Sometimes, you don't feel like doing anything at all.
Everything you can think of seems to bore you to death. Boredom strikes you
even more when you do not live with anyone, and you are an extrovert. The
problem with me is that I cannot find a suitable person to share my apartment,
which has many side-effects including boredom. I was getting this feeling one
Saturday evening in my home in the Andheri region of Mumbai. I just could not
stop my mind from racing, and thinking about things I did not want to think
about. I had to do something to get my mind at peace, but everything seemed
humdrum.
After calling a couple of friends to have a party, and
failing at it, I decided to go for a drive. Did I tell you that I do not have a
car? My bad! I don't have a car! So how could I possibly go for a solo drive
without a car? Not-so-thankfully, people in Mumbai do not like to share their
cars with anyone, so there was no chance of borrowing a car from someone.
Without thinking for a second, I decided to rent a car for the night. The car
arrived in two hours, and since it was off-season going on, I got the car at a
heavy discount. Nonetheless, that is a different matter.
I took the car keys from the company representative, locked
the doors, and set off for a solo drive for the night. Before I get into the
details, I must tell you that it was one of the most amazing times I had spent
with myself. I have been on solo trips to the mountains and beaches, but never
for a drive before that night. Drinking alone while driving was out of the
question, so I decided to drive sober.
The chai-break
After driving on the outskirts of Mumbai for more than two
hours, the first break I took was at a roadside chai-vendor. I asked him to give a masala chai with a rusk as I sat down on a big stone beside he was
standing. The best thing about Mumbai is the safety and peace of mind this city
gives to females. The chai-wala had
his wife and daughter with him. The daughter was studying under the traffic
light as her mother prepared food for her family. I asked the man about his
hometown; he told me that his name was Bhola
and he belonged to Agra. He had come to Mumbai with big dreams for his family
as his hometown had nothing to give to them. They were very generous people; as
I sat there for an hour or so, they even offered me food. I did take a bite of
the delicious lauki ki sabzi that the
lady had prepared, but it was now time for me to depart from there and let the
family have their alone time.
The drive
For
some weird reason, I did not feel tired driving the car rentals Mumbai for another three hours. I must have driven for
more than 200-300 kilometers that night, but I did not feel tired at all. Just
one more cup of chai at another
vendor kept me going. I was just listening to music, looking at the sceneries
around me, the trees and animals on the hills, and just driving at my own pace.
Spending alone time sometimes feels so peaceful that you do not want to do
anything else on earth. My friends still call me a weirdo for doing something
as crazy as that, but I can always call that night as one of the best in my
entire lifetime.
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