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The Monk Who Sold His
Ferrari
Rohini Nair
March 28, 2011
Ruzbeh Bharucha
isn't a monk, and he didn't sell his Ferrari, but his books on
spirituality and wellbeing, and hard hitting social documentaries
reveal a mind that is finely attuned to the human condition.
Author/filmmaker Ruzbeh Bharucha
You're a prolific writer and a
filmmaker...Can you tell us which of these mediums satisfies you
more, as an individual? How do you decide which medium you want to
tell a particular story
in?
I enjoy writing the most as it's
a personal experience and one can
indulge in the art at one's own time, place and space. Filmmaking is
a less lonely activity but when one has to be dependent on others,
especially mad folks like other artists, I wonder why I didn't take
up a less exacting vocation like paragliding or fighting with bulls!
So writing books works best for me, especially for topics like
spirit communication and life after death. That said, for social
themes, nothing works better than films.
How do you decide which subject to
explore for a particular book/documentary? How did your work on
women prison inmates and the Yamuna Pushta slum demolition come
about?
It was when I was the chief editor of a Pune newspaper that I came
across a PTI news clipping about women inmates and their children
celebrating Independence Day in Yerwada Prison. A three paragraph
news report, but it broke my heart. It stayed in my subconscious for
a decade. Eventually, I wrote an entire book on the condition of
women and children in Indian prisons, for which I visited six major
prisons in the country, from Pune to Srinagar. Then Dr. Kiran Bedi
(Ruzbeh's mother-in-law) asked me to write a book on the work done
by social organizations in Yamuna Pushta, a colony in Delhi. Two
days after I stepped in, the Court declared that the 50 year old
township comprising over 1.5 lakh residents and 40,000 homes be
demolished in a few weeks. So from writing a book on social
organization, I made a film and wrote a book on one of the worst
human violations in the very capital of our country. Not one media
house covered the barbaric manner in which the demolition took
place. So now the book and film are virtually like a recorded piece
of history.
Can you talk about some particular
story incident or anecdote from these two experiences, that made a
poignant impact on you?
I often met women who were in prison for some trivial crime and
didn't have the Rs.4,000 to pay their bail. The inmate's kids became
so attached to me, that when the shoot would wrap up, they would
plead with me not to go. I just didn't know what to tell them. Or
while shooting the slum demolition, a friend and I were precariously
perched on a roof, shooting the demolition of a home of a man I had
become friendly with. Suddenly I realized that somebody had gotten
on the roof - it was the same man. He smiled, gave us a cold drink.
I didn't know what to tell him. He looked at me and said, "All this
goes on, you look very tired, please you must drink this or else the
Delhi heat will get to you."
German edition of Ruzbeh's most
popular work, The Fakir
Can you tell us a little bit about
where your interest in matters spiritual stems from? How did it
develop? What is your philosophy for life and how have you come by
it?
For me, being spiritual means living a life, or trying to live a
life, that makes my Master happy with me. Spiritually doesn't mean
anything if you can't lend a helping hand to the less fortunate.
In all these years of reaching out
to people - what is the one thing that you have learned?
I have learned that we are all alike. Circumstances have molded each
one a little differently and have forces us to take various
decisions. So don't judge anybody. You will never know what
circumstances forced that individual to take a particular step.
Another thing I've learned is that the greatest spiritualists aren't
writers or healers but the man on the street. The slum dweller who
offered me a cola when his world was crashing, in that moment, was
more spiritual than all the self help, spiritual books ever penned.
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