I was walking towards my lab when I saw pilgrimhawk howering around in Lab 2. Its been quite some time since I talked to him. There was this long pongal vacation, and when everybody chose to go home, I reluctantly stayed back. I never wanted to stay back. I wanted to go some place. Some place far, but near enough so that I can come back on time to prepare for my classes. But that did not happen. Sometimes I can’t decide if I am lazy or just too tired.
I walk into the lab and he greets me with his friendly wave calling out “Shivankuttiyeeee….” Now here is a man who has been bitten time and again by the travel bug and the shutter bug. So I wondered aloud as to what he might have been doing during the Pongal break. He tells me he spent a quiet time with his family.
“And what about you Shiv.” I did not have much of a great time in college and thats exactly what I told him. “Sometimes, I think I need a break.”
“So, who is stopping you from taking a break” he asks me.
“I was planning to go to Pollachi and shoot some wildlife.”
“And?”
“Did not do it this time. Thats ok. Maybe I will go there during the next holiday break.”
He looks at me without saying anything. Uncomfortable silence.
I quickly add “I am sure planning to go next time, even if nobody comes with me.” Some how I feel this is a better response.
In a sudden pensive mood, he tells me “You know Shiv, a friend of mine always used to tell me that life for most of us is a postponement!”
It did not hit me then, but after I walked out of the lab, that final sentence hit me like a brick wall. Sometimes certain simple words can become a powerful mantra. Sometimes certain simple words become meditation. Sometimes certain simple words reveal so much it forces to look at your life from a different perspective.
