Lets talk to a creator and time-traveller....

Opening lines – 

A young man – with a dream in his eyes, and a hope in his heart – makes a journey. From a suburb town, Balasore, in eastern India to Lund, a beautiful university town of southern Sweden. His homeland, his surroundings, his brothers and his mother are all left behind – he misses them. But then, such is life. His dream of becoming a doctor must be fulfilled.

Since then, it has been three decades in this country. Dr Rabinarayan Dash, a rheumatologist and an author, wants to keep working for the people.
 
Spending an afternoon with him reveals the third dimension of his personality – that of a thinker. Deep down in him lies a person who loves to reflect and ask questions, often to himself.

The essence of humanity – 

It is very deep question. I think what is more important is understanding the similarities of humanity. Instead, we focus much more on the dissimilarities. Feelings like fear, anxiety, expectation and ambitions – all these things are common across all cultures. That's what makes us human actually!

In your case, from one country to another –  

It has been beautiful and enriching. You grow up in a place where you learn to swim. The village and the banyan tree in it bring you up like a child and these become part of your world. Then one day you part ways. You are away. What remains is memory. As part of the nostalgia there is a constant longing. What can you do with this longing? One way could be to transform this longing into a creative life. The other way would be to fall back to nostalgia. I have tried to take a middle path. I have chosen to live in two worlds.

It is important to understand the uniqueness of the place you are living. The trees, the landscape, and the surroundings make the place. Then you start to make friends and happen to meet some common friends. Despite some obvious differences, one should think – I am the world. The world starts from me. Everybody I meet in my world away from homeland is my friend. It is only the surface that separates us. Deep inside, we're all humans and we are loving and seeking for something different, something unique.



Sweden and its impact on you – 

It's a beautiful part of the world. Most of the places are pleasant, the air is fresh, the water is clean, you can drink the water from the tap. A lot of nature has been kept intact. Wilderness is the best place for humans to express.
 
One good thing is that the society is still not caught in conformities. Swedes have suffered from nationalism in the past. But that has not affected their soul. That makes this country quite different and unique.

Fears and threats to creativity – 

To maintain three parallel lives – that of a physician, author and a family man – has not been easy. But then, I do not plan, at least at this stage of my life. Everything happens as a spontaneous thing. Okay, sometimes I feel the odd pressure of not achieving better things in life. I think if you understand the structure of this fear of insecurity and failure, it will just melt away. Once melted away, you enter a better life.
 
I don't want to achieve. Let it happen, I will be there. There is a constant threat to free thinking. Mankind has survived through it through millions of years. It is always some ideas that create some words. The words in the end turn violent. Nature, on the other hand, has been more kind to us. I believe the future world will be more understanding and freedom would be the foremost idea in every human mind.



Works reflecting the present – 

I can mention about a novel “Peddler of Emptiness” and a poetry collection “Reasoning with T-Rex”. The novel talks about the future world. Hundred years ahead, when most of our physical needs can be fulfilled by the machines, what is left for us is emptiness. Or is it something else? 

T-Rex talks about the present political ideas. On one side we see the religious fundamentalism and on the other side we see the nationalist mindset. How does one reason with them?

Parting words – 

We should understand ourselves through the others. The complete opposite opinion is not always wrong. If we understand, we can appreciate the differences in people. It should start with me. My hopes lie on those unknown people making small differences and doing unique things to help the humanity. They hardly come out in the newspaper or in the mainstream media. But maybe their time is coming. 

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