Roti, Kapda, ‘Gaadi’ aur Makaan!

It is every common man’s dream to have the proverbial essentials in life - Roti (bread), Kapda (clothing) aur Makaan (humble abode).  Some driven-souls, with a stroke of luck, actually go on to realise the dream but, for most of them, it largely stays what it sounds like - a dream. While the first two components of this dream are relatively easier to come by, it is the third (makaan) one that takes a toll on our lives and saps us financially, psychologically and then physically. In a way, our entire lives revolve around attaining them. Though times haven’t changed much, the same common man - a little ambitious and enterprising now - has widened the scope of their millennium dream. The dream has one more addition to its equation now – a Gaadi (a Car).

Since all my blogs emanate from personal experiences, I will not go past myself here too to drive the point home. When I started out in this big bad world, I used to dream like any other common man. However, over the last few years, I realised that instead of wasting a lifetime in chasing the ‘dream’, it would be a good idea to achieve the ‘target’ (worldly things) at the earliest and be done with it. And then, while you still have time and will, set out for a new dream which is more meaningful and has depth to it. I have also wisened to the fact that our mind works better and evolves faster when we are not concerned about our next meal.  Now back to the little story from where I trailed off.

Communications Practitioner by profession, I have been working for almost nine years now. By dint of my hard work and the non-existent God’s grace, I have managed to do reasonably well in life. In the course of my professional career so far, I got married; bought a humble flat followed by a nice car and earned myself a not-so-healthy bank balance in the process. Back in 2007, when I began working as an Assistant Consultant in a fledgling PR agency with a meagre salary in hand, I used to have moments of serious doubts about my ability, career choice and growth prospects. A cloud of gloom would often pall over my confident stance of realising my dream. From there to reaching here - where I have all four - has been quite an eventful journey for me.

                                                       

Today, when I look back, I consider this as an achievement because it was not a cake walk for me. I feel contentment and proud beyond words.

When I was 21, I had set myself a target that I would own a house and a car by the time I was 30. There were times when I would be occupied with these thoughts for weeks. And then, gradually, I got busy with the daily grind and forgot about it completely. Never did I consciously take stock of things and checked if I was still on the right course. Fortunately, things started to fall into place for me. Incidentally, I bought a small flat about two years back which turned out to be my biggest investment in life. It was a WOW moment for me. I felt like I had arrived! There was a sudden change in my gait and I would walk with my chest puffed out. For me, it was something I could boast about with friends, colleagues and acquaintances. Even to this day, it ranks amongst one of my proudest moments. I mean little else can beat the feeling of owning a house - dimensions notwithstanding - in a metropolitan city.

One of the two items ticked off from the wish list.

During early stages of my career, I never thought that a car should be in my scheme of things. For the better part of my professional life, I had used a bike to commute from home to the work place; and I was happy with it. Like most youngsters, I used to love the freedom that came with it. The feeling of wind running against my face; easy maneuverability at traffic snarls and fooling around with friends occasionally on bike would give me a different high.

And then, like most people, I grew professionally AND became more practical.

I am a man who likes to be completely in control of his life. So, it used to irk me when Weather Gods would call the shots when I had to go for some urgent client meetings. It would sting me when my clothes got soiled because some goddamn spoilt brat chose not to slow down his car before a string of potholes on a rainy day. The Sun wasn’t kind to me either. It seemed all of them conspired against the common man who loved his bike. The process of keeping an extra pair of clothing daily while straddling my bike to office started to become tiresome. The very thought and possibility of being defied by weather despite best preparations would rankle me all the time.

Moreover, it would burn a hole in my pocket every time I had to book cabs at exorbitant prices for family members wanting to attend social functions. Soon I realised that the solution to all these multi-layered problems and the one missing piece from the puzzle called my dream is the same – a gaadi.

Once it occurred to me that things wouldn’t work out without a four-wheeler, I got down to business in no time. A bit of market research on car models falling under the budget and suggestions from friends helped me zero in on a premium hatchback that was and has been creating ripples in its segment, Hyundai’s Grandi10. It turned out to be my first car and I can’t even express in words how great and satisfying it felt that day!

Both the items struck off from the wish list now.

Also, it dawned on me how everything has fallen in place over the years and my dream of owning a house and a car came to fruition just when I was in the 30^th year of my life. Today, it’s been about eight months now that I have been driving to office in my car; and I must say, life has changed for better. There is more of comfort, style & ease and less of inconvenience and helplessness now.

