Sanjay Shankar Dongre

Libra

Knowing me is not so complicated, but when I really think about, there is a new thing that I discover about myself every day. Like until yesterday noon, I did not know that I can cook the most delicious tori sabzi, something which I had never done before in the forty eight plus years of my existence on this planet. So if me knowing myself is still a Work in Progress, world knowing about me is, let us put it this way, ALSO, still Work in Progress. So the question really is not the three things that people don’t know about me. The question really is what are the three things that I would want people to know about me. Well to begin with, first and foremost, Sanjay Shankar Dongre is in himself Work in Progress. I simply have no clue about what I can do, what I cant do, or in short What I am? The utter confusion is what defines me best, for every day I work hard, on learning or doing something new. Now its not that every day I cook a new dish, but may be I try to make the same sunny side fried a little differently, or may be use a new angle to shoot the sunset, or may be just think of a criss crossed way to end a particular story. So there different aspects of me that different people know. Some know me as a student of Mathematics or Physics for I was very good, well besides getting some decent marks, I used to confuse my teachers with some stupid questions. Some know me as a student of English literature for that’s what I studied as part of my graduation. Some know me as an Economist, well that’s how I ended up completing my graduation in Hons First Class. Then there are a few who also know me as an MBA from IIM Bangalore. So it happens that some people know me as an expert on mutual funds, both domestic and international. And then some know me as a photographer who debuted with his premier photography exhibition at the Jehangir Art Gallery. Then there are some who think I am wasting my time, and should have made a feature film long time back for they think I am good at film making, having made a short film and a few heritage travel documentaries.

Fear is something that I love, it keeps me going. Even the tiniest fear, is as loved as the greatest fear, so whether it is my wife, which is a pretty strong fear, for every time I do something, one of the way I validate it is by her imagined reaction. Or may be what happens if tomorrow I don’t learn anything new. What happens if I end up meeting God, and SHE asks me, “I sent you down there so well equipped and you just wasted your fifty years and all the talents that you were bestowed with.”

I think the way Sasha loves me, I would consider that, if a dog can love a human being, then there is something good about him. So Sasha, my golden cocker spaniel, and her love is probably the greatest

Now this I really believed that the signing amount from Leadstart for my first book, for a long time, was actually a high point.

There are so many, my failures define me more than my successes. Today I had been to a film, and in the intermission I did not get my coffee. The machine was not working. Could not enjoy the second half.

I think that would be Obama

I think I am still intrigued by Karna from Mahabharta

Who may be considered to be a hero or a villain at varying points of time

DH Lawrence still rules for his complicated Victorian age writings

I read Mahabharat quite often, then NNT, Discovery of India, Art of War, and of course Lady Charlottes’ Lover

Mahabharat

DJango, Sholay, Saving Private Ryan, Pretty Woman, Pya

I already have enough, but yes if only I could understand canine language, I can have conversations with Sasha.

, and here lies Sanjay, still a Work in Progress.

India, exactly the same life I had lived, nothing different.

Talk to Dogs

The Troubleshooter Part II

I am writing all the time anywhere, but I put that on my laptop in my balcony, which has a view of the Western Ghats,.

Silence except for the sweet melodious snoring of Sasha.

If I cant do it, who else, or for that matter how many people in India can do it?

No…no time for superstitions

James Hadley Chase, and I have actually read quite a lot of them

Keep connecting the dots, and put them in black & white