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Monday 12 April 2010

In pursuit of happyness...?

We all love it.We all need it.We all seek it.
Happiness is that one thing that sometimes eludes us as disciplinedly as garbage chuckers in India avoid dustbins.
Odd,isn't it,how happiness seems to get harder and harder to find as we grow up?
Coincidence?
I think not.

I remember,as a kid,when my dad was posted in Calcutta, (yes not Kolkata yet) and trips to the South could be made only once in a year;we would gather our mattresses and suitcases and board the train to Madras(bcoz somehow,all Tamilians have to go to Madras : ).
More often than not,we stayed at this little motel called Tourist Home,which was nestled in its own cozy corner,right opposite the Egmore Railway Station.I don't quite remember who made the decision to stay there everytime.I never questioned it,though.
It was one of the truths of my 7 year old life.
I always enjoyed the stay at Tourist Home.It was our family's thing! :)
We would trundle up the hotel to one of the rooms on top after the train deposited us in the early hours of the a.m. Then,after a quick shower with Hamam soap (yes,another one of those "must do,don't ask why" things) we would all rush down to an early bird breakfast.I always ate Dosa.Wow,I sound like a fussy little kid .don't I ?But no,I wasn't. really.I merely loved dosas way too much.
Dad would always eat a variety (and a lot) of things for breakfast while Mom would cast murderous looks at him,whilst he unconcernedly told the waiter exactly how he wanted his oothappam to be made.:D
My Nani,on the other hand,was an absolute delight.She was my playmate,whom I most definitely drove to boredom with my never ending stories,and yet she listened.Always.Uncomplainingly.
And this was only breakfast. :)

Relax.I'm not going to narrate the entire itenary here.I do want to mention those evenings though.If we weren't at the beach,then I would perch myself near the window and gaze longingly at the huge white-grey domes that topped the station,and watch both the noisy pigeons that flew atop it,and the noisy crowd that jostled beneath it.
I would count the number of train whistles I heard,and I'd feel strangely happy each time my tally increased.:D
My point being,it was so easy to be happy then.Easy,effortless even.
Now,it's a whole another story.I have lived for eighteen years now,and I suppose I must have gotten wiser,but I still don't know what exactly happiness is and where and how one must seek it.
So,for now,after a whole evening of some soul searching,I declare ...
Happiness is a day at Tourist Home.
Later .
:)

6 insights:

rachina said...

like :)
n yeah happiness is so transient and also way too complicated now especially in our 'neither here nor there' years

VIDYA said...

Thanks babe :)
How's the chennai summer?

rachina said...

oh chennai summer...it's so lovely...i just LOVE feeling like i'm going to melt into liquid me in a slow and tortuous manner :P :) rain in bangalore huh lucky u

VIDYA said...

Heavy sarcasm.
Ok,I shall not chidakofy namak on the wounds anymore.
Wait for the monsoons.They'll come a visiting soon enough.:)
PS-we're chatting on Blogger now? :D Hehe!

rachina said...

yeah on blogger now..oopsy late reply...i'm in bombay! the weather is so much like chennai's but a wee bit cooler..

VIDYA said...

Bombay?
you lucky lucky girl :)