Savouring a slice of the best moments of life
It was as if the entire world was on Speed or some such intoxicant! A universal stimulant or hypnotising drug was running in our collective veins, pushing us to break boundaries, strive for perfection and seek new, competitive highs, when all of a sudden everything just ground to a complete halt.
An eerie silence descended on Earth, the inhabitants were all at once subdued and hushed as the mortal fear of a tiny, deathly virus invaded our cities, homes and families. The virus, for all its innocuousness and microscopic size is formidable, leaving a trail of tragedy, sorrow and vast destruction as it continues striking its vicious path across the world, ignoring international borders, picket fences, mountains and the mighty seas.
A year down the line, huge pharma companies, armed with the best microbiologists and virologists, backed with enormous sums of money, worked round the clock to produce vaccines against the disease and then began the gargantuan task of administering them to the entire world population.
In the midst of this clamour and hysteria, Richard Branson, the maverick businessman and founder of Virgin Galactic, snuck a surprise, upended his nearest rival and blasted off for his record four minutes of weightlessness, aboard Unity 22, just breaking out of Earth’s thick atmosphere into space.
Not to be left behind, the Tokyo Olympics sounded their belated bugle and thus it is business as usual. Fierce competitiveness, sheer hard work, sweat and blood comes to the fore as we read about each victors’ endearing and encouraging stories of grit, determination, sometimes squalor and poverty and eventual triumph.
Amid all this din, a brave little car made its way out of a nondescript, dusty road in Auroville, Puducherry, determined to carry its brave occupants all the way, across India, touring cities and towns made special to them by old family memories.
The gregarious and smart Punjabi man, with his charming French wife and their adorable 14-year-old daughter stopped by our home for a meal on their way to Amritsar. As they excitedly described their journey of a few thousands of kilometres so far, we were enthralled. Their earnestness and excitement were so infectious and their delight in the smallest of pleasures and experiences would be an eye-opener for even the most jaded. Describing life in Auroville, a model, self-sustainable village set up as an experiment by the Tamil Nadu and French governments, they seemed like people out of a fairy tale, pure and untouched by the trappings of today’s world.
Having no fixed itinerary, they turned into a road as fancy took them and stopped anywhere at a whim, sometimes even sleeping in the car. Carrying provisions, a gas cylinder and stove, the three of them were brimming with excitement as they discussed the trip, discovering the beauty and magic of India in the simplest of ways. Listening to them, it dawned on me that it truly does not take much to make one happy and content. It can be surprisingly easy to enjoy life if we choose to.
Being on the world stage among leaders or standing on a podium listening to deafening applause or earning your next million or blazing into space and such are all adrenalin-pumping moments, yes, but waking up in sleeping bags at dawn, brewing an invigorating cup of tea in the boot of the car atop a small, undiscovered hill and watching the daybreak, surrounded by your loved ones, may yet be the best moment of all!
THEIR EARNESTNESS AND EXCITEMENT WERE SO INFECTIOUS AND THEIR DELIGHT IN THE SMALLEST OF PLEASURES WOULD BE AN EYE-OPENER FOR EVEN THE MOST JADED