Walk On....

Seems like I misplaced (mentally that is) the predetermined opening line for this post. So all you poor souls will just have to make do. Anyways, seems like I have picked up my latest weird habit, not an uncommon occurrence, you might say. It seems that I derive great pleasure by going for walks late in the night.

I am, of course, not talking about the traditional late night walks, taken at round 11 in the night. Nope, it seems I get my daily Nirvana these days by walking out at 2, or sometimes even 3, in the morning, with only my driving license and my mp3 for company. While the need for the mp3 is self explanatory, the driving license is required to let any inquisitive cops know that I am not a jay walker and do possess a place I call home. It's not that difficult to blame the good police for being inquisitive about a 6 foot man wandering aimlessly at 3 in the morning, while dressed in his night suit.

However, leaving aside inquisitive cops, lusty prostitutes, shady gangsters, homeless pariahs, speeding cars driven by adrenaline fuelled youngsters and a regular dosage of pavement junkies (How badly do you want to walk at 2 in the morning now? However, I must confess I haven't met all these characters. Yet. But I am sure I will), I feel at my calmest when I am on these nocturnal sojourns of mine. In our daily hustle-bustle, we often forget how beautiful Mumbai actually is, how the sea can be calming and violent at once, how many people call this city home, and how lucky we actually are to be coming back to a roof over our heads, how this same place which is so tense during daytime, is equally placid during the night. Most importantly, I love these adventures of mine because it allows me to make sense of myself, gives me the time I need to think (It's a totally different experience from the thought process when you lie awake in bed), and makes me realize about my mistakes of the recent past (Okay, so it's only one mistake, but it's a massive one).

I don't actually know what prompted me to start walking at nights. Maybe it was the effect of books like 'Shantaram' and 'Maximum City', or just plain old restlessness, but I am glad that I do what I do, if only because I see another (a much more calmer, relaxed) side of my beautiful city, which is a paradox for the other side of myself which I am trying to understand. I am a much better, rather a much improved, person because I realize that what I was, was not out of malice, but out of fright.

Though I need many more walks, the habit looks to be nipped in the bud, by the fact that I told my parents about this, and as expected, they are now totally paranoid.

Oh well, lets see how it all pans out. Till next time,

That's all folks.

P.S. : "Everyone has their own weird habit, their own little source of joy, of escape, from this mad, mad world. Mine is that I like to go for walks in the night" - That was the original opening line.