I W & F

Irresponsible, Wild and Footloose. My conversation with my girls (we are 6 of us and living in different places, but keep in touch very regularly thru’ the wonderful medium of e-mail and telephone) today was around this. A very interesting and lively exchange of email on the I W & F phase(s) of our lives. We were recounting a few incidents when we were I W & F. Some of them were funny, some were profound, some were sad, some were plain stupid. Great for a laugh and a superb conversation point in a pajama party…After downing a few cocktails, imagine the ‘damaging’ anecdotes that can spill out!!

   Recounting the incidents when you were like that can really open up a Pandora’s box of memories…Memories of when you were stupid enough to fall headlong for a guy who had ‘I’m trouble’ written all over him, or when you were so drunk that you passed out, or when you flirted with some strange men and enjoyed it thoroughly…there are a million things that can come under I W &F. A common thread among all of them, I’m sure, is the feeling of being free…absolutely and completely. No boundaries and no questions. . .

General catch up…

I know I have been away for a while…though I’ve religiously updated my travel blog. You know how life has a way making you busy…with work, friends and family. It’s actually a nice thing to have packed days, but sometimes you do need those empty hours where you have time to blog and read others’ blogs!

 A very close friend of mine visited us after a gap of over 10 months. It’s so reassuring when you meet people after a long time and realize nothing’s changed and you can pick up the thread right where you left off. I know I might have said this earlier, but everytime it happens, it gladdens me like nothing else.

[The below is unrelated to the above...in fact, all the paras in this post are all unrelated to each other!]

 It struck me that faith can actually make people do a lot of things, especially here in India where faith runs deep. I was having this conversation with someone about how people aged 50+ years can trek in snow or slush in dizzying altitudes only to get a glimpse of their God’s idol. Take for example Amarnath, Vaishno Devi, Mt Kailash (manasa sarovara). Or even climb hundreds of steps to reach a temple on top of a hill (take Tirumala for example). People who wouldn’t have done any training to do such things. In a way it’s amazing how they get the sheer willpower to do this. Faith can drive things, no? I have utter admiration for such people…if I had to do any of these (though I’ve climbed the Tirumala hill long back and treked the 15 odd kms to Vaishno Devi, these were done when I was in my early college years, so my fitness levels weren’t much of a concern…but I still remember when climbing the steps to Tirumala peak, I had to stop at one point because of breathlessness, it was so steep) Now, I would take a few weeks off, train and then go. I saw some pictures and videos of Mt Kailash and it blew my mind. I need to go there someday. For sure. Not beacuse I have religious inclinations, but beacuse I see God in nature and what He (or the ‘power’) has created there is absolutley breathtaking.