Quid Pro Quo With The Gods

On Tourists

Sometimes, very rarely sometimes, I prefer to jog around the area where I live and it is common to sight tourist busses offloading wide-eyed East Asians. There are many shapes of trundling tourists but the Chinese/East Asians predominate with their robust travel packs and flashing gizmos. Occasionally, a tourist would come over while I am resting on a bench and inquire,

"How can I reach xyz?"

(I get very excited)

"Walk straight, take that footbridge, get down and turn right, walk past ...."

"Thank you."

"There's a nice shop there. Try that. There's another shortcut ..take that ..take this .."

"Thank you."

(I am happy and I take great pride in being a resident in a touristy and iconic district of the city)

There are cameras snapping, tourists skittering, traffic zooming. Then I noticed that the tourist family who inquired with me and marched on is again inquiring with another person ahead. This is where I feel like pouncing on them and collar them and inquire, "Didn't you understand my directions, didn't you trust my directions, huh, huh, what made you inquire again." Instead, I brood on the bench.

I mutter to myself, I should never help these tourists. Let them get trapped or lost. Who cares! I won't give them any direction. I will pretend to be busy. Humph! I elaborated. What?! I should draw a flowchart next time?! I will never ever help a tourist.

"Excuse me, would you take a picture of us?"

"Huh?"

"Yeh, a picture."

"Sure, why not, you want the entire landscape to be covered. Let me know when you are ready."

(kitchek)

I walk home giggling. May be the Chinese family were confused with my over-excited gestures. I hum on my way back, Tourists are nice. Tourists are cute. Tourists are filling. They liven up the area. I love tourists! Tourists are chatty. Tourists are adorable.

 

That must have been a tough decision to make, being in a top position and willing to turn your back on it. In my case, I am a nobody, so it is easier for me to take snap decisions. My family too will not raise their eyebrows (knowing me). They know that I can keep myself occupied with shifting hobbies. In fact they are surprised that I am still in one piece and one job and one place. Usually, I am the type who gets psyched and very excited about everything.

Haha! I have thought long and hard on the advantageous of me being employed. Here are the things I would miss if I quit my job.

1. Fun, my workplace is fun. I would miss it.
2. I would miss the banter, the friendly colleagues, the intriguing debates on science and technology.
3. I would miss solving the daily puzzles and thinking analytically.
4. I would miss book references, article references, and all sorts of friendly references being part of a global enterprise.
5. I would miss the catchphrases, the idioms, the wordplay, and the cultural tropes in conversational emails.

It is difficult to substitute that slant learning in a non-corporate environment. There may not be such fun and insights in non-mainstream engagements. Again, I work in an informal workplace, so no bureaucratic shenanigans. I am scared of losing that playful exposure in my life. I have to think about it. That said, before 39, I might retire, only because there are many other things I have to catch up on in life.

 

More later, in the night.

For now, hungry kya?

 

To retire or not to retire

Hehe! But you were not born with or acquired or stamped with retirement. You summoned the retirement. It's a novel category altogether.

My stance is similar. I have miles to go, hence, the urge to sign off from the workforce and amuse myself with my nonsensical bearing. Earlier, my parents were worried about me. They used to reprimand, you are not doing any one thing that a twenty-something girl of your age is supposed to do. Get hitched, have kids, have a family and enjoy life. None of that interests me. I was perplexed. As I mentioned, one must train one's family. Today, my family knows that I don't derive happiness in mundane observances of life. I like loitering, idling and thinking about the immortality of the crab.



They eventually noticed that I am happy in my doolally musings. I asserted myself that, indeed, I am happy in my current form. They might not perceive how I am happy but they do sense that I am happy. Hence, now they aren't very worried about my unconventional discourses when I rave about spending a month with Tibetan monks to learn how to ring the rin gong or the Tibetan singing bowls. I too will get up from my seat, dust my back, pick up my jacket, and walk on to the world I crave, sooner than later.

People spend hours and hours aimless and puzzled to determine their wants and needs. They have no clue what they seek in life. They study, they work, they retire and are still dissatisfied and cry foul of life. Blessed are the souls like you and me who keep life simple and precise for we know exactly what to fashion out of our lives. We are pathological ramblers!

 

Sleepy Towns

Thundering Typhoon! I didn't know any of those towns. Ziro Valley in Arunachal Pradesh and Khimsar in Rajasthan are breathtaking. I am also puzzled with metropolises. People buzzing like worker bees to offices only to return to secluded homes in the evening and sleep to wake up the next day to enact the same routine. Socrates once said, "An unexamined life is not worth living". Do people take out time to examine their lives? What they seek and where they are heading? I doubt. Sleepy towns shut down your external engagement with the world and provoke your inner calling. The paramount reason I prefer sleepy towns is the blithe lives they lull you into. Not a worry or care about the big initiatives of the world. A treehouse or a hobbit home with pots and stools will do.

I have only heard about Ramana Maharshi but never read his work. I should look him up and read up his philosophical teachings one of these days.

If you are a senile rambler, then I am a compulsive rambler. You are idle. I am willing to be idle. We are not much different. Our goals and ambitions and inclinations are in sync. We will ramble away to glory with or with no inducements. I am not as occupied as women of my age are with families and kids. Hence, I can take out time for idle rambling.