Arunoday Singh

                Almost exactly one year after we made “Sikandar” in Kashmir, I find myself once again under the ageless gaze of the Himalayas.  This time it’s Hrishikesh that’s playing host to this wandering soul.  The undying Mountains and the undying fires of faith being assailed daily by the polluted river of humanity, that crash against it without pause, without pity, and completely without thought.  It hurts me to see the garbage heaps we’ve turned our holiest and most beautiful places into.  But that’s what we do, I guess.  I might as well try to change the Sun into a gentler watcher, than tell my species to stop befouling their surroundings.  Probably have more luck with the Sun.

                Been shooting for a new project for about a month now, and have been quite underwhelmed by work.  Not been working as often as I would like.  And nothing saps my energy quite like inactivity.  Pathetic excuse for the lack of any blogs I could have posted, but it’s the only one I’ve got.

                I’m just grateful to be working again, even if it’s a relatively small part.  I’ve had a great time working on this one.  The crew and the directorial team are all oddballs and fun spirits.  And a truly blessedly wacko bunch of co-actors which always is preferable to the stuffy, stiff-shirts that one can across.  This bunch is all young and funny, and uninhibited and chilled.  It’s a great atmosphere for work and contemplation of nothing much at all, just sitting in the evening light on wicker and plastic chair circles with laughter and coffee fumes floating up and startling the birds sitting overhead in the temple trees.

                I went white-water rafting today for the first time and had myself a big, bloody blast.  Half way down the trip the guide told me that I could jump out of the raft and body-surf the next bunch of rapids.  My companion hit the water wrong and swallowed a rather unpleasant mouthful of the Ganges and then panicked in the water.  But I reached him in time and propped him upright, after which he laughed and got the hang of it.  So barring that first terrifying minute until the smile reappeared on his face, the rest of the body-surfing section was the about the most fun I’ve had in a long, long while.  I highly recommend it to all of you.

                This is what I love so much about my job.  To go routinely travel and stay in all these places, the nomadic life, the life of new faces, strange tasting waters, odd-smelling rooms, and the bonds I make with all the people.  Some which will last only until the filming lasts, and some a ways longer, but all dear and all interesting.  Life is grand.

                The only thing I miss from the city is the cinemas.  I’m craving a dark auditorium and a bucket of popcorn.  I was hoping to be able to catch the new Tarantino flick in the cinema adjacent to our hotel in Delhi on the last free day before we travelled to the mountains, but there was a party and there was tequila and pretty girls dancing, and much Mary, Mary, Mary…  So yeah, that plan didn’t get executed quite as smoothly as I had anticipated.

                I feel strangely blessed to be where I am right now.  It’s not a deep or moving feeling, simply a quiet satisfaction with my present.  I’m coming closer and closer to living in the moment only.  I still manage to stray from it, but I’m gaining my stillness.  The more I wander, the more I work, the more calm I seem to become.  Bless you Lords and Ladies for blessing this unworthy fellow.

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