Dear all,
One of my student, Ms. Nividha has written down her experience of Karm Cafe which we visited last month. I personally feel that Nividha has quality to be a very good narrator. Herewith I am sharing her write up - it is fantastic and fabulous.
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As fate would have it, I reached Karma café
at sharp 6o’clock, drenched in sweat due to the overly shining sun.
Nevertheless as I and Kinjal entered after a brief on the very valuable
thoughts and conversations we had missed, we joined them.
Everyone were sitting encircling a big bold
book which sir was reading. At first I thought it to be just some book on
Gandhi but later when I discovered what it was about, it looked more than just
a bunch of papers bounded by a hard cover. The book was a collection of Gandhiji’s
closest 100 people whose account was given along with the most important thing
that skyrocketed its price were the hand-drawn sketchings of Gandhiji on
various occasions. The painter did a real piece of work. At that it struck me
as where I was sitting, taking a glimpse of my surrounding, the moment was
picturesque. On one side were the sketches of mahatma and on other his books.
There was a door on the wall behind me which I felt like exploring then and
there, but I had to keep my excitement down. It wasn’t too long when sir and
all decided to go into that room and later continue with the reading. I jumped
on my feet and was first to walk in that door.
As
soon as I went in, I was startled and shocked at the same. Startled because I
had never seen so many pictures of Gandhiji let alone in different poses and
shocked for I failed to imagine Gandhiji to be young in his youthful days (my
ignorance I guess). There were innumerable photographs of Gandhiji in that well
lit room where each LED was focused only on our hero. All the photographs
depicted something. It felt that they are conveying a message through that
frame. If one suggested stillness, calmness another depicted misery. If one
shows the young, youth Gandhi, the other elderly Gandhiji with felled teeth.
One of the photographs shows Gandhiji sitting in the sunlight reading with a
wet towel placed on his head, which I have heard works no less than a miniature
AC. This shows his dedication and passion for reading. While there was this
one, my personal favourite, showing him seated along the Juhu beach and felt as
he was far from the world yet the centre of the universe. ‘The leader also
spends alone time for interspect’.
These and many more such paintings were
found in this room and the room adjoin with it. There were exclusive
photographs from a famine hit region- Noakhali. Those photographs depicted the
darker side of humanity. Starvation, hunger, pain, loss which are mere words to
us, our knowledge goes as far as its verbal meaning, but those pictures brought
them alive to our eyes. The pain these people suffered, we are yet to imagine
let alone feel for them.
Life isn’t fair but it’s not that bad either,
with this thought we moved past that room and entered the room which was like
entering an era of early 1900’s. Upon entering the first thing that struck us
was a big, green treadmill which we were told was used by Gandhiji and his
associates for printing his dailies like Navjivan, Harijan et al. In one corner
was prestigiously placed printer, comparatively smaller, which was used for
printing leaflets and fliers in those days. Also a baby type writer of
Remington, which is considered to be the smallest type writer, was witnessed by
us. Sunil bhai, who was briefing us on these, shared a very interesting
incident. One night when Gandhiji and his co-workers were working upon the
newspaper, the printer stopped. As at that time not many people were
technologically sound, Gandhiji and his friends decided to continue with
mechanical labour as an alternative as the papers had to be posted least by
mid-night. This teaches us the hard work, dedication and patriotism they had
for our country. Hence we were fortunate enough to witness at least the printer
which gave us our freedom.
Meanwhile we also saw and read Gandhiji’s
will. In that room Sunil bhai shared a few interesting incidents from his life
and also taught us some very important things. Then as we were about to have
our dinner, we learnt that Vivek bhai, the man behind this idea of café, was
back in his office. We were more than eager to meet him in person. Upon
greeting him, he also started sharing his life stories. What fascinated me was
that he dedicated a significant period of time for his research on the subject
of photography. He not only studied but also practised it being among one of
those sages. His subject was that of ‘death’. That shows
that may books not get you definite success but practise and persistence will
guarantee it. One of his accounts that really touched my heart was that of a
rickshaw driver who takes him to his modest place for Vivek sir wanted to
capture a photograph of The Taj Mahal through a door. At his home the
hospitality and welcome he gets makes him realise what he or we in general can
give back to the society for their kindness to the people we’ll never or are
yet to meet. That leaves me wondering.
This and many more such interesting
accounts were shared and then we had to advance towards our dinner that was
desperately awaiting us. We had mouth-watering, delicious food for dinner (I
refrain from going into its details, reason best known to us :P)So then we had
to depart ,which I know as everyone never wanted this beautiful day to end.
Fun would be an understatement to describe
my day. As apart from endless happy moments what we earned was a lot more
valuable wisdom. Wisdom, which I am afraid is a bit rare to find these days but
due to some amazing people in my life I encounter it on daily basis.
Wisdom earned or lessons learnt:
Sunil
bhai
·
He taught me that- I should not
try to fit into someone else’s footsteps rather I must leave my own foot prints
on the sands of time.
·
Importance of ‘Pliancy’ which
means adaptability of new thoughts and ideologies.
·
He also emphasised on reading
and learning new from everything.
Vivek bhai
Being a photography journalist he taught me
that-
·
Each photograph or a frame
depicts a story; it’s up to us what we choose to look for while watching it.
·
Hence it is very important to
develop perception of events and things from someone else’s view.
·
Also the life we are living in
is very beautiful, we should look at its brighter side as it is easier to find
faults and criticize.
So after all this when we left we had our own
little adventure which was like icing on the cake. It was no less than James bond
driving his Aston martin chasing a badass to save the world from destroying,
only here the world wasn’t at stake but, I was, and trust me we won’t forget it
anytime sooner. 
