I still remember the days when I used to spend weekend afternoons peacefully snoring on my bed next to my parents' room. I also remember how my mom used to wake me up with a cup of steaming coffee and her freshly baked plate of cookies, just the way I liked it. I remember when I wrote letters to my uncle, aunt and to all my relatives in far-off places fearing that I too may be gone so far from my family some day! My dad had taught me how to pen those letters, among many other things.
Now life's completely changed. There's a CONSTANT adrenaline rush. Travelling from one corner of the country to the other, from pillar to post, to find that no costly couch can fetch just as much solace as sleeping next to mom!
I miss those days!
In this fast moving corporate world with distances ever-so-widening, relationships have become just another formality to adhere to, a responsibility to stand by.
Conversations have become much shorter now that the loved ones stay miles away! Getting a glimpse of their faces and meeting them physically has become a costly affair entailing endless travel, flights and hotel bookings.
But I can't complain. This is a choice I have made!
Well on second thoughts, what my mother's comfortable couch couldn't teach I have learned in the hustle bustle of the city. Such is life!
Today I was searching for an apartment in Kolkata, when old memories of the person I loved went past me. I wondered, "Wasn't it just yesterday we decided to buy a house together? Then why is it that today I don't see you around?"
"And mom, was it not yesterday that I said how beautiful and comforting your hands are? Then why is it that today I can't find those hands holding me?"
"Dad, I always thought building and living in a house alone was not easy. But was it not just yesterday that you said how proud you'll feel to see me build one of my own? Then why is it that today I have to share the apartment with my colleagues and not with you?"
"God, was it not just yesterday that you said "Do as I say"? Then why is it that today you have left me all on my own to figure out life?"
But then I thought it didn't really matter. Whether I was in Delhi or Kolkata or Mumbai or US, or in any city of crap, I shouldn't wake up in the same disturbed mood as before. I must learn to look beyond physical barriers. This would not only give me peace of mind, but also the wealth of hope.
I realized that nothing really has changed. My people are still with me, far off yet growing strong!
Distance never separates two hearts that really care, for it can only suppress the weak and reinforce the great.
So I don't mind even if you're a distant star, I remind myself that you deserve the love through miles... and I feel luckier!
In this world where apparently nothing is permanent, all it needs is a bit of "reaching out"... and love!