Human mind is complex in nature. It is dynamic and thus, never stays the same. So is the case with dreams. It keeps on changing. Sitting in the comfort of my home, one day it suddenly dawned on me that creature comforts were fine but life was not all about just attaining roti, kapda, gaadi aur makaan. Working like a machine and living a mundane life till we die paying our bills - life doesn't need to be like that. It can be like a good book instead. With chapters full of topsy-turvy episodes - events, adventures, fun, problems, tussles, adversities, overcoming the same with grit and gumption, learnings, benevolence, opportunities, spiritual acts and everything else that turns it into an absorbing affair. Our narratives should have a logical ending. It should be a tale worth telling. Someone has fittingly said, “Woh jawaani jawaani nahi jiski koi kahaani naa ho!”

With the millennium dream achieved, I believe I am perfectly poised now to turn a new chapter in my life. It feels like new vistas have opened up before me. A new sense of freedom and confidence has quietly slipped into my system.  I think I can do whatever I feel like. I can achieve whatever I choose to set myself out for. I can become whoever I want to be like. I have never felt this confident before in life. A life with great promise and endless possibilities seems to be beckoning me...only waiting for me to take notice and respond favourably. Guess what...I don’t intend to disappoint it!

P.S. – Upgrading from bike to a car has got me my fair share of problems and challenges. Perennial episodes of monster-sized SUVs (driven mostly by Yadavs and Chaudharys) with blaring music overtaking me from the wrong sides and stupid drivers (bikers/rikshawallahs/truck/ buses etc) - with absolutely no traffic sense - brushing their vehicles against mine every now and then with great impunity have become a daily ritual. Witnessing road rage and parking woes intermittently has now become an inseparable part of my life.  And I am living with it with borrowed patience not knowing how long it will last me. J

                                                                                                                                             

Roots Beckon!

For as long as I remember, I have always drawn enough joy and pride from the fact that I was born in the lap of nature. My native village, Brijwar, is located in Almora – one of the 13 districts of scenic Uttarakhand. It is placed on a foothill and is surrounded by a wonderful range of mountains. The journey from the arduous and boring landscape of cities to the breathtaking and refreshing views of my birth place is nothing short of an adventure. Once you reach within the radius of 20 kms, you can see the gigantic hills from a distance. The labyrinthine roads then lead you up to the top of mountains which then spiral downwards; and the routine continues for three hours (approx time taken to cover a distance of 100 kms on hills). Sudden mystic appearances of fog, rain and sunlight in turn on the way leave you mesmerized. Not aware of the scientific reasoning (clash of tectonic plates that gave rise to mountains millions of years ago), I spent all my childhood kicking my bottom wondering as to how mother earth had given way to such huge protruding alps. 

 Untill my graduation years, I used to visit my home town frequently but ever since I started working (for eight years now), the trips to Brijwar have been very few and far between. Fortunately, last month, we got a wonderful opportunity to go all bag and baggage with the entire family to the village. The occasion that called for the entire clan to be present was a religious ritual that takes place once every 30 years. It was expected to be big and turned out to be so. Most of the fellow villagers, like us, had moved to cities years ago for better prospects. In the past two decades, the exodus our village witnessed was alarming. Brijwar – once a home to over 150 inhabitants – has now been reduced to just 60-odd people. So, for this reason too, it was a heartening sight to notice the entire village back in its old glory and going full throttle.

  The religious practices continued for three days. All the denizens and guests participated in full vigour. Ceremonial dance and feast were organized; ritual killing took place (I seriously hope no animal rights’ activist visits this blog); other customs and practices were carried out in due manner; and pleasantries were exchanged. Now, I am not too religious a person and firmly believe it is the root cause of all the ills that are prevailing in the society today. However, I couldn’t help but notice the upside of it. Religion, as it is, and traditions help a great deal in keeping the social fabric intact. It keeps the society together and prevents it from falling apart. How else are we to justify the kith and kins and the distant acquaintances coming together here after years and in this magnitude? People join hands when it comes to performing pujas (religious practice), following centuries old rituals and traditions. Thus, it was a heartening sight.

