But
living a nomadic life, travelling where fancy takes you, is really a good way
to live. We have just one life to live and we need to make the best use of it.
Meet new people, experiencing new cultures, imbibing new habits, opening the
horizons of the mind, dusting the cobwebs that cloud our judgement due to lack
of exposure to an idea alien to us. Travel and exploration certainly makes us a
lot more compassionate, accommodating, resilient ... richer. Richer in thought
and experience, if not in money terms. But is required to travel. Without a
cheque coming in at the end of the month, the resources tucked inside the shoe
can run out pretty fast.
This is
one reason many of us cannot even begin to start exploring and travelling ...
money. And many of us have to suspend their explorations because the money ran
out. All of us have liabilities to address in our lives – home, family, tuitions,
fees, food, gas in the car, an occasional movie, eating out. The list is
endless. Those who pursue a passion, sacrifice a fair bit and compromise on
their lifestyle to be able to balance their lives. Oftentimes, reality catches
up and the rucksack is mothballed. Sad, but that is the reality of life.
Not
everyone is after money or what money can buy. Many people want to live their
lives chasing their passions, trying to make their dreams come true. Sometimes,
it becomes a futile battle and the longer it takes for this realisation to dawn
and to come back to the tried and tested, a lot of water has usually flown
under the murky waters of the twilight zone that dreams are. It is almost as if
time stood still in the interim ... the time taken between what was given up a
few years ago to pursue a dream and the date with destiny when the ties came
out again and the shoes were polished, to walk the doors of offices looking to
get back into a “meaningful” existence.
The
pursuit of happiness is largely an alien concept in India. Maybe I am being too
generalistic or cynical, but I have found it to be true, at least in my case. “Why
can’t you take up a job and then travel during holidays?” is a common refrain. “You
gave it a shot and it did not work, now wake up and smell the coffee” is another
one. Finding meaningful employment in what you have been trained for and are
good at, is difficult. In the interim your juniors have grown. You might have
been largely out of touch with the changing landscape of the economic world,
making it difficult for employers to slot you at the position you deserve.
Compensations are almost always a miniscule percentage of what it could have
been had you been a loyal servant all along, not “jumping ship” to head off
into the horizon. All these realities hits one in the face like a ton of
bricks. Some cope with it better telling themselves, “What the hell, I gave it
a shot and now I need to play the game with the cards that I have been dealt.”
Others succumb under the ignominy of having tried and failed. In either case
there is a sense of acceptance, of compromise, “If only” never being too far
deep in the sub conscience.
Be that
as it may, life carries on. The sun will still rise in the East tomorrow, the
water flowing in the stream will still be inviting, the birds and the bees will
continue to flutter from one flower to the next, there will always be some
programme on television taking one into the horizons of forgotten dreams. But
the process of decay will start with the first day you wrap the tie around your
neck, almost throttling you, telling you, “I told you so.”
However,
the process of exploration can still continue in a different form and manner.
Vicariously and through books and television and the web. But somewhere deep
down inside, the compromise you have been forced to make will always whisper in
your ears, reminding you of what might have been, what could have been ... if
only.
No comments:
Post a Comment