“You’ve
really tanned!”
“Tum toh abhi bhi Ladakh se poori tarah laute hue nahi lag rahe ho…”
“You’re
looking happier…more relaxed, serene”
“Elita! Abhi
pahad se uttar bhi jao!”
“So what did
you get for me from Ladakh?”
Just some of
the responses I seem to have elicited since the time I returned from a
fortnight well spent in Ladakh. I’ve already put down a
4 part blog post on my
time and experiences.
So what’s this post about?
It’s about the fortnight after
returning back to the ‘ghadi-ka-kaata-pakkad-ke-chalo’ lifestyle back here in
ironically what is called the city of dreams - Mumbai…
So for most
part of it I seem to be in my ‘happy-walla state of disorientainment’ – which explains
those reactions from above. While my astral body still figures its way around,
the physical body has been for most part of it experiencing the following:
- Zen during trekking, rafting the Zanskar, cycling down KhardungLa, camping and going for walks in the dark but I freak out and fear for my life in Mumbai's traffic!
- Finding even
9 hours sleep is inadequate, where back in Ladakh I’ve woken up at 4 AM with
just about 5 hours of sleep! And not just awake BUT chirpy-giggly-happyhigh-AWAKE!
- Back there I
used a dry toilet rather comfortably experiencing no discomfort whatsoever! Out
here I’m visually treated into watching people spit, dunk crap here there
everywhere and my skin crawls! *grossed out*
- An attempt
to smile at familiar faces in the city results in me receiving blank stares. Back there in Ladakh through long walks and
treks I was greeted and warmly welcomed by perfect strangers!
- Something
about just how things were enabled you to just do things. Here, on the
contrary, all I seem to have are lists of ‘to dos’ that don't get done!
- It’s
strangely weird how tiring and out of breath some days can make you feel even though
you’re only at sea level while you reminisce the times you were active, bouncy and
on the go even at 11000 feet with reduced oxygen levels!
- And yeah I
was tanned yet pretty with tamed tresses. Here it’s the ugh humidity!!!
So it’s
evident why I wouldn’t (and actually didn’t) want to come back. And the pangs wouldn’t
just seem to go away. While I didn’t purchase anything in particular from
Ladakh, I heard myself asking this question I didn’t have an immediate answer
to two weeks ago; though I think I do now.
The question? “Given that travelling
around led (as it always does) to meeting interesting people and having
excellent experiences, what’s that special something you bring back (instead of
simply wishing you could go back)?”
I brought ME
back…an evolved version of ‘me’.
A version
that found the Looking Glass to peer right through the layers of socialization
and habituation.
A version un-masqueraded.
And now not
just more self-assured but equally eager to forge a dent on the world with an
identity that is ME.
A ME that
has a few things ironed out and these include –
Believing
the beliefs
Prioritizing
the priorities
Punning the
pun
Living the
life
There’s a
Lao Tzu quote I really like but have found hard to implement: Stop leaving and
you will arrive. Stop searching and you will see. Stop running away and you
will be found.
I guess
somewhere along the way these things keep happening to us.
We find ourselves –
in the midst of the subtle or sometimes the brazen;
in uneasy conversations or
in the easy silences;
in howlarious laughters or that one lone tear that came
out of nowhere;
in the sense of belongingness and wanted-ness or the desire to
detach and mull…
Whatever the path, you find the YOU you are meant to be.
And it isn’t
the end. It never is. And therein lies the beauty of it all.
You have to keep
un-sedimenting..keep unravelling..keep seeking.
Keep wanting to be found.
Final words
from a book I read (by chance – as all good things always do) about a year and
a half ago:
“As long as
you're around, your life is too. So just as you shower love and affection and
attention on the husbands, wives, parents, children and forever friends who surround
you, you have to do so equally with your life, because it's yours, it's you,
and it's always there rooting for you, cheering you on, even when you feel like
you can't do it.
I gave up on
my life for a while, but what I've learned is that even when that happens and
especially when that happens, life never gives up on you. Mine didn’t. And we’ll
be there for each other until those final moments when we look at each other
and say, “Thanks for staying until the end”. And that’s the truth” ~Cecelia
Ahern (The Time of My Life)