“Life is a journey to be experienced, not a problem to be solved.” A line from Winnie-the-Pooh that is often read and forgotten became a philosophy to live by for Samarth Mahajan, an IIT graduate who chose to explore India not through its landmarks, but through its people. In 2016, he embarked on a 17-day journey across the country in general-class train coaches, returning with stories that would change the way he looked at India. The journey became ‘The Unreserved’, a National Award-winning documentary that brought the lives of ordinary people into focus. At the 14th lecture of Pint of View, held at Slap Pizza, Sadar, on Sunday, Mahajan revisited those encounters, sharing stories that made audiences laugh, ache and question their own understanding of the country. Beginning in Mumbai, his journey took him to Okha, Baramulla, Dibrugarh and Kanyakumari.

 

In crowded coaches, strangers became storytellers, revealing lives far removed from the comfortable assumptions of urban India. The most unsettling story was that of Kamla, a mother of two daughters who had diabetes and was being pressured by her family to conceive again, simply in a hope of having a son. Her fear for her health and her unborn child was overshadowed by a society. In Kashmir, a conversation with Mohammed Hamid Mir, who expressed love for Pakistan despite having a brother in the Indian Army, challenged easy judgements about judgements.

 

Mir had himself applied to join the Indian Army and said he would love India if selected. The encounter inspired Mahajan’s second National Award-winning documentary, ‘Borderline’. After eight years of documentary filmmaking, Mahajan has moved towards fiction. Yet his journey offers a lasting lesson that a nation cannot be understood through headlines, stereotypes or distant opinions. Sometimes, to see India clearly, one must simply take a seat beside a stranger and listen.