Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Rollercoaster ride

Someone said somethign to me on saturday evening that set my mind on fire.

let me set the context. i was on my way home from the suburbs in a rickshaw.. the weather was just too enticing to spend in a train, or any other form of transportation from which i couldnt feel the spray of rain on my face and see the dull overcast sky.

Due to this decision, i spent close to an hour in the rickshaw and then another 2 hours in a cab, soaked, hungry, tired, thirsty but thoroughly excited, happy, and grinning from end to end. for the once in my life, being stuck in traffic, sprayed by water from cars whizzing by, being fiercely hungry, and what seemed to be a never ending journey dint seem to cloud my mind with irritation and anger like these trivial little inconsistencies in life usualy do. I'm a woman after all. im supposed to be hormonal.

Almost forgot to mention the cabbie was playing "Kaho na pyaar hai" which thrilled me to no end. pouring rain, strong winds, cheesy song, being in a car. P-E-R-F-E-C-T

Somewhere in the midst of this cab ride when i was staring out of the window humming the song and smiling to myself, The person i was travelling says to me "Its so funny, for some people its about the destination, others its about the ride".

for the next sometime i was thinking about this- its so true. "For some people it IS about the destination, others its about the ride".
Its so subjective, how u can interpret the above line. the way i see it is people who have the guts, the tenacity and the confidence to at least be able to take on challenges wont shy away from a long dwindling journey with roadblocks and speedbreakers, while people who are not so aggressive, determined and strong might just want "get-there-faster" (Chandler to Joey).
Too many of us are too afraid - too afraid to jump, to take the risk ,too afraid to discover we're in love, too afraid we might be out-of-love, too afraid to quit our jobs, too afraid to be in touch with what we actually feel, to step outside the mundane regularites that each of our lives demands of us, and take on the herculean tasks.

But thats what life requires us to do - it requires us to JUMP. To throw ourselves into situations we dont know will turn out right or not, to walk in the dark, to do that ONE thing we've always been afraid of, to love crazily foolishly and unconditionally, to trust our instincts, go against convention and make new tread paths. The way i see it - Greater the risk, sweeter the victory.

Another take on the line above - Today - the day of throw away morality, miracle pills, fast food, longer lives, one minute photos, 3 day 5 city vacations, who has time to enjoy the ride? We are too caught up with replacing regular newspapers with mini tabloids, Days of rest with one hour fix it pills, rickshaw rides to superfast locals, home made food with heat-n-eat food, loving handwritten letters with emails, personal diaries with blogs etc.When i can have breakfast in london, lunch in India and dinner in Dubai, would'nt a 3 hour journey within Mumbai bug me?

The point is to enjoy the ride - that garden u drive past today might tomorrow give way to yet another mall, the beautiful mangroves lining the sea might be paved for a parking lot, and the temple you used to secretly pray past might soon be dwarfed by the wall surrounding it.

2 comments:

Abhishek said...

Superb..Ur really good !!! Loved it...its more like a story...loved it totally...am looking forward to more man....:)

vs said...

When one begins a journey, it is almost always with a destination in mind. Enjoying one's journey and learning from all the experiences along the way is essential and inevitable. But, had there been no destination in the first place, there may have been no journey to experience.

That's just my point of view. Now ... bring me that horizon.

:)