Living Life to the Fullest
One of my friends while discussing what LIVING LIFE TO THE FULLEST meant to all of us, said that there was nothing better than riding a bike with a girl sitting behind you. Another said that owning a mansion and a couple of vehicles which must include a mercedes illustrated the defination. Yet, another offered that having a girlfriend in every station was what it meant. Others supported going to discos and late night parties that went through the night till dawn and other such things related to material pleasures. Meanwhile, I was unable to comprehend what 'living la vida loca' meant to me. I was quiet and nodding my head in agreement with all my friends. Then, one of my friends misquoting shakespeare said that all that glittered was not gold but still, what mattered was that it did glitter. The next thing I heard was that the world was a stage where everyone was to play a part and his was to 'live life to the fullest.'
While my friends had been offering their suggestions on how to drink wine to the last drop I was silent, not knowing what to say. When my friends asked for my opinion, I confessed that i didn't know. I really could not figure out.
From the age of six I have been away from home, from my parents, my family, my village and my country(Nepal), going home only during vacations. It is a tradition in our family to send the children to far off places due to lack of proper educational facilities at home. As if this wasn't enough, civil war cropped up in Nepal making it dangerous for young children to stay there. My hometown still has no motorable roads, no electricity, there are three common drinking water-taps for the whole village and a number of domestic grinders. A river and brooks provide for bathing and washing purposes. Nevertheless, the scenic beauty can leave anyone spellbound and dumbstruck. My village, Chhangru nestles in the lofty himalayas. Chhangru to me has been so delectable, so reposeful, so dreamy and so much inviting that I always long to be there.
The proverb (or cliche) 'you realise the worth of a thing when you lose it,' is what I avidly believe in. Having stayed away from home for more than half of my life, I have realised the true value of home, parents, siblings and relatives. While my friends are planning to usher in the new year in Goa, I, quite oblivious of what is going around me, am waiting for winter so that I can be home. The moments I spend at home, I guess, come closest to my 'living life to the fullest.'
Those moments filled with incomprehensible ecstasy when I'm just a few minutes away from home are beyond compare. The inaudible music in the air as I enter my village is overwhelming. The peculiar aroma of my house as I enter the porch steps - can anything else have your sense of smell saying ' nothing can better this.' My little room gives me a 'welcome back' look and says 'I missed you' which reciprocate with a mumbled 'me too.' The feeling I get on the first morning after I get up from bed to chance upon the sun throwing golden streaks of rays on the hills is indescribable. No sooner do I step outside than than my soul starts somersaulting, slithering, soaring, tumbling, freewheeling with ecstasy and elation to find myself at home. Everything seems to be festooned with festivity.
While in college I had rented a room and had been staying alone, cooking, cleaning and washing all by myself . Almost everyday I would come back from college after practising football and singing and attending lectures, at about 8 pm. Some days would be so tiring that I could eat like a hog but then, I would be too tired to cook. Then I would tell myself 'you won't die if you miss one meal,' and sit doing nothing - frustrated, yet moments later I'd be making 'chappatis' - who has ever won against hunger? Those are the times that make me realise how selfless our mothers are and wonder how we young guys take everything for granted. Now-a-days, though, I'm working in a BPO and of course, I seldom get time to cook now.
At home, sometimes, I'm a bit mean too. Even if I have woken up from sleep, I stay in bed, waiting for mummy or my sister, sometimes even papa to come and offer me a hot cup of tea. I occasionally don't arise from bed deliberately till mummy throws off my blanket and pulls me out with her special touch giving me unsurpassable joy early in the morning. Sitting beside mummy as she runs her fingers through my hair and comments on its length, gives my soul an eternal feeling of security and tenderness of her coarse hands.
Among the best moments are the times when we wash clothes together. One of us applies soap, the other scrubbing hard, and another rinsing the soap out, and still others hanging the clothes on the porch to dry. We keep interchanging positions. The feeling of togetherness is so blissful. Going shopping with my family also gives immeasurable pleasure. Tending to our lawn and garden is another chore which I relish. Home cooked food, with that peculiar smell of firewood, is what I crave for.
Meeting our relatives in and around the town, with them receiving us with brimming eyes and marvelling at the change I've undergone vibrates the most intimate chords of my heart. Sitting with my grandmother till late at night and recollecting the days when I was a little kid and how I used to pout and cry at small things and comparing them to the present bring tears to my eyes. Moments spent with my siblings chatting about their school and life in hostels, and going rapturous over their anecdotes are the most wonderful moments.
Bathing in the river under the open sky gives me an inexplicable delight. Walking along the river-bank with a walkman, listening to mushy ballads and slow rock makes me fall in love with the gushing river, emerald hills, obstinate stones, whistling trees and chirping birds. It gives me tremendous pleasure to feed my cows, mules and horses. The peculiar way they act when they see me after a long hiatus makes me laugh with joy. These are the priceless moments and invaluable gifts that I'll never ever trade for all the world has to offer. No, the grass has never been greener on the other side, the grass at my end has always been the most succulent and greenest.
Everyone is trying to accomplish something big, not realising that life is made up of little things(Frank A. Clark). Little things like sight of dew drops in a spider's web; or, the stillness of mighty mountains; the sudden chatter of a mountain brook as you round a bend of a hill, the little things that give you unplanned and unexpected delight and make you sink in reverie. Perhaps, I'll never have a girl behind be on a bike (God! why did I not learn to ride a bike?) and I'm sure that I'll never be owning a mercedes but I can take that all in my stride, on the strength of those precious moments at home spent 'living life to the fullest.'
