Despite the turbulent things, particularly during mid-2021 that happened to me in my personal life, because I let them happen to me, as I mentioned earlier, it did very little to hamper my reading habits.

But honestly, the kind of literature I was reading wasn’t providing solutions to the problems I was facing, not that I was hoping for them to provide solutions to my problems. However, they weren’t having a healing effect on me as they had in 2018.

And wasn’t letting me make peace with whatever happened to me.

And here is when, at the end of 2021, I accidentally stumbled upon the name J. SAI DEEPAK.

It was in one of the videos by String (YouTube channel) that the head archaka of Chilkur Balaji temple promoted Sai Deepak’s book, India, that is Bharat and introduced him as a lawyer who was fighting for the rights of the temple and deities at the Supreme Court.

Just out of a whim I checked out some of his videos and was simply addicted to them. They were so much insightful and value driven that, I couldn’t believe that I was watching videos with rapt attention that was more than an hour long. Trust me when I say this, I can’t even watch a 10-minute-long YouTube video without forwarding it at some point. And here, there was a three-hour video on Article 370 that I watched and rewatched.

And without much thought, I simply ordered the ebook then and there and later on went on to buy the hardcopies of both his books.

And was simply captivated by the solid research that has undergone in writing a masterpiece. His videos and book appealed to me because they were relatable to me on so many levels. And the core issues he addressed almost always revolved around one phenomenon: Identity.

And all the sufferings I underwent in the recent past and in 2018 too revolved largely around that blessed word called Identity. And the other reason why I could relate to his work as I had experienced many of the topics he discussed. Just that I never paid any attention to them consciously. For instance, in one of his videos at Ayudh Summit, he says, that at least, learn one other Indian language other than your mother tongue. This will help you notice the similarities that exist between languages. And as he said, I begin to notice them consciously, as I can communicate fluently in a few Bharatiya languages and how much Sanskrit is casually spread among them.

(Maybe, will try to write an exclusive post on this sometime later).

So, I just simply got attracted to his work like iron to a magnet. And in that process understood a lot more about our culture and traditions and begin to actively decolonize me.