Where the Hell is Matt ?

The story of a guy, Matt Harding, who is known as "the guy on internet who dances around the world".

Watch this video and listen to the song "Praan" adapted from the original poem "The Stream of Life" from "Gitanjali" by the great Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore.

The lyrics of the original poem follow the video.

My personal note:

This is my "feel good" pill of the day. I watch this video (whenever possible) first thing in the morning when I wake up. Its all I need to feel good about the world we live in.

Just watching the way everyone around him dances at free will without any choreography or "I-dont-care-whos-watching" attitude makes this such an mood-uplifting beauty of a video.

My favorite parts of the video being:
1. Initial sequence at 0.00 to 0.19 filmed in Mumbai, India my hometown.
2. The best place in the world to be at 2.22 to 2.26
3. The Indian dance sequence from 2.34 to 2.40. Watch how Matt beautifully follows the Indian women in their step.

Heres the video:


Lyrics in the original Bengali language:

Bhulbona ar shohojete
Shei praan e mon uthbe mete
Mrittu majhe dhaka ache
je ontohin praan

Bojre tomar baje bashi
She ki shohoj gaan
Shei shurete jagbo ami
(Repeat 3X)

Shei jhor jeno shoi anonde
Chittobinar taare
Shotto-shundu dosh digonto
Nachao je jhonkare!

Bojre tomar baje bashi
She ki shohoj gaan
Shei shurete jagbo ami

Lyrics of Praan - The Stream of Life

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth
and of death, in ebb and in flow.

I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.


My note:

The lyrics and the video couldnt be more apt fit to each other. What Matt has done (with support from Stride Gum, his sponsors for this feat, and thousands of members of crew and crowd ) is something out of this world ... that is so simple yet leaves such a wonderful message for the people about the people, about this world...


P.S: I wish I got a chance to be part of the dance sometime in the future ...wherever the hell Matt is :-)

Also, everytime I visit a new place now, I'm thinking of pulling-off-a-Matt, i.e dance like him or maybe do something different ......and keep the torch burning...

A note from Matt himself as provided on YouTube :
"14 months in the making, 42 countries, and a cast of thousands. Thanks to everyone who danced with me." - Matt Harding

If you would like to know more about Matt Harding and his dance around the world, go to http://www.wherethehellismatt.com

If you dont feel the need to go to the website, here is an excerpt from the site from the About Matt section

"Matt is a 31-year-old deadbeat from Connecticut who used to think that all he ever wanted to do in life was make and play videogames. Matt achieved this goal pretty early and enjoyed it for a while, but eventually realized there might be other stuff he was missing out on. In February of 2003, he quit his job in Brisbane, Australia and used the money he'd saved to wander around Asia until it ran out. He made this site so he could keep his family and friends updated about where he is.

A few months into his trip, a travel buddy gave Matt an idea. They were standing around taking pictures in Hanoi, and his friend said "Hey, why don't you stand over there and do that dance. I'll record it." He was referring to a particular dance Matt does. It's actually the only dance Matt does. He does it badly. Anyway, this turned out to be a very good idea.

A couple years later, someone found the video online and passed it to someone else, who passed it to someone else, and so on. Now Matt is quasi-famous as "That guy who dances on the internet. No, not that guy. The other one. No, not him either. I'll send you the link. It's funny."

The response to the first video brought Matt to the attention of the nice people at Stride gum. They asked Matt if he'd be interested in taking another trip around the world to make a new video. Matt asked if they'd be paying for it. They said yes. Matt thought this sounded like another very good idea.

In 2006, Matt took a 6 month trip through 39 countries on all 7 continents. In that time, he danced a great deal.

The second video made Matt even more quasi-famous. In fact, for a brief period in July, he was semi-famous.

Things settled down again, and then in 2007 Matt went back to Stride with another idea. He realized his bad dancing wasn't actually all that interesting, and that other people were much better at being bad at it. He showed them his inbox, which, as a result of his semi-famousness, was overflowing with emails from all over the planet. He told them he wanted to travel around the world one more time and invite the people who'd written him to come out and dance too.

The Stride people thought that sounded like yet another very good idea, so they let him do it. And he did. And now it's done. And he hopes you like it.

Matt lives in Seattle, Washington with his girlfriend, Melissa, and dog, Sydney. He hasn't had a real job since Stride called him up. Matt doesn't mind working, but he doesn't much care for having to show up at the same place every day.

Matt is not rich. Matt also doesn't have some magical secret for traveling cheaply. He does it pretty much the same way everybody else does.

Matt thinks Americans need to travel abroad more.

Matt was a very poor student and never went to college. When he got older, he was pleased to discover that no one actually cares. Matt doesn't want to imply that college is bad or anything. He's just saying is all. There's other ways to fill your head. " - From www.wherethehellismatt.com