THE ROADSIDE VIEW

It was just an ordinary afternoon, with flickering sunlight caused by the now retreating monsoon clouds, accompanied by a gentle breeze, embarking the festive season was completely pumped up weather, as the last lecture completed, I was very excited for the forthcoming weekend, today, driving back home was a whole different experience, the typical roadside shops being set up, heaps of lanterns and firecrackers, streets of Pune filled with energy and liveliness, with the dullness of monsoon gradually fading away, this was a completely different ride, not in a hurry to race back home and complete any assignment, take any course to upskill, all those deadlines were just erased, the only thing I did was to live that moment, watching an old lady make a garland, a kid excited to light up crackers which he just bought, the traffic on the road was no more a headache, all those ever-problematic elements just waded off my mind. I could see myself in that boy, excited for Diwali, just enjoying that moment, no other thing bothering him, the beautiful memories were flashing in my mind.

Continuing my ride, the next 30-35 minutes were one of the best moments I ever lived, I observed every particular person, every single shop, on every turn, on every square, the road was same, the one which I ever thought was tiring, today was something different, the only thing which changed was my mindset, It's strange how even a small incident, or even a picture of a scene change our thought process, back home I was amazed by the way these small things changed my mood, the childhood memories still flashing, the only wish I had was to live those moments again, to bring back that excitement again, life changes rapidly after 10th and 12th, we focus more on polishing ourself, to make ourselves better than the so called "competition" but we forget the way we actually lived, even I am a part of this thought process, but the principle thing which I realized with this beautiful incident was that it's obvious we have to work, but we should also grant some time to have a "Roadside View", its well said that our life is a journey, everyone has different roads, the best we can do is to have a time out of our busy schedule to just sit and observe from the roadside, not literal terms obviously, but to jot down experiences, recall our beautiful past, observe others, there is a lot?to learn just by observing, prior I planned my Diwali break to complete more courses, projects and what not, but now I guess I would rather stick to enjoying these moments, it's not that I don't like what I do, but there are many things which would give me more joy, which matters the most, when we say prioritizing our tasks, one thing I noticed was, we usually focus on things which are necessary according to others, which would impress others and not because we have personal inclination towards it, the hustle culture further extrapolates this, I am not against this, just introspect yourself and you will sum up onto a conclusion. Being a child, Diwali gave me immense freedom to do whatever I wished to, parents wouldn't scold me during these days, and everyone's busy with their chores, from making sweets and snacks to cleaning and decorating the house, these small household chores gave immense satisfaction, replacing these with ready-to-eat snacks and appointing a maid to do the cleaning work won't give that feeling again, obviously, I would try to do this time, you also try once, that feeling of accomplishment is beyond any material element.????

There are many things that I personally concluded from this sweet experience, and the main purpose of this post was just to share these, obviously, there's nothing new, everyone knows these, but everyone, including me, never give a meaningful attempt to implement this in practical life,

1)Sharpening the Saw:- I am sure that everyone would have some time or the other came across this phrase, it is very well explained in the book by #stephencovey , I feel, we were more optimized to implement those 7 habits in our lives when we were kids, we always used our vacations, holidays, and even our lunch breaks to heal up mentally (or physically) and then show up and excel, contrary to which, presently we spend a lot of time thinking of future rather to just work or even just chill around (at least I am doing this), this never helps in being productive, trying to multitask always lead me to disasters, and I know a bit of introspection and implementation of the then made plan would help me get out.

2)The Roadside View:- This is a new concept that I learned from the incident, I am not sure whether this already exists in some documentation (there is a lot to learn about this). If we consider our life analogous to a road trip, it's a bad choice to keep on moving in any direction (be it good or bad), rather we should give ourselves breaks, fuel our cars, learn from others, observe them, recall our beautiful pasts, trust me it gives immense pleasure.?

The journey might slow down when you are up to this, but in the end it's not about going fast, it's about going far, these were my sudden thoughts, and their extrapolation when I came across myself on that busy square, halting all my other thoughts, I am still fascinated by the Roadside view!!!