RAMBLING THOUGHTS ... 21 Sarnath. That was a day in January, in 1952. And that was before I came to cinema. At the historic site I was all alone, pacing up and down, and watching the Columns and the all-time-famous Lion Capital. Aided by a guide, I then made my way down the steps which led to the rooms arrayed in a line. Those were the rooms, I was told, where the Buddhist monks—the chosen few, were housed. Walking down the alley I—then a Medical Representative of a lesser known medical firm—stood before a door, a small door, just the frame, with small opening. "Can I go inside?", I asked the guide. "Yes, of course", he said and made way for me. I was taller than the door and so I bent down to walk in. And that was precisely the moment when I was suddenly caught unawares by some mysterious force I do not know what. The moment I bent down, the magic worked: I turned a monk. Believe me, I turned a monk—just for a moment. Walking in, as I stood straight, I returned to my own self—a dawai-walla who could make some time free between two visits to doctors' clinics and just came here. It was amazing, it was a ritual that I performed, a ritual that I enacted, a very simple ritual, that of bending down, with absolutely no religious compulsion—and the magic worked. Just bending down which the monks at the time of the Buddha used to do as many times as they required during the day. And that was that. I did it and that was a day in January, 1952. I did it, I re-created it—a kind of re-enactment, and instantly a mysterious door opened before me—the door between the distant past and the instant present. And, without my knowing it, I attained—should I say—the enlightenment !!! And this is precisely what I have been trying to say—to connect the past with the present—through two of my seemingly inconsequential anecdotes—to connect the past with the present and, in the process, to grow wiser and, through wisdom, get understanding. "To Connect"—that is the thing. Here, in this connection, I ask you to bear with me as I pull out a few leaves from my diary and tell you stories that meant a lot to me. It was in 1965. It was in Dhauli, near Bhubaneswar, the capital of Kalinga, where the Emperor Asoka fought a battle, the sanguinary battle, and the last battle before he turned a devout Buddhist. I went to Dhauli on a very specific mission. I was assigned by the Government of India to make a film on 5000 years of Indian history with an emphasis on the officially approved concept of Unity in Diversity, of continuing synthesis running through ages. To build the film I decided to go places, all over the country, and capture all that I felt I could use—museum exhibits, bits from lots of historical relics, historical documents and all. Dhauli was very much in my programme.