W...A...L...K

Something that I've always believed in all through my life...of whatever I've lived, is experiencing and relishing the journey.
Something that Suresh just reinforced today at a casual "sit around" in the BMW......Suresh and his stories....
"It's the experience of the journey that matters, not the threshold"

It's the whole feeling that a walk evokes, a sense of sensing and feeling the spaces that one moves through. Little things that matter......

Like as a kid, there was an undying love to go to school and utter disgust at missing it, even if it was for a day. Simply because I used to get to play in the recess time, and more importantly for the time I used to get before the school would start for the day. So if school was at 8:20 for others, it was at 7:30 for me.... :) The walk back would generally bring along a stone or a flower or a weird looking leaf home everyday, poor stone would get kicked by my soiled shoes all the way from school to home, evading all the traffic and following a path which was never there, but was made as it travelled along.
Another flower would regularly accompany me to school, plucked from random plants on the way, with the hope of one day landing up in the class teacher's hands. But looking at the beautiful roses brought in by my other classmates, the poor flower didn't make it even once. Of course, the bicycle put an end to this story since there was no time to pluck flowers.
Same with church.....I would always be ready to get up and get going on Sunday morning. Why? because of the winding road leading up to the church (which seemed miles away, then),that would cross my school, the fort, another school, the wooden bridge on a stream, and the small wait to see the water gushing through it while returning back. To hear the "ting ting" of cowbells from busy buffaloes beside the stream on their sunday grazing session. Once in the church, it used be the longing to get back and feel the air outside and soak in the winter sun. Strange things happen when you walk. Or rather, you seem to notice some things only when you walk.

Like I said, the bicycle subdued some of these but at the same time widened my horizons, aspirations and ambitions. It brought along with it a new array of experiences and explorations, which just walking couldn't have got us to do. From drifting away into "No trespassing" zones, to chases amongst friends, to a very innovative cycle based hide-and seek at a ruined monumnet outside city limits. The "missions" would generally revolve around history, geography and things like artillery, shooting ranges etc etc. Damn the textbooks. Ending up at unexplored monuments and ruins within the city, as kids we would try and figure out why it was built and what would have been the actual reason (the great scientists and philosophers....that we were:) With cycles parked like Mercs in a row, we would stand and stare....hands on the hips and ponder.

Then go up to it and explore every corner and the secret passages to reach the top. The afternoons were generally reserved for all this. It would begin with, "Mummy I'm going to get my bicycle fixed", or simply an "honest" "I'm going to a friend's place to complete today's homework" Then there would be a pre-decided meeting spot away from public eyes where a couple of friends would gather for a pre-event briefing and the mission would be detailed out.....though not always. Sometimes it would just be a free roam. No one was ever late :) beacuse there weren't too many of them party to this madness.

Then with the lengthening shadows of the evening when the sun would be down and finally out, there used to be small fears of being caught telling lies or sometimes even fear of the darkness and night (though it would only be like 7 p.m). Thank god there was no technology advancement then, no phones, no tracking down. Pity the kids living in the current age.
Of course misadventures like being chased by dogs, and being shouted at by the Military guards in the cantonment area for intruding private areas were a part of the package......like the army helipad (we rode our cycles on them like stupid kids...till the guard came shouting at us), the swimming pool, which was called the "cavalier's lagoon", the private theatre for the army officials and the officers mess, were places we would enjoy trespassing the most. Also high up on the list would be the accidental discovery of a tank museum...which was later declared open to public, and numerous hillocks and variable land zones....like pastures and swamps.
An uncalled for visit to the church campus, cycling on the edge of the moat along the fort and once to a graveyard were also some of our exploits and moments of pure unadulterated fun and satisfyting one's inquisitive side.

The w...a...l...k continues (atleast I hope it does).....though names and places change and days go by.......