Month: December 2025

Reliving a lived experience.

~ Rishi ~ Leave a comment

There are moments in life which we relish and often remember. In the hope that we could relive them again or at least feel the same way again.

And then there are experiences which shape us. They may not necessarily be in the earlier category but are important to us as an individual.

This last week, I had an opportunity to relive a lived experience, one that fundamentally shaped me.

It was a visit to the Indian Military Academy, which I graduated from more than two decades ago. Those were the most formative years in my life, joining the Academy as an eighteen year old.

Thanks to a course mate, who was able to get a tour arranged, I visited the institution along with my family. As the assigned staff member took us around, I recounted some of my experiences to my wife and our daughter.

It was poignant to walk the same corridors once again. Now as a civilian, but with the same proud feeling of being able to walk there.

It was nostalgic to visit the rooms and stand in the same place I spent countless days in. And feel a little bit of what I went through in those days.

It was reliving memories filled with bitter sweet moments as I saw other parts of the academy. The playgrounds, the practice areas, the places I used to go past every day.

It was a reminder of how much things have evolved. The staff member was kind enough to detail how many things had changed from those days to now, and we compared them with what we used to do. They ought to be, in two decades.

It was fun to recall some of my experiences and share them with my family, as we zipped past some of the best and worst memories of the days lived there.

Finally, as we completed the tour and bid farewell to the staff member, driving out on the main road, I felt a tinge of sadness within myself. For the entire tour had ended in a couple of hours and my journey of reliving the lived experiences had ended.

I was overwhelmed thinking about how much time had passed since those days. At the same time, I was thankful that I got this opportunity.

Enough for me to carry fresh impressions of my days spent in that place so many years ago…

Immersive Experiences

~ Rishi ~ Leave a comment

Some happen by chance. But most happen by design!

This weekend, I watched a movie that I was completely immersed in.

As I emerged out of the movie hall, I was trying to figure out what made the movie tick for me. And why the long length didn’t bother me as much.

As I thought about the overall experience and my connection with the movie, I realised that I felt it was immersive because at no point did the storytelling slack.

Then, as I compared it with some of the best books I have read, it occurred to me that those also had a style of storytelling that felt as if I was transported into that world. And within that experience, it was as if I was living it.

In fact, most of such immersive experiences are designed in a manner that the storytelling draws the listener or audience in, hooking them into the narrative, making them as a part of the story.

Having started my experiments with writing over the last six years, I must admit that it is very hard to do. On my best days also, weaving the tale together to make it compelling is an extremely difficult task.

Naturally, there are very few of these experiences that immerse us completely. But the ones that do, leave us with a sense of wonder and concern. Wonder about how it all panned out and concern about the characters.

That’s why I feel that storytelling is about the characters and how their interconnections are explored and structured!

What I am sure of though, is that the immersion is an outcome of design. And the design is always in the hands of the creator…

Assumed assumptions!

~ Rishi ~ Leave a comment

We like assuming. In fact, we love to assume and move forward.

A lot of times those assumptions are just those. Assumptions. Without any rhyme or reason.

But because we like to keep things simple and probably see them through our own eyes only, those assumptions are valid and reasonable.

But what if that isn’t true? What if we could do much better not assuming those assumptions?

Over the last few weeks, as these thoughts ran in my mind, I started observing. How I was reacting and deciding. And how others around me did the same.

There were times when I found my assumptions to be convenient for me. Because I didn’t want to go through the hard work of finding the right details.

Often times when I was assuming something, it was so just because I had not been able to consider the viewpoint of someone else. Looking only through my own eyes.

Sometimes I also found that I assumed just because I had some precedence or experience of dealing with that same person or thing in a different setting.

As I started questioning my assumptions and if I had made the correct ones, I started uncovering my own blind sides.

As I started thinking about others, my horizon expanded and I could look at the problem with a fresh pair of eyes.

There’s still a long way to go. After all, the mind has been conditioned to perform in a certain way. But what I do realise is that there’s power in not assuming just because we can or we should.

Sometimes it helps to check ourselves again…

Personal Achievements

~ Rishi ~ Leave a comment

We as parents are never behind in taking pride in our children and their achievements. Whatever may be the field in which they accomplished something.

But there are only a handful of times when we aren’t expecting but feel pride in our children because of how they proved themselves.

This week was one such experience for both of us…

The occassion was our daughter’s first term assessment and the ensuing meeting with the teachers. When we had got the assessment and read through it, we were surprised by some observations. Some of the other details we read through, not realizing their import.

So, as we went to meet the teachers, there was some amount of apprehension about how our daughter was doing in general. At least within me.

But as we started talking to the teachers, we realized that our daughter was doing much better than what we could gather by reading the report. I was pleasantly surprised!

The feedback we got from the teachers was not only encouraging but also a relief. The little one (well, not so little anymore!) had shown improvement in most aspects of her work through the last few months. From a place of just being ok, she was doing much better.

Hidden inside the earlier apprehension was the question of whether she had adjusted to the higher grade well and is she able to cope up. The revelation was emphatic – she had not just adjusted well, she was doing more than expected in certain aspects.

As parents, that was a moment of pride. I felt as if there was some hidden force that had propelled our daughter to a higher state. My wife felt as if she was coming into her own, well guided all around her.

As we walked out of the school after those meetings, we couldn’t help but smile. Our daughter had gone beyond what we were expecting, and it felt strangely satisfying. As if we had achieved all those things.

Perhaps, that’s how we as parents feel and partake in our child’s world. Their achievements and success feels as personal as anything could…