I still vividly remember those days when my twin and I decided to create the first-ever documentary of Simara. It was a challenging but exciting journey. We participated in a competition organized by our past school, St. Alphonsa's School, and we were the only participants. We took it upon ourselves to make the documentary no matter what. We faced hurdles from the start, with limited online resources and the uncertain availability of physical materials.

We approached Mr. Ram Adhikari, a long-time resident of Simara and the writer of a book on the history of the town. He was thrilled to hear about our project and offered us the book our teachers had mentioned. It turned out that he was the author himself, and we were amazed and grateful for his contribution to preserving Simara's history. We promised to show him the completed documentary as a token of our gratitude

However, we encountered another challenge – the lack of proper equipment. We needed a good laptop for video editing, a microphone for recording, and a camera for capturing scenes. We shared our predicament with our math teacher, Mr. Rajkumar Shah. To our surprise and gratitude, he trusted us and lent us his laptop for a week. It was remarkable to see a teacher's unwavering support and belief in us. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to him for his trust

But that wasn't all. My cousin, Samip Pandit, also came to our aid and provided his laptop for our project. As for the microphone, we made do with a regular wired earphone. To capture the required clips, we convinced our father to lend us his phone for a week. With the necessary equipment and resources in place, we were ready to embark on our documentary-making journey.



We set a goal to complete the project within five days. As soon as we returned from school, we dedicated ourselves to the task, working late into the night, sometimes until midnight. We began by thoroughly reading the book on the history of Simara and going through it twice to ensure a solid understanding. Drafting the script proved to be the biggest challenge. It was our first time undertaking such a project, and it took us four days and six drafts to arrive at the final version. Nevertheless, we remained determined and pressed forward.

While working on the script, we also ventured out to capture the necessary footage. On a day when a strike was taking place, we mustered our courage and took our father's bike to film the temples, Gumba, schools, and other significant places in Simara. We also incorporated clips we found on YouTube. Recording the script was done using regular earphones, and the most exciting part of the project awaited us – video editing.

We divided the workload to speed up the process. My twin worked on the first half of the project, utilizing Mr. Rajkumar Shah's laptop, while I took charge of the second half, using my cousin's laptop. The goal was to arrange the voice and video clips in a way that would captivate viewers and eliminate distractions. It was a challenging but enjoyable experience.

After a week of relentless hard work, we finally completed the documentary. The moment we played the final version, we were astounded by the result. We eagerly shared it with the college administration, and my twin posted it on his Facebook account. To our astonishment, a local media house called Rato Ghar also shared it on their platform.

The response from people was overwhelming. Within the first day of release, the video garnered over 20,000 views. People in Simara loved it, sharing it on their personal social media accounts and sending us heartfelt comments and messages of appreciation. The outpouring of support and love for their hometown was incredible.

Here is the link of the documentary: Link