Though many of us wished to communicate with him (heck, i even trolled him on twitter to get some attention, not once, many times) not many of us were lucky enough to find a communication channel for Roger Ebert, or Ebert saab as we like to call him. Natasha Badhwar was among those lucky ones. How? As the say, internet, you beauty! So re-posting an old post by her.
Roger Ebert started it.
Hi, this is the mother of three from New Delhi. We are far away from Delhi, I am typing from a borrowed internet connection. It is late in this hot, dusty, quiet village in East UP. We are in one of our homes. Summer holiday.
I came to Twitter to find a quiet private place where I could put back the pieces of a self that felt broken and bruised in many places. To climb out of the dark hole in which I found myself.
I had turned away from the wonderful world around me, a world that I thrived in, succeeded in, and one that I was hooked to. Yet it was also a place that was superficial and hollow; where truth had been painted over in dark colors. Where it seemed forbidden to raise questions, make inquiries and seek change. (Among other things I had been working in news television for longer than necessary.)
I found that I could not be a mother to my children in this world. I did not know how to nurture myself and those I loved. I did not know how to reconnect with the God who had bailed me out so many times in my teens and early youth.
Everything seemed alright and yet it did not. Beauty ruled our senses, yet it was not enough. I missed my friends, yet I needed something else more urgently.
Tweet by tweet, update by update, I began to create a world that I could live in, that I did live in. I wrote to console and entertain, to live in the moment, the moment that in itself was the meaning of my life. I wrote dreams and memories, I began to share and expand my world. I sent out, I received.
For a while I lived at home with myself and met the outside world via internet. I needed to build spaces where love, beauty, humor and inspiration would dominate. I needed to replenish and nourish. To shed my defenses and rip away the cloak of timidity. And bring to the fore everything that I know matters.
Eventually, my alchemy began to work. Eventually, I found other alchemists on Twitter.
Thank you, Roger Ebert, for your smartness and generosity, for your childlike wonder and joy in the world around us. Your confidence in your sixth sense is so inspiring, I’m afraid I’m going to end up doing some very foolish things soon as I resolve to follow my own sixth sense.
Love,
Natasha
Ebert: Natasha, you are my shining light on Twitter. You showed me what could be done. You make 140 characters into a universe. I am not surprised that you could have had a period of unhappiness and discontent. Anyone who evokes the joy in what you write could not do so without a deep sense of gratitude.
http://twitter.com/natashabadhwar
(Going by her twitter bio, Natasha Badhwar is “Somebody, everybody, nobody. Columnist for Mint Lounge”. Well, she is also mother of three, trainer and filmmaker. You can follow her on twitter here. And this post was originally published on her blog here.
(PS1 – Also, adding a new category (Guess?) for this post because i was confused where to put this post. Checked?)
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 
Life itself