What happens when things don't go with your plan? For Raunaq Sahni, this book happened... He started his journey to collect 11 photographs and had ideas to record those 11 stories in the form of a book. When I heard this in one of his YouTube Vlogs, I got excited to see those 11 photographs. But Raunaq, on this journey, failed to get those eleven photographs. Instead, he succeeded in inspiring people with many stories and heart whelming and vibrant photographs.
In his words, "The Chaos that consumed me just a few months ago has settled now. I carry Ganga in my heart, I carry Ganga in my mind. Sitting on the banks of the Ganga as I write this, I take a deep breath, phew. Perhaps, for me, Maybe this was all this journey about, just a deep deep breath." A person who likes solitude and finds it with a breath of Ganga.
As that video series ended, I was sure that I was going to the book launch. I had many questions in my mind as I was leaving home to travel to Mumbai. I was thinking, about what questions I would ask Raunaq and what I would talk with him when the next day I was going to meet him. I ended up making notes in my diary, but everything got blank when I saw many, many people from and around Mumbai were there for the book launch.
I melted my introvert ice and went on to talk with people. I realized there are many people who want to travel and do things that they are meant to do, but it is their mental barriers of job and security that are becoming hurdles to them. So, I had to scratch down all the things I wanted to ask myself and just ask in public about these people to Raunaq. I knew he was not a person who was going to motivate people to travel. He gave very straightforward answers to the people. And I guess, a few from many will be inspired to live the life they want and actually plan it. But keep their craziness alive!
I strongly feel that travel is the job of crazy people, as they see and do crazy things when they explore whatever culture or region. They discover crazy stories that might make you excited or afraid, inspire or cry, and even make you laugh at times. When I say this, I recall a story from this book when Raunaq reached a village in Harshil. He was lucky to have had tea after walking 30 km but also lucky that they were celebrating some big festival. He had no plan to stay, but he stayed. He came to know about animal sacrifice in that festival. He felt sad even though this practice was common in different cultures. When he saw those animals, he laughed, and as a reader, I thought about how we can influence our culture by being sensitive to them. Discover the whole story and what kind of animal that was in this book.
Talking about culture, even this book is on the resonance of Ganga in our culture. Moreover, the general narrative is that there is a particular religion in Bharat that has this connection with Ganga. But as Raunaq travels on the banks of Ganga, he discovers someone called Badshah. This will for sure change this narrative, so do discover that...
I know I am making you more curious as I write this reflection of mine, but we see Ganga as our maa. We have a very deep connection with this river even though we have never been on its bank. From Gaumukh (Where Ganga starts) to where Ganga meets the Bay of Bengal, it is a diverse life which is happening around, and I do not know which culture places the most emphasis on the aspect of life as rivers in the world. However, unfortunately, filth is not something that we can ignore, and I feel we can never get rid of such filth unless we as a society do not understand the value of our natural heritage.
Books like this, I feel it's a token of wisdom of our culture that we cannot afford to let die. I feel really fortunate that I got a copy of this book from the Author himself, and I told him while receiving this book that I would love to see this book at various literature festivals. I said those words casually, but after reading this book, I realized those words were true.
Let's look forward to seeing Melodies of India reach people and inspire people to take a journey to feel Ganga and discover themselves.
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