One fine
morning you will wake up from the slumber, filled with disgust towards your job and everyone you know, almost everyone. You will look at the watch, before throwing it away because schedules don’t matter to you anymore. You will directly proceed to the basin, wash your face and gaze at yourself in the mirror, your eyes staring at you with emptiness. This is the first morning you don’t care about anything.
Sitting on the bed while gazing at the minuscule particles of the sunrays, you will try to remember the dream you saw last night. Few minutes later while buttoning your shirt you will remember it wasn’t the dream, but the last thought you had the night before. You will spend some more minutes recalling it, while you continuously tap your defunct iPod hoping that it will come into life, but it is as useless as your life right now. You will remember about that old Discman lying in the corner, and as the first Rolling Stones track hit your brains, they will start functioning at their normal speed.
You will tie the shoelaces of that brand-new converse, which were lying unpacked since the day you bought them. The corporate world has sucked the life from you, and you need a holiday. You will get out your house and proceed towards the travel agent's office, when suddenly you realize that from past five years, you are going to the same holiday destination. It will not seem right, and that is when the thought from the night before will hit you.
The unplanned vacation
You are skeptical about the idea, but still unable to stop your hands taking out the clothes and packing them into the travel bag lying unused from last three years. Your mind is thinking about everything that can go wrong during this unplanned trip, as you will slowly leave your house behind, locked until god knows when.
You will hail the taxi, without knowing the destination. Every moment will be unplanned, and every direction that will come out of your mouth will be your instincts doing the talking. Turns after turns, deciding between bus stand, airport and railway station, you will finally find yourself standing on a railway platform.
You have no idea, what you are going to do next. The organized chaos is whirling all around you; they all have a ticket in their hands and a hope to reach their expected destination on time. So, there you're standing, with nothing but few of your belonging, looking at train charts with a hope of reaching somewhere new in whatever time it takes.
You will proceed towards the ticket counter, but this time you will not know the name of your destination. You will ask him to give you the ticket to the last destination of the first train out of the station. You will collect it and realize that the train is due to leave in next two minutes, from the announcements.
You will run as if it is the train to your dream destination, you will run as fast as you have never in your life. Somehow, while dodging the luggage and passengers you will enter the train just in time. After settling down on your berth, you will discover that your destination is in a part of your country you have never been to.
While sitting with passengers speaking a language you have never heard, it will remind you about your penchant for the new languages. You haven’t learnt any from past 10 years; college and job have sucked the life out of you. Therefore, you greet the one sitting next to you, and after asking this stranger’s name, you request him to teach you few of the words of his language.
You will use those newly learnt words to impress that beautiful girl sitting across you, because what can go wrong. After a long time, you are confident while striking a conversation with a stranger girl. It turns out she is the daughter of the man who just taught you those words by which you impressed her. Before you can make amends, their destination has arrived. Now you are alone, as your fellow passengers have left.
While humming some of your favourite songs, you will stare out of the window at the mountain ranges passing by; you have never even imagined yourself coming to these parts when suddenly you will receive a call from your boss. Enraged by your sudden disappearance he demands an explanation. Miffed by this behaviour, you immediately throw your phone out of the window as the train crosses a river. You know the repercussions of your act, but you are too oblivious with fear that has been lingering inside you. You’ve suffered enough, and it’s your time to break the shackles.
"Who cares about that job?" The thought rises in your mind as you started writing few lines on the page lying in front of you. You will be writing a poem for the first time since your breakup, you've promised never to write or sing again since she went, it had been a painful year. However, you can't keep yourself from smiling, and enjoying as you feel a drop of water collide with you skin, as few more follow it and land directly on your arm placed at the window. You look at the sky, as the train will forge ahead under the dense cover of black clouds.
It will start to rain as you let the droplets pierce your inhibitions and drench a part of your shirt. You have kept the paper in your bag; it is safely clutching the first poem you have written in quite some time. Your destination is still far away, as you sit by the window letting the cold wind caress your hair.
Few hours later
After a long journey, you will get down at that obscure station you have never imagined arriving at. Except a few people, the station is embodying the calmness of that town you have reached. You will immediately fall in love with the surroundings.
This is the place where you have always imagined settling down.
You will immediately get out of the station in search of a hotel. And while searching for the hotel, a poster trying to fend off the sticky paste that is holding it against the wall while ruffling in the wind, will catch your gaze. It’s an advertisement
containing the newly opened paragliding centre. Adventure sports, you have always wanted to experience that thrill.
You will spot a hotel, and immediately set of for the Paragliding centre after putting your luggage in the room. You have skipped the meals
at
the hotel; you don't care about those clenching muscles in your stomach as craving for something delicious.
You will try your best to locate the address of the centre interacting with the people who don’t speak your language. Unsuccessful
at your numerous tries, somehow, you will find a shopkeeper who understands
a English. He will point you towards a hill few kilometers away in the east direction. As you will look eastwards, a lush green mountain range will be standing, as if welcoming you with an open heart.
You will hitch a ride to your destination,
and realize your favourite song is playing inside the car. And as you will start singing along, you’ll be joined by the driver sitting next to you.
Here, you have your first friend in this new town. After dropping you at your destination,
he will invite you for a lunch the next day instead of parting with a plain goodbye.
As you step inside the centre, the blood will start creating a chaos in your veins. After spotting an instructor standing at a distance, you will have an urge to run towards him. Because at this moment, you don't have a single second to spare in your chase to fulfil one of your earliest dreams.
"Are you ready for it?" The instructor will ask while tying the safety belt around you. The twinkle in your eyes, as you look towards the vast valley spreading in front of you, will convey your answer.
As you slowly place your palms on bars of the paraglider, you will ask yourself for the last time if you’re ready for it. A smile will appear on your face, because somewhere inside you have always known the answer. The instructor will pass instructions, and you will slowly start proceeding towards the edge, ready to experience that beautiful feeling which has eluded you.
Before taking the last step towards your first flight, you’ll look around towards the people standing nearby. Staring in their eyes and asking them if they have also left their organized life behind, to experience this happiness inducing
helter-skelter And you’ll fly away….
So, are you ready?
