weekend rambling

It was a winter afternoon with the good intentions of a summer day. The breeze still had a chilly nip but our dear old sun was doing his cheerful best. It had rained for the past three days and the earth looked shampooed. Weekends are specially meant to be spent in the bed .Utmost one of us crawls out to fetch some nutrition (food) or tea for both of us and in rare cases to exchange a book from our personal library next room. We lie there discussing inane things, listening to the radio, looking outside from our French windows when we are not reading or paying our dues to the slumber queen. Sometimes, I even carry my cup of tea to our balcony to look at my newfound friends-birds, which come to enjoy a meal at our bird feeder.

On such days…when it is not really wise to go out, we are seized with an intense desire to get out of the house- not in a car but on foot or cycling. Maybe that is who a soul mate really is…a person who matches your level, flavor, and particularly your timing of craziness. Before we started out, we warned each other to dress warmly and there was a mad rush to find Saif’s favorite woolen cap but we finally made it out of the house. For us that is the toughest thing. One can never really predict when one of us is suddenly washed over by laziness -back to the shores of our bed. Anyways, we stepped out of the house looking like two well-fed sheep (joke refers to the amount of wool we had on). Two well-dressed ladies smiled at us benevolently from the warmth of their cars as Saif tried to fasten my helmet strap.

We do this pretty often…cycling I mean. Not as often as we wish, but our cycles are not rusting in some remote corner of our garage. The nature of our conversations alters depending on the mode of transportation. Cooped inside the car, we just talk about what happened in our daily lives or gossip about some far off relative. While on foot, it is usually a commentary on what we notice around us. When we are cycling…we discuss our plans for the future. Cycling for reasons unknown makes me very optimistic towards the future. Fremont’s main claim to beauty is the lush green undulating hills around her and our goal was to reach the foot of Mission Peak. We cycled along the main street commenting on the houses, the gardens…some well maintained and some not so much…and the hint of the approaching spring, which was all around us. After cycling for an hour or so we reached Mission Blvd which has a steep inclination. I do not know exactly how the sheep manage but I had this irresistible urge to rid myself of my warm layered clothing thanks to the physical exertion. So every few minutes, I would stop to peel off one of my layers. This reminded me of the tough lives snakes are forced to live and the silly grin on Saif’s face gave me the feeling that he was thinking of those infamous Russian newswomen!

We cycled for some time on the wrong side of the road…and did I forget to mention we had no clue how to get there! We were just cycling towards what we thought was the general vicinity of the hill. It’s almost guaranteed. The minute we step out of our house, we get lost. We have learnt to enjoy it as well-we don’t just reach a place; we re-discover it. When we reach somewhere we feel the same thrill (may be milder) that Columbus felt when he was at sea and had his first sighting of something dry! This lack of direction will not surprise our friends and closely reflects our approach towards our lives. We don’t have a grand plan…we like to discover our way around.

Not so long ago, I had this great discussion with my friend about having a purpose in life. She was convinced that everybody should have a grand purpose…and I argued that only plastic bags needed a purpose. I do not think having a purpose is wrong or anything…just that it is not compulsory. I have the same basic dream of having a comfortable existence but I don’t have a clear-cut plan or things I have to achieve before I am 30(other than losing weight of course). My mom who witnessed her daughter claiming that she didn’t give a hoot about achievements…listened intently when later that day I asked Saif “Do you have goals?”. He looked scared of the impending question-answer session and answered without blinking “Nothing!ma..nothing”. I beamed with pride and my mom couldn’t help smiling.

Anyways, I was wondering whether I could make a post about nothing at all (much like a conversation with an interesting friend) and I think I have achieved it. Let me wrap up by saying that we never did reach the foothill. We convinced ourselves that it is ok to take baby steps on our path to discovery and cycled back home. Later we went out and ate nice paranthas and declared the day wonderful!