(A Summary of the Essence of Dinesh Chaudhary’s Original Piece in Hindi)
Love is both a universal and singular experience. To love and be loved is the essence of life. Love is a force to be reckoned with – tethering the earth to its axis. Love does not accept defeat – not even under the most harrowing circumstances. Love finds a way – love endures.
Liyaqat Jaffri is known to have said “…Oh my enemy, hold me close… I am exhausted from having to hate you…” Love finds expression in the flicker of poetry – in the language of cinema. The arts are awash with love – all colours and hues.
It is true though, that humanity has served up her share of disappointments – when it comes to testing the dexterity with which we love, as a people. We are known to have been swayed in the past by seeds of divisiveness planted in the name of progress. We remain vulnerable, we remain scarred – we are raw from the experience.
Give in to what’s at play and we essentially allow unchecked, dangerous concentrations of power to dissolve our insides – our hearts and souls. Progress at the expense of another – is the antithesis of love – deep seated fissures take root in its wake. Access in the hands of a select few – rampant greed, extraction – the death knell of the thread that runs through those who weave metaphorical GAMCHAs with love – meant to bring us closer, meant to heal us as a people.
The GAMCHA we speak of – is love – the love one being inherently feels for another. It knows no artifice – it cannot be corroded nor confined by the contours of religion, borders and stature. It does not discriminate for it knows not how to. The love we speak of values all beings – generously, unequivocally and fearlessly.
Love wraps herself in every thread of this metaphorical GAMCHA – bringing people together across the cavernous distances between us. With every weave – the GAMCHA reimagines purpose, reinforces loves innate ability to reinvent herself – to withstand difficult and troubling times – to emerge renewed.
Join us as we offer you our hearts, our souls, our pieces of string and thread – as we attempt to weave myriad truths and find meaning in this precious time we have together; as we acknowledge the dissonance between those who toil, who labour, who use their hands to create – and those who wield – who possess – who appropriate. Dexterous and sturdy – slung across your shoulder –wrapped around your weary limbs. Tucked deep in your pockets with your roasted nibbles, your eats for the long and circuitous road ahead. Our GAMCHA is woven with such giving fingers, such wizened, open, deeply felt stitches – Loves ability to emerge with her spirit intact is the GAMCHA we honour here today.