On the Road Again

Blog 18 of 30

I did many fascinating articles as part of a project for an international bank. Unlike most of the projects that I had done before this was a fairly substantial magazine. It taught me a lot about putting a magazine together, handling good quality photographs, coordinating with writers, etc.  I was also enjoying the creative freedom and writing articles of interest to people.

One of ideas I had was to do a series on royal families of India. This took me to places like Ahmedabad, Gwalior, Hyderabad, Mysore, Trivandrum and I even did a story on the Nawabs of Arcot, based out of Chennai.

This was easily one of the most memorable projects I did. I did a lot of research for this project. Reading local histories kindled in me a fascination for culture, tradition, and stories. History in school had primarily been about the Mughals, the British and the Independence struggle. There was some coverage about the history of Tamilnadu. But sadly, history books were dry and about dates, facts and figures. The rich tapestry of life did not filter into our classrooms.  

But meeting the most interesting people, walking in the paths of historic figures, and admiring some of the most exquisite architecture and art from the early times brought history alive. In the course of my life, I have often wondered if I should have chosen a different subject of study. This was one of them. If I had enjoyed history so much in school perhaps life would have been very very different.

Another absolutely wonderful and colourful project I undertook was on lesser-known festivals of India. Again, I had an insight into the colour, the music, the joy and the sheer vibrance of Indian life. I saw the most incredible craft from simple things by unassuming everyday people. I had voices lifted in song that would bring tears to the eyes by people on the street. And slowly but surely, I learned to understand more and more about this incredible country of mine.

But perhaps the project that was to leave the most lasting impact on my life was on games of India. It started with an interview with that incredible chess player who put India on the map – Vishwanathan Anand. This time, luckily, I got there in time and did not have to do the interview from a PCO! I then got to meet leading carrom and kabbadi players. I still remember meeting a carrom champion who was actually weaving baskets for a living. To set off these articles on the slightly better known games from India, I chose to do a support piece on folk games.  

That decision was to take my life and my professional career on a completely different journey. Sometimes our paths take us to the strangest places. We wonder about what we are doing and where we should go, but the road is open before us, and sometimes it is good to just seek the adventure and thrill of the journey.