Will the home be where the heart is?

   A drive through the meandering hill roads, flanked by these tall trees and their shedded leaves all around, making you feel like you have entered a desi version of Enid Blyton's whispering willows. The drive goes into and past this forest quiet and enters the flat foothills which opens out into a vast fertile plain with fields of golden wheat till the eyes can see..

   Nature never ceases to act as a calming balm for the sore soul.. This little village, at the border of two states, miles and miles away from humankind, away from the politics, away from any sort of interference.. it felt as though it is calling out to me.. 

   I wonder if this can be the post retirement life?  A piece of land, right here, to build a home on, to subsist here from farming this land and to spend the rest of my time working with people who need help and I maybe able to assist.. like the women and kids who keep coming to me every other day, with stories that depress me no end but I have to keep a control over my emotions and then try to find a way to take care of them as best as I can.. 

   I can do that all the time, without the other irritants which have to be catered to today.. that and the lack of any hospital close by would be such a wonderful way to die  - a life lived with meaning and contribution for the lesser privileged, without tests and tubes, passing on like my grandmother did..

The Other Life

Spent a luxurious half hour watching Jamie Olivier whip up a gorgeous meal of something I can neither spell nor pronounce. Sometimes I try to imagine how my life would be if I wasnt working. And on days like this, when everyone and everything seems to be turning against me, Jamie Olivier sent me to a world of bright sunny kitchens joyous smells and happy gurgles of people with filled tummys. 

And I would be dishonest if I didnt admit that on many occasions I dream, even now, of packing of everyone at home to their respective day time institutions and sitting down to enjoy a quite cup of tea on late mornings, maybe the morning paper in hand, with the sun streaming down through a blue painted window.. tiny potted plants on the sill.. some peppy jazz playing in the background maybe.. after a while of doing absolutely nothing, surf out a new recipe to try from my fav websites, have a roast in the oven and a pot or two of something delectable boiling away on the stove like Jamie,  pull something out of the vegetable garden and chop chop chop, throw it into the boiling pot of bliss..

Enjoy a scrumptuous meal, read all my piled up books on the reading list, take a walk on a wind swept street, buy some goodies on a whim from a tiny corner shop... catch every movie, every play that I want to, return home to a typical family, some fighting, some teasing, some laughing, enjoy quiet moments with my better half and fall off into an exhausted slumber..  

I know, the grass is always greener on the other side, but right now, that 'brighter green' is like a shining beacon in my life.. beckoning, tempting me.. sigh..