Interview

Ghumakkar: Yes, Spic Macay was very active in ‘University of Delhi’ as well. Infact for one of the ‘North Zone Fests’, back in 1994, a large contingent from DU was in Chandigarh . I was part of the theatre group from Kirori Mal College. I was pretty impressed with the overall infrastructure. So did this continue post college ?
Rakesh : Yes. When I joined H.P. university Shimla, I simply auditioned for the plays to be held during annual function and student organisations functions and did 7-8 plays there during that stint, not more. But I was more a part of their Quiz team and Debate team which I used to enjoy more as i was a good quiz master to be sure, if not perfect and was highly influenced by Siddhart Basu,s programme Quiz Time. During University days I once interacted with Vijay Kashyap jI, theater personality and local theater artists . I remember one name, Deven. Nothing specific or any juicy titbit about those days except for long rehearsals and endless cups of tea in dhabas.  A great influence on me , those days was of Prof. A.R. Khan, who is no more. He was an eminent historian though I was not his student as he taught medieval India whereas I was student of modern India. Simla is famous for Indian institute of Advanced studies and myself and him used to go strolling there from campus discussing intricacies of History.

Ghum: That was indeed a short one but I think the spurts of travel, this urge to get out, that travel-rush is probably Ghumakkari. Any other travel during this time, you would want to share.
Abhee: If I wanted to mention any worth Ghumakkar trip, then it was at Aurangabad. When morning 0600 we started with a plan to go Ghrishneshwar Jyotirling, which further got extended, and we went to Daulatabad also on the same day. It was like most enjoyable and memorable trip.

Ghum: My guess is that because you lived at so many places, quite far from each other, you would have visited many more cities? Correct?
Abhee: Oh, that’s a good question. It’s a long list, but I must say. I started from Katni (MP), then Lakheri (Rajasthan, near Kota), then Mumbai, then Konkan, Nagpur, Aurangabad, then Kolkata, Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai, Indore and now Canada. Living at so many places has given me vast opportunity to explore places. So if I want to list out places I had visited it would be Katni, Maihar, Bandhakpur, Jabalpur, Kymore, Ujjain, Dewas, Indore, Udaipur, Eklingji, Nathdwara, Kankroli, Neemach, Jahazpur , Bundi, Kota, Lakheri, Indergadh, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Daulatabad, Ghrishneshwar, Mahismal , Jalgaon, Burhanpur, Ajanta, Ellora, Fatehpur (Maharashtra), Pen, Paali, Alibaug, Murud Janjira, Khopoli , Lonavala, Pune, Khandala, Mayapur, Khadakpur, Mysore, Srirangapatnam, Tirupati, Hyderabad, Bhadrachalam, Munnar, Cochin, Rameswaram , Vrindavan, Mathura, Agra, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Manali , Kullu , Manikaran, Mussorie, Dehradun, Nainital, Mukteshwar , Puri, Bhubaneshwar , Amritsar, Jalandhar, Vaishno Devi (Katra),Rameswaram,Pondicheri,Mahabalipuram,Omkareshwar,Maheshwar etc.

Amitava: Again there are plenty of them, but I chose to write one for all of you, which I thought, is very relevant here. It happened during our trip to Kasauli. Just after our marriage, we went there along with one of my friend, Abhi (Abhikarsha Sinha Ray), in his brand new Alto. We had a very nice time together. Though, we had a driver at our expense, he wanted to drive in the hills. We didn’t allow him, as he learned only few months before. We were staying in Hotel Maurice (a very good hotel, near the Church) and after spending two days, we were leaving for Shimla. This time, without giving us any time, he took the key from the driver and asked him to follow us till the Check Post. If you are aware of Kasauli, just after the Church, there is a downhill and a Check Post. Just when we were crossing the Church, he switched-off the engine (all he wanted to check is to save petrol while going downhill). Then we saw a truck just before the barrier and it took a fraction of second for us to realize that he was not able to stop the car. Both the ladies in the backseat didn’t even aware of what was going on. My friend completely surrendered to the fate, closed his eyes, folded his hands and rested his head on the steering. I had no idea about the arithmetic’s of any car at that point of time and waiting for the collision. The car hit the rear of the truck with a loud sound and after a few seconds it stopped, by the time the lower portion of the truck was just in front of my eyes and the windshield is only barrier between us. Everybody realized what had happed and I don’t think I need to elaborate anything further about the over friendly, warm conversation between Abhi and his wife.

Ghum: So I guess we are on to something. Last month, we had a gentlemen whose wife is a teacher and this month again it repeats. You would now need to tell me more about Shanthi and her teaching and so on.
Venkat: My wife, Shanthi, is also from Tiruppur. She too is a graduate in Commerce. She has two elder sisters and one younger brother, all of whom are married and settled not too far from Tiruppur. In the period before marriage, after completing her under-graduation, she had gone to a kindergarten school nearby her home as a temporary teacher. She was so good at it that the school retained her services permanently. And after marriage, she continues teaching Kindergarten kids in the same school. She has such a natural flair for teaching and she is adored by both the students and their parents. Infact she is more familiar in the neighbourhood than myself. Apart from her teaching skills, Shanthi is a wonderful cook too (her non veg dishes are really tasty).

Ghum: I have left a one big section for the food but lets begin it now. Your profile says that you are a foodie ? Tell us more.
Venkat: Me and my wife both are very fond of Non-Vegetarian food, especially the South Indian Chettinad variety. May be it is because right from our childhoold, there has never been shortage of mutton and chicken items in our households. Every function is incomplete without an exhaustive spread of Non vegetarian items. That is the reason we are avid foodies, who go the extra mile for to satiate our taste buds! But while on travel, we like to explore local cuisines wherever possible. With regards to tips to fellow travellers, I think having “dil chahe” dishes in “dil chahe” quantities(of course health permitting) is an integral part of the joy we derive from travelling.

