Sometimes all it takes is one person to make you realise how life can be lived. There I was living a perfectly normal, albeit boring, life for 29 years, watching the years go by without doing anything much to mark them. I had been through my share of ups and downs, heartbreaks and successes but when I looked back there was nothing extraordinary or remarkable about any of my days. In short there was nothing that set me apart from a billion other people.
When I was younger I had a wish list of things I wanted to do before I turned 30. Of course at that time 30 seemed ages away; giving an impression of endless time before it arrived. Now as the age looms ahead I look at my list to see how far I have gotten. It reads something like this
- Get a tattoo
- Learn swimming
- Go rafting
- Learn how to ride a bike (if only till my colony market!)
- Go on a road trip with friends
- Go on a cruise
- Get married
- Experience camping
- Go sky diving
- Complete my PhD
- Buy a car
And so on. Some things I managed like getting a tattoo and buying a car but some other wishes seemed completely out of reach. Till an old friendship was rekindled and a new journey began…
Yesterday I went on what you could call my first biking trip. A friend of mine invited me and giving in to a somewhat buried reckless spirit I said yes. As the day drew closer I had my apprehensions. I mean lets face it; I am this organized cautious soul who has learnt the hard way not to be impulsive. So what exactly was I doing, thinking I could be a useful pillion rider; considering that my first and only bike ride was 8 years back and had lasted for exactly 2 minutes? However it was too late to back out so with trepidation in my heart I approached the bike which overnight seemed to have assumed mammoth proportions.
Thanks to countless movies I knew how to get onto the bike without embarrassing myself. My friend of course was extremely amused at my expression and assured me that I wouldn’t fall off. However for someone who’s accustomed to the safety and comfort of a balanced four wheeler, suddenly the two missing wheels seemed very ominous! Needless to say I held my breath as he started the bike and then we were off.
The experience of being on a bike can’t be captured on paper. There are no words which can quite describe the feel of the wind against your face, the power of the machine under you, the throttle of the engine as it accelerates, the image of objects whizzing past in a blur and above all the sense of utter, undiluted freedom. There’s this sensation that you exist only for that moment. Yesterdays and tomorrows fade away; what remains is an absolute sense of today.
For me yesterday changed everything. It slammed home the fact that life is for the living. It’s for today, it's for the moment. I have been so busy lamenting about the past and fretting about the future that somewhere I ended up burying the present. Those precious minutes of exhilarating freedom made me realise that the wish list shall have many more completed items before I turn 30.
Carpe’ Diem is what life’s all about. And thanks to an old pal, adventure no longer seems to be a daunting word.
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