Saturday, January 25, 2014

My very first guest post : Living the daylights by Samik Bhattacharya

Let me introduce to you a very talented guy who happens to be a very good friend of mine.  Samik Bhattacharya is a  blogger, guitarist, freelance graphic designer and photographer. You have to know him to believe it. And when I requested him to write a guest post for me he agreed instantly. That's how great he is :D

Anyway, I should stop talking and let him start now.

LIVING THE DAYLIGHTS

The other day, I read that post about a time-capsule. I had seen the concept being exercised in movies, but I never really knew what the phenomenon was called until now. When Anjee mentioned she had written a post about How to create a time capsule, my head wandered and revolved around the concept of time-machine. I know everyone has their own vices and excuses to hitch a ride in a time-machine every once in a while; maybe even have a secret stolen time-machine hidden in the attic for quick escape, and all I can say is - I am one of them.

The eventful life I've had till now (don't mistake my craving for time-travelling be related to having "regrets" because I have no any; or maybe just one), I often want to revisit, if not for anything, then only to smell the air of the past.

So, I lay on my back wondering what were the times that I would visit if I did have a time machine. And suddenly it felt like somebody had magically vanished a metaphorical dam of thoughts inside my head and every damn thing in my knowledge was rushing inside the invisible theatre to take the front seat, to force me to notice them. I was stupefied for a while. Then I took the pain of settling all of them in order before I could actually start the thinking process in a rational manner.

After they were settled down (against their will) and didn't dare make any occasional excited outbursts in the middle of my contemplation, I began to brood from the beginning of the timeline and here is pretty much what I arrived at...

1. I would go back to 1920s and see Charlie Chaplin actually direct City Lights.
2. I would spend a day with Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picasso and Gertrude Stein like Midnight In Paris.
3. Then to 1941 and see Orson Welles play Citizen Kane.
4. Hang around the sets of Fellini and Bergman just for fun.
5. Steal the roles of Cary Grant for "An Affair to Remember" and Gregory Peck for "Roman Holiday".
6. Watch The Beatles live in Rooftop.
7. Forge a backstage pass for Led Zeppelin Live at Madison Sq. Garden.
8. Meet Dylan up front and exchange a few jokes.
9. Sneak up inside the set of Annie Hall and Manhattan.
10. Watch "When Harry Met Sally" first day, first show.
11. Revisit my school and get photographed for a yearly group photo (the one regret I was talking about)
12. Return to the first year of college and meet my best friends all over again.
13. Watch "What's Your Raashee" and shout "Boo"s from the comfortable seats at the back with the same people.
14. Exchange new-found songs and movies with new-found best friends all over again.
15. When my friend would find out his talent in palm-reading, and would tell me that he was going to die alone in bed, I would hit the back of his head and say - "Not while I am around..."
16. Make the short-film and feel nostalgic.
17. Taste one of the first batches of Anjee's dark chocolate fudges and other stuff... ah bliss (You can check out her hand crafted chocolates and baked stuff here, btw)
18. Wishing I had a time machine all over again.

I am sure I have missed a lot of things in here, but hey, not everything is supposed to be revealed publicly. It sucks that we only get to live around just once and cannot even choose to revisit in leisure but in memories...

All I can say is that I will continue to enjoy the living daylights of the present, and also the night lights for that matter. But at the same time I will also continue to miss the prospect of travelling back in time and feeling them all over again and in super-high resolution video (even 360 degree visibility) with added benefits of smells and taste.

P.S. I hope the physicists are listening to these billion pleas...

Check out Samik's blog Dreams on paper leaves where he shares his anecdotes, poems and thoughts. And check out his photography too here

And btw, Samik has also helped me design my blog( read most of the work :P)

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