Even before I could earn a driving license, and even before the elders could know of my newly acquired driving skills, I had once taken away a car (Landmaster -perhaps older version of Hindustan Motor’s Ambassador) of my father’s friend filling it to the capacity with small children of our neighbourhood (nearly 12 of them). The old car was entrusted to my father for finding some good customer for it who would be willing to pay Rs.10,000/- for it.  With all those children in it, I stationed myself at the driver’s seat and had a circular trip upto Kuthal Gate (between Rajpur and Mussoorie).  When the parents of all those ‘missing’ children came to my father to enquire if he had any clue as to where all the children could had gone, my father, discovered to his great horror that not only I was also missing but the Landmaster car also was not where it was supposed to be.

Today I can visualize how he must have been going through in those moments. When after an unbearably long wait of an hour, he finally saw the black Landmaster coming in the lane like a fat, pregnant buffalow, and then 12 children jumping out of it one after the other, giggling and laughing, he was red hot with rage. I had already seen him standing in front of his clinic in the lane and if I had any option, I would never have come out of that car but as I stood before him trembling with fear, he gave me good thrashing. As revealed by my father later, he was most perturbed because I had taken 12 children of different families of our lane.

Thereafter Shubham grew from one grade to the next and continued his engagement with Ghumakkar. His first story came in June 2007, which is more than five years from now, and since then he has managed to write here, mostly around his travel to London and UK. If I leave DL and SS, probably he is the youngest Ghumakkar I would be talking to. Someone who has never seen the days of having a single TV channel on a B&W set, no mobile phone, no internet, no malls and so on. Before I realised, I started getting panic attacks. I have no idea of what Arsenal is and why half of the world is crazy for EPL (English Premeier League). With an open mind (read: blank mind) and a child like curiosity I began my first interview of the lucky 2013 on a cold wintry evening.

Ghum: Tell us about yourself, your family, friends and everything around you ?
Shubham : I have a close group of friends in school, some of whom I’ve known since I was 3 years old. I live with my parents and my dadi.

I play football and am a football enthusiast. And as it says in my profile, I am an Arsenal fan. I play a bit of cricket as well- I support Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. I am part of a band called Missing Links, formed with some of my close school friends. I am the lead singer. We’ve performed at a few places including IIT Delhi. We’re supposed to perform on Saturday 19th Jan, 2013 at La Crepe in Select Citywalk, Saket. I also play the keyboard.

My father loved walking, he had a hard job. Railways employees seldom get any holidays as other government people in India. He was the in-charge of train’s maintenance crew who undertook the mechanical and physical repairs of all trains, goods or passenger carriers. Bhatinda is one of the biggest railways establishments in whole world and he walked a lot on his job because each goods train is about a kilometer long and as a part of his job he had to walk around each train at least once; sun or rain, hot or cold, day or night.
We all three brothers love walking. We all brothers went to public schools. Our school was far away and we walked to our school and then college was even farther and we either walked there or took our cycle. One by one we all three brothers immigrated to USA but love of walking stayed in our blood. Even my uncles and cousins love to walk. When we all get together then we take a long walk in the wilderness.

घुमक्कड़ –  अपने बारे में ऐसा कुछ बताएं जो किसी घुमक्कड़ को नहीं पता हो| अपने परिवार से भी परिचित करवाएं|
मनु – मै जो भी काम करता हूं बडी लगन से ,इतनी जितनी की कोई और शायद ही करे , मै स्कूल और कालेज में पढाई के अलावा सांस्कृतिक कार्यक्रमो ,सुलेख  और अन्य प्रतियोगिताओ में बढचढकर भाग लेता था । मै बैडमिंटन , शतरंज और क्रिकेट खूब खेलता हूं अब भी चाहे साथ में छोटे बच्चे ही हों । संगीत मुझे प्रिय है और हजारेा गाने जिनमें कि ज्यादातर दर्द भरे और सूफी गाने और गजले हैं मेरे याद हैं  । मैने स्कूल कालेज और रामलीला के मंच तक में भाग लिया है ।
 
दसवीं के बाद मैने इंटर की पढाई प्राइवेट की क्योंकि मै  खुद कमाने लगा था जो आज तक जारी है । 
 
16 साल की उम्र में मैने अपने बडे भाई के साथ मिलकर एक पब्लिक स्कूल खोला था जो मेरे भाई की 1999 में अचानक मृत्यू होने के कारण दो साल ही चल पाया । उसके बाद मैने कम्पयूटर हार्डवेयर का कोर्स किया और अपना कम्पयूटर सैंटर खोला । 22 साल की उम्र में जनवरी 2004 में लवी से प्रेम विवाह हुआ जिसे घरवालो की रजामंदी मिल गयी थी और दिसम्बर 2004 में  बेटी अनुष्का ने जन्म लिया । लवी कम्पयूटर सिखाती थी और मै उनका खरीदने बेचने और रिपेयर का काम करता था  । 2007 में मेरे पिता की मृत्यू के बाद मेरी नौकरी उनके स्थान पर मृतक आश्रित में लग गयी । अब मेरे परिवार में मेरी माताजी , मेरी एक बडी बहन समता त्यागी जो कि श्री राजकुमार त्यागी निवासी गढमुक्तेश्वर से ब्याही हैं , मेरी पत्नी लवी और बेटी अनुष्का हैं

Thank you SS for the wonderful conversation and sharing so many personal details and valuable insight and advice with us. As promised, here is the Bonus offering. For the first time, we have a 100 seconder video interview with SS. All the video encoding, mixing has been done by SS and to balance the effort put by SS, I traveled to Jhansi fort to ask these questions. May be this becomes another trend in future conversations.