The long walk- the third year (A throwback)

First posted on Facebook on 2 January 2015

If you like long walks then marriage is for you

We had spent the whole day on foot. What were we doing?

We were reaching breath taking view points, surviving narrow commercial areas that herd tourists like cows in a ranch, taking in the cool mountain air, feeling the eucalyptus vapours singe our stretching sinews, going to places that said- No Entry, later paying for it, floating on the clouds and feeling insecure about our weight every time we saw a skinny couple.

Marriage is a like a long walk. It will never seem like a good idea if you sit to plan it thoroughly.

Why would you want to get used to all those idiosyncrasies?

The room we were in was far away from the main road, so in the night there was pin drop silence. When we were having dinner I could hear her chew and gulp. I did not like it. It was unsettling, I did not know that a monster sat in my wife's alimentary canal.    

You ask her about all the annoying things she has had to get used to the last three years.

The long walk could get painful after a while. You start noticing muscles that you have probably thought never existed. Your joints yell out to you and call out for a rest.

We sat down in a nice spot slightly away from the crowds at a place called- 'upper lake view'. After a bit you learn to ignore the garbage that lies everywhere in these view points and you learn to enjoy the view. Unlike the hordes that gorge on the view like the packet of chips that they discard on the side of the hill where no human hands can retrieve them, we like to savour the experience.

But one photographer did not allow us to savour it. "Sir, maam please move, we would like to take a photo," he said. "Well take your picture elsewhere," we said. He persisted, waving his hand like we were the crow that sat on his meal. We ignored him and continued our savouring.

Life with all its depressing moments, mostly related to the rat race, where you are used as a cog for material purposes- life can be frustrating. But if you marry someone who enjoys the long walks, who enjoys the road less travelled, you get lucky- that someone may have an antidote for all those negative emotions. They may make it worse in rare occasions, but hey- when you are done with the long walk you almost always cherish it more for the good than for those rare moments of annoyances.

We asked directions from a couple of ladies who were carrying a huge pile of wood. We had a suspicion that they may know a shorter route, which is away from the maddening crowds.

We ended up following them. One of the women had so much happening in her life and was sharing it with her friend. We did not listen to the exact words but we knew it was the drama that was taking place in the stage of her life. The other friend listened with a 'hmmm' and a 'ahan.' She was providing the best possible antidote to life's drama- listening with a concerned ear.

The path they took us on was a lot shorter, a lot more beautify, a lot more deserted. The maddening crowds and their bags of chips were not where not to be seen.

They stopped at a local church. We prayed at the gates and were about to leave, but the women stopped us. They had just placed their wood by the side of the road. "You must go inside. Quick, they close the church at 5pm," one of them said.

5pm was the time Shruti marched into a church. I was waiting at the altar and the music was playing. It was the 26th Dec. The exact day, the exact time, three years ago.