Invisible Wings
ServiceSpace
--Afreen Malim
3 minute read
Jan 5, 2016

 

A couple weeks ago Karma Tube featured a beautiful video, titled Invisible Wings, about a simple husband and wife who have a small tea shop in India and the story of how they follow their dream to travel the world.


One of the "Be the Change" actions was to contact the filmmaker, Hari Mohanan, and I was deeply inspired by the video so I sent Hari a gratitude email. What followed was sheer serendipity -- I happened to mention that we were at an ayurveda facility in Bangalore, and he happened to be in town, in fact just 5 kms away, so he came over for lunch!

This young filmmaker was quite extraordinary -- and within just a few minutes of chatting, it was clear that alongside his talent in making films, he had something much deeper. Something beyond just the technical knowledge of capturing beautiful images or editing hours of footage.

Hari's work is driven by the intention of finding the extraordinary amidst the ordinary; and then amplifying it with both grace and diligence. He spoke of the innumerable gems of people, experiences, words and wisdoms which can, and so often are, easily lost with our tendency to gloss over the mundane.



Hari's eye and ear (and ultimately heart) for tuning in with presence and awareness was wonderful to witness. For example, he shared how he first came across Vijayan, the subject of the film, when he stopped by the tea shop for some tea. He was caught by Vijayan's comment of hoping to visit Argentina in 2020. Hari was moved to see an elderly Indian man, who sells tea for a living, speak of traveling across the world 7-8 years later (back then). Some might have rolled their eyes, some might have probed further out of curiosity or some might have just ignored such a comment altogether. But Hari responded with a respectful admiration toward Vijayan, and a sincere desire to learn more about this man. He started visiting the tea shop more regularly, just so he could chat with Vijayan and understand the source of his worldview and philosophy in life. And sure enough honoring the extraordinary within the ordinary in this way, led to the making of Invisible Wings.



While chatting with Hari, my husband and I were struck by *his* simplicity, and a kind of unassuming spiritual depth he had. He also seemed so deeply aligned with SSp values of working as a labor of love in a non-commercial way and trusting the universe.​

Despite being of modest means himself, he refused to sell the film to a bank (which would have turned the film into an ad for taking out loans :-)) -- and Hari also turned down an offer from a travel company which would have sound-byted the film into 3 mins.

Hari wanted the film to remain about Vijayan's inspiring view toward life, and the profound faith with which Vijayan and Mohana relate to time and money -- because he felt those are the elements that will truly serve the world. So he gave up on the opportunities to monetize it and just released it publicly on YouTube, while doing a 3 month bicycle ride around South India to share the film with other ordinary people just like Vijayan. I couldn't help but wonder about the strength of Hari's own "invisible wings."

His next project will be with Logical Indian.  And his passion remains to shed light on more beautiful stories like Vijayan's -- so that we can all be inspired to continue to explore our own invisible wings, and have the presence of mind to acknowledge those of others.

Here's to the mysterious ways in which paths cross and stories travel across time and space :-)

  

 

Posted by Afreen Malim on Jan 5, 2016


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