Winter Collection (of memories)

The days after diwali never reminded me about sweaters, jackets, hand-gloves, shawls, fur-caps etc. till I started touring regularly. Mumbai was never a city of ‘cold’. There are only 2 seasons in Mumbai – summer & rains… winter is not meant for Mumbai.

Visiting places like Delhi, Shimla, Manali, Jaipur, Udiapur, Mount Abu, Jammu, Darjeeling etc. made me think about sweaters & jackets and later Pune made me have a few more of them. I really find it funny when my friends from Mumbai say ‘13 degrees! It’s quite cold here this year!!’ Of course, I was one of such people some years ago!

Swimming in ice-cold water of dam in Dahanu during the military camp, enjoying the flowing chilled water of Biyas river & playing in snow at rohtang pass - Manali, luggage transfer & room allotment of over 70 passengers in Mount Abu with 0 degree temperature around, passengers shouting for not getting hot water for bath & myself with my senior tour escort providing the buckets on 4th floor of the hotel at Panchmadhi, boiling hot milk (malai maar ke) in bada kullad (a bowl made of clay) at Gwalior railway station, heavy rains during the 14 km walk to Kedarnath temple with just 1 sweater, a set of hand-gloves & a cap; or post-diwali days spent in Dubai a few years ago & the pre-christmas days in Singapore last year; are some of my lifetime experiences. They effortlessly start screening when it comes to ‘winter’. Unfortunately I never got a chance to visit Shimla in December-January… when there is just snow allover.

I still remember the sunrise seen at Tiger Hill in Darjeeling where we used to reach at 3.30-3.45 am, and temperature used to be around 2 degrees. Freezing cold, hot cup of coffee & sunrise! What a combination!! Though I’ve been there for more than 9-10 times, I would never ever forget the beautiful view of Kanchanjunga peak which looked golden!

For me, winter is freshness, enthusiasm, life! This is a season with 6-7 degrees temperature is one of the very few things that ties me with this so-called city of knowledge where I reside. The world is quite big, rather huge to be everywhere & to enjoy everything in just one small life.

As of now… I prefer welcoming the season that brings sheer joy & energy. It affects almost everything – of course in a good sense! So friends... welcome the season... enjoy the winter... Cheers!

- Abhijit

Then & now – it’s still the same feeling!

Normally people celebrate 1^st January as the day of new year… a new start… a new ray of light… a new hope of life! It was the same day – 1^st January of year 2002 when we had our competition show at Kamgaar Kalyan Theatre, Vikhroli. It was December 27-28 when I had packed my bags from my hometown Thane & had shifted to Pune.

It was august of 2001 when my writer friend came with a script asking me to read it & give my opinion. That was the first time I was obsessed by that script. It was a play of 40-45 minutes then & he wanted it to be performed in some one-act competition. The discussion later ended up on a note that it had to be a complete play of over 2 hours. It of course had that potential.

After a lot of discussions, conflicts, re-writing, efforts for collecting money from all possible sources (those were days when nobody in the group was working & earning a single penny), struggling to find props and regular rehearsals for over 4 months; finally we had a good show on 1^st January 2002. The play won almost 5 prizes. Later, it was august 2003 when I had started working with a new publication in Pune, the play made a history.. same year we performed in the state level competition & bagged a few more! Ranked 1^st amongst 23 participants & was selected for the finals at Ahmednagar. The claps, standing ovation & appreciation continued at Gadkari Rangayatan Thane.

This all came to my mind when I saw the same play some days back at Balgandharva Theatre Pune. The feeling while seeing a well-known actor Pradip Patwardhan playing Dr. Kotnis (the role which I used to play) – the dean of the hospital, is beyond words. He was given maximum movements & actions that I had worked out during the initial phase. I was seeing myself on stage & was enjoying it sitting in the audience at the same time! That was January 2002 & this was January 2012 – the feeling was still the same!!

Scripts are born successful or born dead. ‘Dhan-vantari’ is an example of former. Well… I’m glad that the story of ‘Dhan-vantari’ didn’t end there. It’s still doing well commercially irrespective of the problems it faced at the time of its birth. Wishes to the new professional team.

Cheers!

- Abhijit