Foraging in the wild, Movie Marathon and Creative Block
Navigating a difficult week
I am writing to all of you from Bir today. I came back home last week and since then, I have mostly been in hibernation mode. The 3-4 weeks leading to my trip to Pune were overly exhausting. The month-long travel didn’t help either and I came back home with a negative bank balance of energy. I feel a little better today and hence I decided to push myself to write this newsletter.
I arrived home after a month to find dust in every possible corner of the house. The floor felt sandy for some reason and the house smelt different. After days of thorough cleaning and keeping fans on with incense sticks, it is today that I feel that I am back to my home as I left it.
The first night upon returning, I slept with a small scorpion on my bed. Yes, this is the second time. Luckily I only got to know about the scorpion the next day while cleaning. Since that night, I haven’t been sleeping as calmly as I used to sleep earlier. The monsoon season is here and I wonder what other kinds of animals are going to take my small studio as their humble abode.
Only time will tell... I am mentally preparing myself to find all sorts of creatures at home.
This is the reality of living in the wild, living in the mountains.
I talked of a few intentions last week in the newsletter and not only have I defaulted on most of them, I ended up overcompensating on the easiest one! To watch 3 films a week.
Well, I have been watching 2 films a day to kill time and to get myself out of this creative rut that I have found myself in. My whiteboard where I obsessively write my plans for the day and the week sits idle and blank for a week now. It stares at me every morning and yet I choose to not bat an eye.
I am in the middle of a “writing block” is what I tell myself to get over my guilt.
Well, it rarely helps.
A writer must write - A much-needed unforgiving voice in me says out loud.
Lately, that voice has been muted by the loud BGM of the films I have been watching.
My body aches to create. I don’t mean this metaphorically. I genuinely feel the aching in my heart and bones. I have been thinking a lot about my first love lately - photography. It is coming back to me it seems. I have been studying a lot about it and I keep seeing frames everywhere I go. I have been feeling some sort of heaviness in me which wishes to find its outlet through creative work. Me not actively doing anything about it is only doing a disservice to the heaviness. I hope to come out of this soon. I can’t wait to start writing again, take workshops and also deep dive into photography. For now, I rest and watch movies shamelessly. Btw, any nice recommendations?
This weekend, I am attending an online session by Ankit Kothari who is a writer and has worked on the brilliant film Tumbbad. I was incredibly inspired by Laapataa Ladies and to be able to take part in decoding the writing of the film was a no-brainer for me. I am also hoping that this will help me come out of the writer’s block.
Day before yesterday I was invited for dinner at a local friend’s house to have Lingdu (Fiddlehead). It grows in the wild here during monsoons and is available only during this particular weather. It is not farmed but grows in the wild. Needless to say, the dinner was amazing and I overate.
While having dinner, my friend and his wife were talking about another leafy vegetable that grows in the wild in Rajgundha Valley. I had never heard of this vegetable and I don’t recall its name but it is similar to Patra which is widely available in Gujarat, Maharashtra.
Since I have a bike and I have been wanting to visit Rajgundha myself, I volunteered to come along. Yesterday, 3 of us went together on 2 bikes to the enchanting Rajgundha Valley to forage this particular vegetable. Since it’s monsoons here in Himachal, the trees were lush green and the clouds were teasing the landscapes wherever we went. In the middle, there was some construction going on that held us back by 2 hours. Overall, it was a beautiful ride and I had a great time with my friends. It was fascinating to know the extent to which the locals go to forage a particular vegetable due to its health properties. I am yet to have that vegetable at my friend’s home. Will share photos later!
Here are some photos from yesterday.
As a feature of all my newsletters, I share one song, one book, one plant-based meal, one film/video that inspired me, and some photographic updates from my life.
I have been obsessed with Coke Studio Pakistan’s new release featuring Shazia Manzoor and my favourite Hasan Raheem! Here is the link to the song. If you’re interested in direction, filmmaking, or set design or if you just generally want to know more about the BTS of an elaborate music video, I highly recommend watching the BTS of the video shoot for the song. The details will amaze you!
The book I am reading is Designing Your Life. A dear friend who is on the verge of leaving his job invited me to an intimate 3-4 friend circle all of whom have quit their job/are on the verge. Together, we will go through this book and meet weekly to discuss our journey and keep each other accountable. I am excited to be part of this experiment. I have been living the no job life for the past 2+ years now and yet I have to sit with myself and design my life every now and then. Excited to see how it will work out in a community.
I cooked my favourite meal! Baingan ka bharta!
A film that I enjoyed watching is The Namesake by Mira Nair. I know that I am super late to the party but this film was long due and I finally watched it now after years of contemplation. The film is a treat to the mind, heart and soul. The film is very innocent and pure. The emotions are so beautifully portrayed that for moments, I felt like I was one of the characters in the film.
I already shared many photographs today but there are a few more that I wish to share. Hope you like them!
Thank you everyone for reading and sharing my work. It means a lot to me. Like always, have a brilliant week ahead and my love and hugs to everyone!