panaji in the 1994 hollywood drama shawshank redemption andy dufresne tim robbins serving time for a double homicide tells his fellow inmate ellis red redding morgan freeman get busy living or get busy dying just like andy and red rohan pai dhungat serving life term for the murder of 16 year old mandar surlakar in 2006 chose to get busy living first by writing poems and later on discovering the artist in him i used to write letters to my family from the prison at times simple sentences could not express my feelings so i started writing poems i was appreciated by my family and jail authorities write more these poems have now been compiled into a book called for better for verse an artistic flight the poems are not just about my experience in jail but about everyone who is missing that homily feeling which cannot be substituted it is about all those who are seeking a second chance struggling to be who they were before rohan said apart from the fifty odd poems he wrote during his time in jail dhungat completed four degrees read more than 900 books learnt how to make candles and eventually found his passion for painting i did my bachelors in english literature post graduation in journalism and mass communication post graduation in labor and administrative laws and post graduation in communication and it skills i am now answering my exams for ngo management i had prepared for civil services but couldnt sit for it as i got to know about the center very late he recounted it all comes down to you either you can accept the reality and make something constructive out of it or you can go down in depression unlike other jails the authorities in goa are really supportive and proactive in reforming prisoners he stated appreciating the fact that he is a rare case of jails fulfilling their actual roles of correcting individuals talking about the his tryst with the paint brush rohan out on parole currently said that he started it as a hobby but eventually as his skills developed began to do it more extensively i took up painting six years ago i paint what i imagine and see most of my paintings have birds and landscapes they connote freedom to me incidentally he titled his recently launched painting exhibition phoenix a bird that rises from ashes talking about the future dhungat after serving ten years of his life sentence is optimistic about it the biggest lesson from these ten years is that do not take anything for granted tomorrow something can go totally wrong i have taken painting professionally i am selling my paintings and taking orders for more i can paint the whole night in jail it has consumed me totally he reckoned