Musings

Amazing isn’t it how places and weather makes a difference in the way we react. Imagine waking up every day drenched in sweat, which is more than likely how you would wake up in Chennai minus air-conditioning!! With a start like that, no day seems worth smiling for. You wake up with a scowl and then listlessly move yourself till the first cup of caffeine is downed. My brother says that’s why he likes Bangalore so much, coz you at least wake up with a smile after a refreshing night of sleep in a mild weathered environment. So I guess weather makes a lot of difference to our temperaments!! But then I also realize that when I am in my hometown in kerala even when the place is hotter than Chennai these days (blame it on global warming!) I still wake up in sweat and yet with a smile!! So that got me thinking!!! Its not just the weather that makes a difference, eh? I kind of zeroed in on COMFORT factor. Comfort is not just with respect to your body but also when the mind is at peace ……….so what’s being at peace….? Peace to me is a state of mind where fear and stress are absent. I find it when I am laughing over a particularly hilarious joke, book or movie ….i find it when I am moved by a lovely melody……. I find it when I go to the temple and pray….. It’s not long lasting but its there with me through different moments of each day. Today, I went to the local supermarket here at my hometown and the cashier goofed up on the billing, had I been in Chennai I would have at the very minimum given an irritated glance and at the very maximum blasted the lady for wasting my time. But I am not in Chennai, I am in laid back Trichur, and what do we do here, we smile at the person encouragingly and say that’s okay, do it again!! And you come out of the supermarket feeling good. Why can’t I do that in Chennai?!! Coz the place is not built like that? Am I not being a hypocrite by dishing out two behaviors for the same situation just coz am at two different places? So what’s the deal here? The deal is the pace…… in a slow paced environment you really don’t need to rush off and do something so you can spend a few extra minutes and its not gonna cost you anything…….in a fast paced environment you need to get out of the supermarket and then rush home before you get caught in the traffic (and still manage to reach 30 mins late) and then cook dinner and go for a walk and talk to your family and prepare for office next day and….and ….and…..aaaaaagghhhhhh !!!! no wonder you get pissed off at the slightest instances. So weather, comfort, peace and pace…… hmmm…. That’s a bit hard to get altogether huh? J Recently I heard of a movie Benjamin Franklin where the protagonist starts life as an old man and then progresses to age reversely. I like that concept, in fact I need to watch that movie. My good friend Anup has told me over and over again that I was born old and that with my character I should have been born in the BC’s or AD’s. These days at home, when I sit with my parents and the only task I have is to drop dad at office in the morning and then in the evening take out dad for a walk; I simply wonder if perhaps Anup’s right after all!! I like this slow paced life where my biggest worry is if the garden was watered or not!! Perhaps as in the movie I too shall age reversely, wouldn’t it be jolly good fun if in my 60’s I would develop a habit of going dancing!!! Hahaha