Happy Place

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.