Everywhere I look I see people leading
complicated lives. Some are battling what life throws their way; others are
creating a whirlpool of mess around themselves just to feel challenged. I
travel. Sometimes I take trains, buses, boats, autorickshaws, airplane etc. to
reach my destination. On other occasions I let my mind wander and I visit
places while sitting in front of my laptop in office or while cooking in the
morning before leaving for office. My travels, real or imaginary (I don’t
really care for that word too much), take me to places where I am happy.
I am right now in a village. The comforts I
am enjoying here are more in number than those I have experienced in big
cities. But I am not here for comforts. Nor can my happiness be attributed to
the comforts alone. I am happy because I am free. Free of responsibility,
worries, the mundane life I sometimes feel bogged down by, and the expectations
that people around me load on me. Can you believe no one has asked me when I
plan to marry in the last 5 days. This is the longest that I have escaped that
question since I crossed the age of 25.
I am sitting in what should in a clichéd
manner be called the lap of the Himalayas. There is a fire roaring in the
fire-place. The peaks surrounding our cottage are covered with snow and
low-lying clouds are rolling all over them since the afternoon. I can
constantly hear the gurgling sound the stream is making somewhere in the
vicinity. For most part the only other sound is that of me typing on the
keyboard. I need no music. This is music.
My hands are cold. After all the walking I
did on the snow-covered mountain roads that were dripping wet with the
snow-melt, I am sure it will take a few days for sensation to return to my
feet. But my heart is warm.
My friends are sitting on different sofas
in the living room. Everyone is doing his or her own thing. But even in doing
our own thing we are together. The silence interrupted only when one hums to
herself, or one chuckles while reading something, or one just says ‘wow,
amazing!’ is golden because of the interruptions.
This is my happy place.
