Mumbai
“Zindagi ki is daud me, daud kar karna kya hai,
Agar yahi jeena hai, toh phir marna kya hai?”
Vidya Balan’s voice humming these lines rings loudly in my ear everytime I visit a local train station or spend a long time facing rejections from the auto drivers post 11 hour office turmoil. The crowd, the suited ‘hujoom’, wanting to rush back to their homes, families or personal spaces, where they can cope up with what happened today, and get ready to face tomorrows.
I too, very convieniently, knowingly, somewhat unwillingly, have become a part of this crowd. For the good or for the better, time will tell. I too wake up early, wear my ‘work – casuals’, hop onto an auto in a hurry and join Mumbai in its daily routine. Slogging till 7-8 pm, and coming back to my space, with nothing but sleep left in my body, I sit at my balcony to look out for peace.
No wonder, at weekends, the roads to hill stations nearby have no space to keep one’s feet.
You see, that is what adulting does. It comforms to these norms and rigid lifestyles. People spend years and years hoping that they will figure it all out someday, and it becomes an endless race. Adulting is not ‘settling’ once and for all, it, perhaps, is more about acknowledging internal reality, accepting the external reality, and finding a way that builds on evolving both of them.
What if someone were to break it off, to breathe more, yet, work towards goals, dreams and aspirations! What if this norm was never set in the first place? Democracy is a relatively newer concept, hence, I have my own apprehensions looking back at history to find more breathers. But what if there was a time where adulting was defined differently? Too ideal to pursue, is it?
Sitting at marine drive, as the gushes of sea air hit the face, these questions pop up in majority of minds, with their legs dangling about the vast, infinite ocean. Debates and conversations amalgamate into promises and dreams, and then, they get up, since sitting far too long at night may make them late to jobs next day.
“Jo apni aakhon me hairaniya leke chal rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum.
dilon me tum apne, betaabiyan leke chal rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum.”
(Javed Akhtar)
A potion to think?
Until next time.