The road trip..

Life is a journey and change is good. This is something we know- rings like a bell inside our heads but still somewhere within we have a tendency to avoid it. We look for stability- the stability of the chai shop outside of our office. The stability of the chaiwala asking us- special or regular? Kings or milds? The stability of the person sitting next to me in the offshore office asking what the score is? When I left Kolkata for good these were the things I left along with it. Now when I look back- I miss those Saturday early morning trains to home, reading times or telegraph by the window. A happy life a content life- going home to mother’s cooked four square meals a day.

A lot changed in this last year and a half. Now it is not about earning or eating anymore. It is not about that perfect plan to settle down and certainly not about the 10 to 7 job and back to a happy family. It’s a search for something different. A search for satisfaction and wholeness in the 10 to 7 spent outside. Its about cherishing and enjoying each of the moments in the weekends. 

I remember when we used to take long trips on first class compartments. That used to come with separate cabins. Four seats and a separate cabin- I loved that fact. Long vacations when I used to travel with my dad, mum and my little sis. My mum used to serve something time after time. Then there was that lucrative opportunity  of having a cup of coffee with my mum and dad. A sense of getting acknowledged among elders. I really loved those days and now I terribly miss those days. Now while traveling by air- if seated beside “my fellow countryman” there is that constant reminder that yes he has done something for himself. In a country of more than a billion people where a considerable amount of people don’t get the privilege of a washroom, 2 meals a day he is able to purchase an air ticket! What a great achievement- fucking asshole. Beside an American- or a European there is that constant urge of knowing one another- small talk and other stuffs. It’s good but after a while it is boring.

Anyway today it was not about train or flight it is about a road trip. Miles and miles of freeway. Zipping through cars and trucks. Leaving a hopeless past and moving forward to better opportunities. It’s like leaving a dark past and having the will to leave those dark clouds- look at the silver lining and the urge to hope for a better future. It’s about purging those low and extremely dull nights which needed endless bottles of whiskey, wine and cigarettes. It’s about the relaxation of a hard earned good night’s sleep which does not require the invitation of intoxication.

The trip was finally successful one but there was a feeling which never occurred before- there were no lingering emotions, nothing holding back. This was a first- It was good to be finally free!