Home alone

"Solitude never hurt anyone. Emily Dickinson lived alone, and she wrote some of the most beautiful poetry the world has ever known... then went crazy as a loon."

                                                                                                               -Lisa Simpson,The Simpsons

Yesterday when I returned home after yet another day at work, I stumbled upon something which made me feel like butterflies in my stomach. It may be nothing but seemed like something very important to me at that time. I promised to myself that I will take some time off and think about it. So here’s the thing. For most of the days in last few years, I always come back to an empty house and I hate it every time. I am living much on my own for the last 7 years or so, studying and working. Inevitably it involves sharing the room with roommates (sometime friends, sometime strangers) with which I am totally comfortable. But it’s the empty room I can’t stand.

According to philosopher Paul Tillich “Language... has created the word ‘Loneliness’ to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word ‘solitude’ to express the glory of being alone.” Quite right as it sounds, there are two faces of the coin. One side says that we’re born alone, we live alone and we die alone. And that through our temporary love and friendship, we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone. The other side says that only when a man is alone can he really discover himself, like writing a book. Totally cut off from the rest of the world, submerged in your own thoughts. While both the sides seem equally convincing, which one should I choose as a respite?

Let’s see who I owe my solitude to. Actually, who can anybody owe it to but other people? I owe my loneliness to other people. Or was I building walls when I had to build bridges? How will I know? We all live in a strenuous environment that pulls us apart and we need to learn how to pull ourselves together. Isn’t solitude a solution for this? Are all of us lonely?

Voltaire once said the happiest of all lives is a busy solitude. That means making the most of your loneliness. That means next time you are alone, try to introspect rather than whining that you are bored.

Introspect? Why? Why to have a burning fireside, when no one ever comes to sit by it. I think I will leave the questions unanswered.

"Little do men perceive what solitude is, and how far it extendeth. For a crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures, and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love."  -Francis Bacon

A Day Well Spent

Most of the regular days in our lives pass without any mentionable events, without any lasting memory. Last Sunday was nothing like that. Six of us planned for a day out at Water Kingdom, Mumbai and fortunately it coincided with Water Kingdom’s 12th anniversary. We ended up in a 6ft wave pool enjoying a typical Bollywood live concert boogieing to Sherlyn Chopra’s ‘Thumkas’. Damn! She is pretty.

I spent my Saturday in the office staring the screen so I had this herculean urge to have a bang on Sunday at least. The same wine was brewing in my roommates’ mind so when I went back to my place I found they are already discussing options right from a sports bar to malls and parks. It’s very close to impossible to reach to a consensus especially if you are in the mid of a discussion with 5 other IIIM-ites. I provided them with the Monkey's Justice for two cats. Few of them liked water and few of them liked adventurous rides. I liked both of them and my Libra’s consensus building traits did the rest. At the end, when we decided to go to WaterKingdom & Esselworld early Sunday morning, everyone thought they had the final word. Little did they know :)

We backpacked and left for Borivali Local station from where we planned to take a ferry. Last night when we made the itinerary to the water park, it seemed easy, but plans are only good till they degenerate into hard work. The blistering and humid heat of Mumbai’s afternoon and more than expected crowd in locals on Sunday made us realize that it’s not going to be an all-comfy ride.

We took a break at Dadar and had our breakfast at Jumbo King wadapav. It’s a branded attempt to sell affordable wadapav and other refreshments, much like Mc Donalds just more desi and cheap. Food was amazing at those prices. Even if it’s not sumptuous, you will still feel content that you saved some bucks on Mumbai’s streets. No less of an accomplishment I tell you!

The ride in the local continued till Borivali where we boarded down and took an auto to the ferry spot. The ferry ride was literally a whiff of fresh air (not for all us, few sophisticated gentlemen were chocking on fishy smell of the water). After a fifteen minute ride, we reached the other shore and the Waterkingdom’s entrance. They again make you sit on a funny train-looking vehicles to take you to the ticket counter (kids love it). We pretended to be serious as if the 6 B-school students meant business in the waterpark( why is it so difficult for guys to kid around other guys, when they do it frequently around women).

We reached the main counter and for a moment it seemed like the whole world was in queue to get tickets. Children were so happy, they couldn’t stop giggling. Wives were glancing on bikini clad hotties thinking how on earth will they ever fir in that, but the worst nightmare came true for the husbands who were plunked in the hardly moving queue to get tickets. A wait of another half an hour got us the tickets. There were lots of offers and customer rewarding passports available but as an MBA you are less likely to fall in to those sales promo traps.

We decided to hit the Esselworld first as there were even more queues to get rented swimwear and lockers inside the waterpark ( God! Q itne queues). Since it was our first time to Esselworld, we took a map and tried to zero in on the most death defying and precarious rides. One of the IIM-ites quickly came to a conclusion that around 70% of rides are totally for kids and out of the 30% remaining only 60 % are worth trying since we needed to go to the waterpark as well. Others gave him an appreciative look, I gave a scowl. They settled for a quick lunch. I was hungry for rides but anything else. I went ahead and had a blast in one of the swings named ‘Enterprise’. Why on earth would you name a swing like that, did they know MBAs are coming? It was great though, packed in steel bars the swings makes 360 degrees vertical revolutions.

We went on to try the car crasher bumpy ride. Another ride which was highly popular in 90’s movies but hardly gets camera space these days. The guys were trying to hit each other while girls were trying to just maneuver. It was impossible for some good looking ones. (Thanks to us)

Life is a rollercoaster ride is what they say; well they have never been to a rollercoaster I think. It gets the shit out of you (sometimes literally when people vomit). But it’s exciting as nothing else can be. The full swirl and straight dip gets the adrenaline pumping. When you get down from it, your body still twitches as if you are still up there.

After a few more rides, we all were exhausted and our risk taking hormones took a dip. The rush of blood to a detour to the brain and half of us got headaches. The ‘Burf Gola’ came to the rescue. It is the best (and also a cheap) way to chill inside the theme park. We decided to go to Waterkingdom now as our sweated spirit was calling out for cool water and splashes.

Through the rainbow ride gate we entered the Water Kingdom. The crowd was less compared to the morning. But thank God, the ‘crowd’ was still there to see. We came across famous MTV Roadies host Ranvijay who was going to host the show featuring the sizzling Sherlyn Chopra and others. We skipped the start of the show and went to the rides. As MBAs we knew the star attraction will only feature in the end (I figured this out, so it was my time to garner appreciative looks).

Rides like ‘Black Demon’ and ‘Amazonia’ will certainly take your breath away. In Black demon, you fall inside a pitch dark pipe with no clue of where you are and what’s the next twist is going to be. You come to your senses only at the end. At the end we headed towards the wave pool above which the concert was going on. Artificial waves are like Man’s gift to mankind. Even more if Sherlyn Chopra’s hips are making similar waves upstage. We were right on time for the main event as we lie down in the pool to enjoy ‘Bidi and kajrare’ songs with instant dancers all around. With our gaze fixed on Sherlyn like a laser guided missile, we all were unanimous on the fact that this was the best we had in the whole day(See! you bring a hottie to the table and no more discussions. I love both of them). Ranvijay also took her quasi-interview on stage where he asked some usual stuff and we were delighted to hear some lusty answers by Sherlyn(Sorry God! But cheap is what we really are).

After the day is over, its commotion again just like in the morning to take shower, get to the lockers and change to dry clothes. We took the train-vehicle and came back to the ferry point. The ride back home with a stop at Mc Donalds made this day truly remarkable and worth cherishing.