When Your Forgotten And Seemingly Weird Life Starts Making Sense To Someone

I don’t have a habit of reflecting too much upon my life spent so far. Perhaps, I haven’t got that old yet.

But whenever I meet my old friends, together we recollect the time we had spent years back. It’s always fascinating to me how my friends fondly remember several incidents related to my life which I myself have almost forgotten. Does it ever happen to you?

And it’s not only limited to our personal meetings, sometimes it happens on a long chat or a phone call too. Last week, I received one such phone call from a friend whom I haven’t spoken for long.

Surprisingly, as soon as we started talking, he immediately took me to the year 2012. Referencing several of our meetings and interactions among ourselves and with some other persons, he candidly told me that my life and my lifestyle has started to make a lot of sense to him. Not only that, he himself has changed his own life a lot in that direction.

I was really surprised and wanted to know what aspects inspired him exactly. He honestly conveyed me that in just two words - almost everything! Then he continued, "Your principles of a natural life, Ayurveda, veganism, your insistence on growing and consuming fresh organic food, doing household jobs yourself, living a minimalist life in a village", and he went on and on. We talked over phone for about two long hours.

_{Back gate of my house, which I never opened. Beyond that wall, there was a 1000 acre land lying for years. It had a very flourishing wild life.}

It took me back to those times. I was located in a big metro city at that time. But I rented a house about 5 km away from the city in a small village. Whenever he used to visit me, his mother was quite concerned for why he is going to that village. The area was not considered very safe by the elite population of the city. Yes, there weren’t all those security, policing or emergency services available as in the city but I never felt any need for it.

He would reluctantly drive on a kuccha mud road to reach my place. He used to say that my house is too big for me. In this rent, you can easily get a good apartment in a posh locality in town. I’d answer him that this one is more posh for me. There was a lot of greenery around. I had got sufficient land to raise my own vegetables. A village woman would come to my house and used to do all the farming and watering with some vegetable sharing arrangement with her. So I got my vegetables farm-fresh, without any effort. I didn’t have to keep refrigerator for stocking them.

_{This gauva tree used to feed me very sweet fruits}

Yeah, I didn’t have any appliances like refrigerator, microwave, washing machine or a TV set. I didn’t even have any furniture and loved to live my life on floor instead. I had a few chairs for people like him. I had also crafted a bamboo table with the help of a friend. But after some visits, he had no problem in sitting with me on floor.

I used to clean and wipe my entire house myself. I also used to cook for me and washed my utensils on my own. This was not ordinary for him as everyone in his circle used to employ some domestic help for all this trivial jobs.

He was also shocked on observing that I lived so care-free that I didn’t even locked any of my rooms or main door when going out in neighbourhood. I explained him, “This village is safe as everyone knows everyone here and any outsider is easily noticed. So incidents of theft are unheard of in this small village. Moreover, I don’t keep any valuables with me to worry about”. At that time, it was very difficult for him to digest all these.

_{A relaxed Sunday morning under a winter Sun}

One fine day, we met another friend who lived in a very posh locality. She was a health consultant and she emphasized that she too don’t keep any gadgets like refrigerator, microwave or a television set in her home and was totally against keeping all these for a healthy living. He was taken aback.

But something moved him deeply about it. Today, he was telling me the exact date and place where we met her and what all we discussed. He also let me know what all the changes he has initiated in his life now and wanted to know what more he can do to live a better life.

I was elated to hear all these. I don't have many photographs of those time so I'm sharing a few here. My friends have got a major chunk of my life with them. It is spread out among several of my friends. I always wonder when we meet, I can see that they have preserved those moments with utmost care and we relive those moments together.

• How would you feel when some one showers a lot of praise upon you,without you doing anything for it?
• Do your friends make you recall treasured moments of your life, which you had long forgotten?
• How do you feel recollecting your own past?