Wednesday, February 21, 2007

You want a little adventure?

Yesterday was a ROTTEN, ROTTEN day for more than one reason and I would like to just hit the 'Delete' button on it. (Make that 'Shift+Delete' !!) Today threatened to head in a similar direction, but then, things got better as the day wore on. A thought, however, lingered and though sad, the truth in it kept coming back to me.

The thought that haunted me was this: Most of the times, almost amusingly, the most painful decisions of your life are the ones which are correct.

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I went to meet my Maasi and her daughter today. Both of them live in Rajkot and come down to Ahmedabad to meet my 'bhanja' (err...well, technically he's my 'bhanja', but he's already a cardiologist and I'm still wondering where and when I'll get my MBA degree... thank the older generation of parents who believed in a long line of children... my mom was the youngest of five sisters!).

During the two hours I spent with them, we recalled how a few year's back Maasi had unexpectedly landed up at our house in Calcutta at 8 in the morning! I remember both Mom and Dad were pleasantly surprised at her having called on us. But Maasi being Maasi, she was there on a mission. She quickly explained to Mom how she had, on an almost impromptu decision, left home with a group of her friends for a 'yatra', and had arrived in Calcutta without a place to stay in. She asked Mom if Dad could help.

Dad called up a few places he knew, and fortunately, a local dharamshala (which would meet the budget of the elderly group of people Maasi was travelling with) said that they could accommodate them, but not before the evening. 'No problem', Maasi said. And the next thing you knew, the bus-full of people were invited to our building terrace to 'prepare' food. Yes, that's right, people... they were actually carrying their 'mini kitchens' with them and prepared their own food on our terrace. I remember Mom and Dad watching with a rather amused smile as the elderly people went about with the energy of a couple of young boy-scouts on a camping routine.

You can imagine the amount of fun we all had that day when I tell you that I can recall this story after a good 5 years or so have passed. My parents still recall with fondness the happy feeling of helping the 'shraddhalus' on that day.

Now the reason why I'm putting this up here is because I feel that the most memorable outings of your life are going to be the ones that were unplanned. Sure it makes good sense to go on a holiday having everything planned and pre-decided. But at times, it's fun to just listen to the instinct, drop all work and head out. The novelty of it all, the kick that you get from the adventurous nature of the trip, the idea of the unexpected exciting sight that lies beyond the next corner is worth the little trouble that you must go through. And hey, it's fun !!!

2 comments:

ani said...

i so totally totally agree with this: 'the most memorable outings of your life are going to be the ones that were unplanned.'!!!

my abu trip was just that!!! an unplanned flight of fancy by 3 kudis!!! :-DD n it has been my bestest trip ever!!! >---:)---<

Shekhar said...

ani: Yeah.. your post stands testimonial to the fun that you folks had. :)