If we wonder often enough, the gift of knowledge will come – Arapaho
Last year a lot of my friends turned the dreaded big two – five and through out I had to hear about the impending quarter life crises, the disappointing jobs, the even more disappointing job interviews, the stagnant love lives, the static Facebook timelines when everyone else’s seems either like a dynamic atlas or a never ending wedding party! I kept thinking, bah humbug (!), when I turn twenty-five, I’ll be more sorted than sorted!
I turned twenty five a few months back, and sadly I am nowhere close to being sorted. I don’t know if there is any real crisis situation, but I guess it just makes the whole being an adult phase too much of a reality, its like now you definitely cannot go back to being useless, being drunk, eating only maggi noodles, bunking classes, even if you wanted to your body, mind and practicality won’t allow you to! Also the definition of discomfort has changed so much over the years and so rapidly. I was whining about the same to my parents and they didn’t quite relate because well what was I whining for? I live in a great city (with all its pitfalls and potholes), I have a job, I can pay all bills that appear with being an adult, I am done with my education…pretty much all boxes in the check list have been ticked and I am not even being pressurized to get married (! yay me!)! The definition of what we want in life has also changed so much and so rapidly. The best and the worst thing about the change is probably the freedom that is now accorded to us to choose what we want …or almost. Before, there were fixed notions, career trajectories, marriage proposals so in a way one didnt really have to worry so much because well a lot of your life was already planned for, whether you like it or not! But well we are the more liberated generation, and also hence a more confused one. We have our freedoms without the supporting infrastructure to actually enjoy it. There is so much of “you can do whatever makes your heart pump with joy” that you pretty much don’t know what that elixir of joy is! Well of course I cannot speak on behalf of everyone else, but at least the freedom has taught me what does not give me joy and how to ruminate on that for hours at a stretch without any concrete outcome!
In such situations the best thing to do is usually to either stare at the sea and understand the pattern of waves crashing at the shore, or to fill multiple pages of your diary, or even better to do both at the same time. And thus there is Goa, or rather the calm, quite, friendly, bursting at seems with all its greens South Goa!
Taking a quick weekend getaway to Goa especially during the rains massively calms ones frayed nerves. Where else can you drown your sorrows in endless bottles of King’s beer without then worrying about whether you need to starve the rest of the month after paying the bill!! On a more serious note, some times the sparseness of your surroundings makes you realize how futile your fretting is, the niceness and hospitality of people around makes you think not everyone is out there to get you down and not every day is an episode of a Zee TV drama!
Well one can probably do all this thinking in their own houses, but it is just more charming to do it while collecting sea shells on the beach!
No comments:
Post a Comment