She tossed and turned
but couldn’t make herself comfortable. She hadn’t got much sleep last night,
having spent it lying down on the lobby floor of the Madrid airport. Despite
that, sleep eluded her. She was on her way to Paris, but her mind remained back
in Spain and the last ten days. It had been a wonderful trip – the best she ever
had. Several reasons aided to make the trip so absolutely amazing. Since her
mind was on an overdrive, she gave up all hopes of sleep and pondered over how
much she had enjoyed the trip. What made it special?
Well, the first
reason of course was that her dream had come true. Spain itself surpassed all
her expectations. All that imagination and dreams she had about the place was
nothing compared to the reality. Everything was better and more beautiful. The
place was so wonderfully clean, fresh and bright – like happy summer mornings.
Life was so convenient there – planned cities, metros, buses, clean tap water
everywhere, maps and named streets to guide people, and so many more. It would
be quite easy to live here, she thought. Life back home was a constant struggle
– the traffic, the dust, the heat, lack of hygiene, the people ever ready to
fight or be rude, the general chaos. Yes, life was definitely easy in Spain.
But what will always remain with her was the people - their culture, their
beauty, their smiles, their styles, their food and their conversation. It
amazed her that people could lead such different lives just a few thousand
miles from her home.
Along with all that
admiration for Spain, came the realization that she would never be able to live
there. She would always be an outsider. People in Spain were very polite and
helpful, but they were quite into their lives. Though it was a trait to be
admired, she was used too the noisy and nosy people of India. Despite the fact
that life would be easier Spain, she would be forever lonely with no one to talk
to or gossip with in bus or train journeys and miss the warmth she felt from
even strangers back home. She wondered if this is why it is called motherland –
a place where you belong, even though it might not be the best place in the
world.
Putting those
thoughts aside, she wondered over the other reason why the trip was so
successful – it was the company. The trip wouldn’t even have been possible
without her friend. But what surprised her was how much she enjoyed it just
because of the company. Her previous trips with other friends had always been
more messy rather than fun, trying to fit in each person’s whims into the trip
plan. However, in this trip there were no arguments over where to go, when to
go, where to eat, where to buy or any other fuss from either of them. There
were no judgements, no comments. No need for approvals or disapprovals, no need
to impress or express. It was almost as if they were each travelling alone,
without being lonely due to the other person’s presence. When they were tired
of the sight seeing, they could converse about their childhood days or other
million things friends find to talk about. There was no pressure to conform to
any expectations. She had rarely felt so free with anybody before. She once
again thanked her luck to have such a friend with whom she could be totally
herself.
The pilot’s
announcement broke her reverie. There were approaching to land in Paris, but
this time she didn’t bother to look for the Eiffel Tower. But a casual glance
at the window showed her the spectacular monument, looking quite tiny from that
height. She smiled to herself at the irony. After a long and difficult
immigration check in Paris, she finally settled herself on the long journey
back home with a heavy heart. She realized that what made this trip special was
because it was an adventure, a first time, a novelty in her life. The thing
with first times is that you can never experience the same feeling ever again.
You could do a zillion new and different things later on, but they will never
match up to that first big adventure. She sighed at the thought. She was quite
happy that she had experienced it and also sad because she would never feel the
same every again. The exhilarating feeling was over - to remain in her
memories. She slowly drifted off to sleep dreaming about Spain…..dreams similar
to what she had as a child…...only this time she was in them.
:)
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