Let’s face it.
That’s what we are.
Ok fine! Primates with a sprinkling of evolution (for those of you who still believe in Darwin).
Of late I’ve decided to get up early, go for a run/to the gym and then start my day. I didn’t think much of it. I just started sleeping earlier and waking up earlier and I’ve managed to have some really good days.
Till it struck me today, how much I loathe early mornings. I mean, who in their right mind would want to wake up to a shrieking alarm when they could just throw that phone out the window and sleep another half hour… or four.
I’m going to put the entire blame on ‘phases’.
It’s a phase.
Now, how long it lasts is something of a mystery. This is a healthy phase, so I’m hoping as a well wisher for myself, that it be longer than my ‘let’s learn the guitar/flute/piano/harmonica/drums/kathak/ballroom dancing/nib painting’ phase.
Living in a metropolis is taxing. We don’t realise it but it’s pretty much in our face. Everyone works really hard, spends copious amounts of time commuting, occasionally indulges in fast food and has to party on weekends to make up for lost life. Sleep patterns go out the window. People who sleep early are almost made fun of. Cities never sleep, hence people in cities should follow suit and show their loyalty. No rest for the wicked. But is it really fun? That question brings me back to putting ‘phases’ in the limelight. It’s all good as long as you do one extreme for a while and ricochet back to another, right? It seems to be the norm. I say it because I’ve done it, as have many people around me.
The city is an amusement park gone wrong. There are rides of all kinds, monsters of each type, turning each day into an exciting battle to look forward to. But only for a while. Then it weakens us, tires us and we want to go home. Only, we don’t know where home is.
This may sound crazy, but there is life outside of cities.
That simpler life, which most people go running to once they’ve managed to burn out. R&R on a permanent basis with a side order of work. A place where people go for a stroll every now and then, because they can, because they won’t get run over or be honked at, because it’s not an alien concept.
I lived that life, before I nose dived into Delhi & Bombay. Endless summer days, bicycle rides, being able to see the milky way at night. It all seems storybook like now also because it was a long time ago, enough time to let me romanticise it. But I do remember the beauty in mild boredom and to not have insubstantial worry, the sorts which is completely unnecessary. Would I go back to that life? Sure. Would I go back to that life right now? I don’t think so.
Regardless of how much we may whine and complain about a city, we do like it the way it is right now. Our lives moving at warp speed without giving us a warning. Clutter, chaos, confusion are as much silver linings as they are dark clouds. We like it because we can take it. Head on. Crazy work schedules coupled with friends/family/travel/art/culture/money/dreams. We are all Atlas, with the weight of our worlds on us and hopefully when we’re done enjoying that, we will shrug. And go on a bike ride.
