




Gulzar, Poet, Writer, Lyricist and Director
What does Spirituality mean to you?
It simply is the quest for the self, and for an understanding of life. It is the search for the self because no matter how small we are, we want to belong --- we may be stardust in the cosmos, but we want to feel part of it. We wish to know the journeys, the thousands of generations, the accidents that led to who we are here and now. We travel in time till we get to the first humans, and then to the beginning of the earth, which leads us to the question of the creator of it all. People say it is God, but isn’t that a thought? And the only way to prove it also is a thought? There never was a tangible proof of it. And scientific explanations may bring the answer one day. A few centuries ago, flying on a carpet was simply a fantasy, a legend. Today it is the most common thing to sit on a plane and sip a cup of tea. What we call supernatural today may be natural tomorrow. But constantly questioning is what matters. Without questions, there is no search, and without search, there is no growth, there is no finding the truth. Of course one does not find final answers, but that is the way evolution and growth keep happening.
Do you believe you are guided and protected by a superior force?
I would say yes. But how much of this belief is actually like a genetic inheritance, embedded in our thoughts? If there is such a thing as God which created all of us, maybe it was like a video game, for Him to have some fun. But then He should visit us sometimes, He has not paid us a visit in millions of years! On the other hand, as I wrote in a poem, if the time for a heart bypass comes, and I would be in the hospital with all the machines and doctors taking care of me, I should not be afraid, experts are there! Yet, I would talk to God and say “if You happen to have a bit of spare time, would You mind coming and sitting next to me?”
Then there is the question of coincidences,...


Group Websites : Express India | Financial Express | Screen India | Loksatta | Kashmir Live | Biz Publications