Throughout my stay in village, my mental faculty worked at two levels. One was observing what was happening around and the other one was filtering the information and running it parallel to how things used to happen back then in older times. Since I had the luxury of time, I dwelt on these matters and wallowed in the past at length. Everything flashed before my eyes. How we would go in groups to distant places to fetch water from natural resources. What fun it was to play childish games while at it. It was nothing short of an adventure going to neighboring villages on foot to meet near and dear ones and trekking arduously to reach a temple of our family goddess which was about 10 kms from our village. The nearest telephone booth was three kms away and the electricity was yet to reach our part of the world. Compared to the same, we have water taps in each and every house today, roads have become better and the transport system has improved. Mobile ringtones can be heard from every corner of our village and electricity is in abundance.

Earlier, the farmers were largely dependent on their produce for their livelihood. Now, the educated and competent ones are vying for winning local elections, applying to schools for teaching assignments and turning tradesmen.  While all these development and forward-looking thinking is good, the rustic charm which has always been known as the hallmark of hills is found amiss these days. The villages are becoming more like the cities. People are fast turning into smugs. There is less of kinship, mutual love and respect and more of one-upmanship. I have no idea where will it lead us to and what fate we achieve eventually.

While all this seem to be deterrents, I try not to get affected by the same. After all, there is a long-standing connect with the roots that I find hard to forsake. The majestic mountains, free-flowing tributaries, eye-pleasing terraces full of rice, maize and spices; pristine air and favourable weather – how can one not miss them? The feeling of staying connected with one’s roots surpasses everything else.

Previously, my grandparents used to take care of our ancestral house but my grandma moved with us last year as it became increasingly difficult for her to manage without my grandpa who passed away a few years back. The house is lying vacant now and there is a sudden sense of isolation that has crept into my being. The feeling of drifting away from the motherland is rampant more than ever now.

We stayed at our village for about a week. When we left for plains, a part of me wanted to scream out in pain but the better sense muffled that voice. While coming back, I quietly made a promise to myself that I would be back soon and keep up this wonderful relationship that I share with my native land for as long as my body will allow me.

We may have come to Delhi for better prospects and leading a comfortable life but somewhere in the quest of attaining sophistication, our lives have become more complex as we have lost the simplicity in the process. Today, I might be a well-settled professional living in a metropolitan city and given to creature comforts but I still think I draw more satisfaction from rudimentary lifestyle than anything else. The serenity it brings to life is beyond words.

My heart is set in Almora and its country life. I think I am and will always remain a rustic at heart. As they say, you can take a rustic out of their village but not village out of a rustic. :-)

Greeting New Year With Hope

Welcoming the New Year sans any resolution, one feels something hugely amiss. I am experiencing the same feeling right now. But still, I am OK with it. At the start of every year, millions of people across seven seas anyway make resolution which they never adhere to beyond the first phase. I, myself, have been a serial offender in this case. Moreover, I think, we have seen so much being taken away from us in the past one year that all other things appear pale in comparison. Then why must we follow the stupid practice? So, today, on the very first day of 2015, I am getting rid of the resolution-making habit. Instead, I am trying to revive the 'hope’ that has died inside me. 

As it is, a bit of introspection made me realize that what usually makes us feel truly happy and worthwhile may not even present itself in a physical form.  All the worldly things are made to appeal to human senses but not necessarily they bring peace of mind and inner happiness.

See, I am a fat guy and I understand that if I exercise regularly from now onward, it will make me fitter and healthier in future. But will it make me happy? I am afraid I am not sure.

I started earning seven years back and my first salary-check drew me Rs 6000. It was not much but still it made me happy. Today, I make a decent cut by any standard but does it please me? Do I feel content with it? I don’t quite know the answer.

I used to feel happy when I would see chirpy and innocent kids walking up to school in the morning. For a few fleeting moments, I would forget all my problems. The feeling is not the same anymore. Now, every time I see a school kid, the disturbing images of the massacre in the army school of Pakistan by terrorists hit me like a bullet. It has become increasingly difficult for me to disassociate the ills of society from whatever good is left in the world.

I will feel good if my peers feel good with my personal growth and happiness. I will feel better if my colleagues feel better at my professional advancement at work. I will feel truly happy and amazing if there is less of hatred and war and more of love and peace in the world.

So, on this first day of the year, I just ‘hope’ that the coming days, weeks and months will witness more of tolerance, peace and unity in the world than anything else. These three things together form the core of humanity and score over everything else. Our world will indeed be a better place to live in even if we are left with just three of these things... because, at the end of the day, everything else doesn’t really matter. Does it?