Journey

When you are walking by yourself, lost in thought, you often forget about your destination. You’re so absorbed in your thoughts — those little imaginary conversations (with yourself and others) that you get a slight jolt when you finally arrive … when you have to stop. It is not a very pleasant feeling on most occasions since it makes you feel as though you are leaving a part of yourself behind — a branch of the steadily ageing tree breaks off and is lost to time forever.

I have often felt this way while travelling. It is serenity that comes upon me as I quietly watch the sky, the family of clouds drifting across it without a care, that proud eagle circling and searching at one corner, soaring high purposefully at one moment and gliding down nonchalantly in the next, the numerous shades of blue that streak across nature’s canvas ... I feel as though I am that eagle flying majestically in the sky. I can feel myself blending into the blue. I find myself floating on a cloud, heading off to visit distant dreams. My reverie takes me to faraway reaches of my mind wherein I find myself speaking to many facets of my nature, and accepting them the way they are. It hurts when I am called back to earth by the jarring sounds of voices that had been hitherto forgotten. It is painful to be wrenched away from that peaceful calm, back to the roar and din of mundane existences.

Dreams offer much comfort at times. They take you away from things you aren’t ready to deal with and give you time to grow, time to heal, till you are ready to face them. A journey gives you time to dream. You are saddened when it ends as it signals the end of the dream — another closed chapter. However, it is not possible to cling to every dream that flits before your eyes and transports you to your personal realm of peace, quiet and solitude. Dreams also have their own period of usefulness, after which they simply tend to hinder you from moving forward. One journey cannot continue indefinitely, which is why, it must end, just so that you are free to venture forth on another quest, and seek out new avenues that will show you what you are yet to see. You keep travelling and find new dreams to keep you alive during the long road ahead and longer roads to come.