One fine day on a delayed train, when I was updating my CV in the perpetual chase of a salary, I decided that I didn't want to be sitting in a chair for the last year of my twenties. I toyed with the whim for no longer than an hour; worried about my bank account for a minute longer than that; and started looking for something that wouldn't involve commuting for 90 minutes only to sit in front of a screen for a living.
I scrounged the three double-ues for all opportunities exotic, eccentric and far from a desk. There were farms to plough, fruits to pluck, chicks to rear and children to care for. I could have gone to the Andes. Nepal was a close second and Japan, a definite third. But a week into the search, I had closed in on a place that must have subconsciously been at the back of my mind -- my darling Greece.
Some asked if it would be a career break. Others were sure I was going away to find myself. It certainly isn't the latter. Every time I eat rice or fish, I feel like I have found myself and that answer should suffice for the near future. As for a break, I never sought a leave from work. But I do believe there must be a less roundabout way of living that doesn't comprise two-hour hopscotch sessions on the London Underground every day. There must be another way, however abnormal it may sound, to work without gluing my eyeballs to the screen. And I'm hoping against hope to hear that there is a better way of being at work than being in lifelong meetings (am I talking myself out of every potential job?).
I don't know how things will pan out. I don't know if I would be able to live without the make-believe salmon teriyaki from London. I don't know what it would be like to not have an assuring payslip for many months, nor do I know how awe-inspiring the three-month visit will turn out to be. I mean to log my whereabouts in the next quarter of a year and perhaps, in the process, we will have a story of a sort.
I shall post in both Marathi and English. please feel free to keep me company through the blog, albeit virtually.
I scrounged the three double-ues for all opportunities exotic, eccentric and far from a desk. There were farms to plough, fruits to pluck, chicks to rear and children to care for. I could have gone to the Andes. Nepal was a close second and Japan, a definite third. But a week into the search, I had closed in on a place that must have subconsciously been at the back of my mind -- my darling Greece.
Some asked if it would be a career break. Others were sure I was going away to find myself. It certainly isn't the latter. Every time I eat rice or fish, I feel like I have found myself and that answer should suffice for the near future. As for a break, I never sought a leave from work. But I do believe there must be a less roundabout way of living that doesn't comprise two-hour hopscotch sessions on the London Underground every day. There must be another way, however abnormal it may sound, to work without gluing my eyeballs to the screen. And I'm hoping against hope to hear that there is a better way of being at work than being in lifelong meetings (am I talking myself out of every potential job?).
I don't know how things will pan out. I don't know if I would be able to live without the make-believe salmon teriyaki from London. I don't know what it would be like to not have an assuring payslip for many months, nor do I know how awe-inspiring the three-month visit will turn out to be. I mean to log my whereabouts in the next quarter of a year and perhaps, in the process, we will have a story of a sort.
I shall post in both Marathi and English. please feel free to keep me company through the blog, albeit virtually.
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