He had taken a day off from work. He wasn't ill, neither was anyone at home, there wasn't a wedding to attend nor any distant relative waiting to be picked up from the station.
The day was his, he wanted it that way. It was going to be like a Sunday not the grown up Sunday but one like when he used to be ten. This wasn't a day to take care of bills,pending chores,investments or even thinking about the next steps. It was a day with no agenda, the Sunday for a ten year old.
He slept late, had brunch instead of breakfast, lazed a little longer in the sun and then went out for a stroll...not to a particular place, just close by noticing things with a curiosity he had renounced as a luxury for the young.
It was almost as if this was the first time he was seeing his neighbourhood. The houses, the name plates, the gulmohar trees, the little chocolate boutique and the playground. It was almost like walking around aimlessly in the colony park swinging his cricket bat as a ten year old noticing every little thing that caught his eye while he used to wait for his gang of friends to come out and play. The playmates and the games had all changed over time, the thing however that was lost was the zeal or maybe it just wasn't unadulterated like it used to be.
He stopped at the coffee place to treat himself to the taste of the aromas that had captured him as a passer by. Even the coffee tasted different or maybe because he wasn't gulping it down between reading files and conversations over the phone.
It was almost evening and he would usually at this time entertain himself looking at the cars as part of a traffic jam but today he stared at the sky changing colour..the myriad of hues was just stunning. He reached home in time for dinner. His family sat there talking, his wife looked up at him with a knowing smile and he returned it. She had made his favourite roast with mashed potatoes and garlic bread. He ate every bite with all the time to taste the love and the flavours and then spent the rest of the night chatting with his family about nothing at all.
The next day he was back at work ready to make up for the day of lost work productivity and being the responsible provider with the fervour of a ten year old ready to swing the cricket bat into action!
When was the last time you did nothing at all?
Sanchita Johri
