A Treasure Owned - Discovered

Few days before lockdown, I was having a strong intuition that this lockdown will not hold good to a few days, but  might extend to months, of a long stay at home, and the idea of being confined to a small compound in Hyderabad with soaring temperatures as the days progressed was not going well.  So I decided to drive down to my farm, It was a long journey of 1000+Kms from Hyderabad to Wayanad with my family and Dogs and with a list of instructions to travel from parents.

One of the instructions were not to eat your meal from any of the restaurants, so we had to make arrangements of food not only for us but for our three pets traveling with us.

What an experience it was, I was so used to these long drives, stopping every now and then, experiencing local flavor at a new restaurant on the way, but sitting under the tree to have our meals and walking the pets on the highway, couldn’t have even thought about it at a normal time.

Tired after the long travel, I woke up to bird’s chipping or rather now I wake up every single morning to the music of birds chirping. How amazing is that? Not many people are rewarded with that luxury in life. Yeh, Some would argue that is it even a luxury at all?

At four in the morning, sitting on the terrace, just gazing out into the foggy sky looking for a ray of light to break the dark sky and touch me and to hear the morning dew softly falling and bathing the leaves, is a wonderful feeling, and my pets sitting next to me just wagging their tail not knowing why I bear a permanent smile must be surely wondering, how things changed suddenly that I am spending so much time with them…

Carrying a  hot cup of coffee for her, half-awake, dragging her bedsheet along to terrace and having a sip, and pandiculating is a so full a feeling of joy …coffee not optional.

Our House is surrounded by farmlands on all sides…. literally in the middle of the miles of Areca and coconut farms as far as we could see. Just watching the clouds could be a pastime. Oh God! how long had it been since I watched the clouds, feel the wind for real and not hear the honking of vehicles, the pollution that you feel in a city. Why had I given up on this beauty?

Pushing & forcing the kids out of bed to come for a walk in the farm; Jumping, running and picking fruits and teaching them to careful keep an eye on the creepy-crawlies if they cross our path or we don’t step on them by mistake, and our pets running across the farm, having so much of place to run around rather than some small compound of the city.

Tamanna is always keen on capturing some nice pics on her camera…small bruises are common while walking through the garden, learning to make our own herbal remedies then and there, Kids were  surprised and compared their walk to the show Man Vs Wild.

Picking up some fresh vegetables, leaves and some fruits for the day, make sure coconut doesn’t fall on your head. Instead of being a consumer, we’ve become producers. Producing our own food, our own medicine, our own happiness.

All contributing a small effort in making a meal, start a natural fire in the hearth, cook over wood heat. I have started liking this experience, not something I bought with coupons.

I taught myself how to cook efficiently, healthy, and deliciously, once again. I became a better homemaker, Father, Son, and husband because my priorities shifted from running a successful career and business to putting my family’s needs first. And I can feel the changes in me, a healthier person, both physically, emotionally, and mentally.

Day by day I have started trying something new.

I have started to think of life back there was filled with the chaos of work, the so-called busy life; And a busy life that I wasn’t enjoying very much. Living life without domestic help, …the social media craze filling you in with unnecessary information… just staring at you from your closet are the branded apparels and your Mercedes and Skoda with fuel-filled fully are just metal and a Bank account having money but nowhere to spend………???????

Here’s what living a simple life has taught me and is still teaching me.

It didn’t take much time for me to realize that I had lost the ability to enjoy life because we were so busy trying to create a life. I had lost the joy of family, friends, and the simplicity of everyday living.

With a car EMI, a house EMI, credit card bills….this wasn’t a life I had signed up for…it is a prison when the pandemic is on, we are thinking how will the economy shape up; will we be able to survive post that, rather than looking at making up for all the lost time you spent being a corporate slave.

I always said “what I have is time, I have time for everyone and for everything” and today when we are being forced to stay at home; You have time, nothing has changed to all those “so-called important works”, they can all wait, maybe, the calls and the mails of the late evening are forcing you to respond, creating stress in your life, But is waiting today….

I look at my kids and say “we’ll never get this day back, let’s go to the stream and waste some time.” I am not sure how the meaning of waste has to be taken here?

Just look at the last few days, our mobile have virtually stopped ringing, but as a habit, we are still carrying them with us, we are browsing and listening to videos… and ignoring the family: put the cell phone down, enjoy the laughs and smiles of the people sitting right beside us. And sometimes, have senseless conversations, avoid streaming and binge-watching series, look into your daughter's eyes, she has so much to talk to you, she is just waiting for your attention. 

I am more interested in knowing what is happening in my close circle, rather than knowing what is a celebrity is doing or a friend’s friend by their post of FB or Instagram.

My family pictures are mine and they are my precious memories, and I am sure anything very precious is not put in the public domain, I am not interested in peoples like and love, My memories can't be on someone's memory chip, it has to be printed to be flipped back or hung on the wall.  

Not being in any of this Social Media, I never once felt like I lacked anything in life, or as if I were left out of some social popularity group of people. Social Distancing should slowly move to Social Media Distancing for a better life and mental health.

Living a simple life has taught me how to love unconditionally, to live more intently, and to be a better person than I was the day before. Instead of being angry and anxious all of the time, I’ve learned to choose grace and happiness.

I am not in any competition, I am in, no rat race, instead of wasting time on useless conversations or constant gossip, and being jealous I long for in-depth connections with others. I want to talk to you about your health, your passions, the things that make you, you. I want to converse about life—raw, real life. No filler. No filter. Just real talk.

I never have, and never will, experience a more satisfying life than this…. I have been currently sucked into a new life that praised the ability to be content, I became more kind…more understanding…more loving.

...because my friend, living a simple life isn’t simple at all, It teaches us a lifetime of character traits and to leave the nonsense behind.

https://anup-hmmm.blogspot.com/p/a-little-of-me.html