termed “sexy”. I am logging out of words and logging in to actions so that i can plan a grand farewell to my failure as it is said that while you pray your foot should move.

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