Raaj main na Paat main,
Saare sukh Khaat main.
-Nani
Ancient wisdom couldn’t have been put in simpler words.
SLEEP. Don’t you just love it?? I do in fact I adore it. There are few things which meet there purpose as perfectly as sleep does. It is simple, never hard to get (except for poor insomniacs) and 100% unadulterated fun. The day may be tough, tiresome or simply hell but as soon as you are under the sheets, the senses give in, befuddling thoughts are laid to rest it simply happens and it is a different world altogether.
Now there may be a breed of people, who are questioning my sanity at the moment, they are the ones who consider it only a necessary evil, a liability, a blot on their seemingly perfect day, the ones who hardly get their fill of 6 hours a day and that too because experts say so. They would never understand the underlying intricacies but maybe you will. It is tough not to fall for it. It is attractive, addictive, charming, without any hint of attitude, faithful and most importantly readily available.
It comes in many types the important ones are as follows (Pardon the exam language, I just got over a bunch of them and the after effects linger for some time):
The Hard Earned Sleep: The most satisfying of the pack. The day was challenging, you fought hard it drained you, and now you are ready for the spoils. Instant and sound though hard to get at times, especially if you are the lazy and laid back type.
The Next day exam/work/presentation Sleep: This one is the hardest one to resist. When it strikes it is brutal and leaves little chances of a fight back. The closing eyelids won’t take any amount of reasoning, advices would go unheeded and it will always emerge as the eventual champion. The usual reverberations have an undertone of disaster within them. You deserve a medal and much acclaim if you are able to fight of a fit of this one!!!
The Power Nap: The flexible cousin of the fraternity. The paradigm being “at the time you want, for the time you want”. Effective and productive, if taken in measured doses.
The Drunkard Sleep: This one is exclusive and only a few elites have the capacity for it. You sleep and you sleep on and on.... Breakfast turns into lunch and eventually into dinner but you are that deep slumber. Someone knocks the door over, you sleep (personal one) and even if there is some minute interruption you can return and resume as if nothing happen. A tough trade. Welcome to the club if you can, losers try harder.
The Palesque Sleep: When you have the capacity to sleep without any regard for your body position then you have mastered the art of palesque sleep( based on Pal, a friend). It slashes the required prerequisite of the “relaxed position”. Happens mostly in awkward positions; twisted at unimaginable angles, hands dangling, body part out of their natural sync. In short more gauche more palesque.
The Summer Rooftop sleep: Again a rare one but a beautiful one. The irony lies in the fact that the most striking part of it is the one where you wake up. The beautiful sky , the crispy coolness of the summer morning makes this one a personal favourite of mine.
There are many other mostly self explanatory ones viz, The sleeper class winter sleep, The In-flight cramped sleep, The bed less sleep and many more , each unique yet equally satisfying. And as a reader you are encouraged to submit new interesting ones.
Though it may seem at times, but it is not just a mundane part of our day to day itinerary. It is a silent indicator, a metric on which life can be judged, compared. The best thing it does, at least for me, is the addition of a daily inspiration, no matter how gruelling the day may become I can always rest assured that there is a sanctuary waiting for me at the end of it, where I make the rules, where I decide my life’s course, where I play GOD, what if only for 8 hours or so.
P.S.-
1. Feel free to point out the grammatical errors as i am looking to chalk up the technical part of my writing.
2. Do some advertising as nothing soothes the eye then the soaring visitor count.
This was supposed to be about 10 days before but with the obvious distractions of being in a different place altogether, the delay was inevitable.
I never thought this to be the place where I would be writing my next blog from, staring at the sky full of stars at an altitude of 12 KM, travelling in a tube structure at 700KMPH and sometimes with mild turbulence. For starters it’s really beautiful!!!! One of those must see sights. Now some may find it overtly toned but speaking from the average Indian’s perspective for whom air travel remains a distant dream( data suggests so) I liked it a lot!!!
Now let’s start from the basics. From what I have learned international travel is not as routine affair as it seems. You have to keep the dimensions in check, the baggage weight in check, check in, immigration, security and what not. So it was always going to be confusing. But it turned out I am not so unlucky after all, people who were seeing us off knew someone in Airport Security and the moment he arrived the whole entourage(and it was quite a big one) was inside the airport, at times throwing victorious glances toward people looking through the glass wall, trying to say late goodbyes.
So the process went on smoothly to the point that the person handling our flight gave us invitations to the executive lounge and even was trying to get us upgrade to business or first class but I think I will write that story some other day.
THE FLIGHT: First times can be scary!!! The thought that you will be accelerating to the speeds of 800KMPH and then will be floating in the air, just because Bernoulli said so is not encouraging at all. The most horrifying was the probability of throwing up at take off. I have heard lot of it and I was really worried about that. But once securely in seat and fumbling with the seatbelts I was humbled by the fact that my, not so tech savvy, mom figured it instantly while I was trying to make sense out of instructions . Air hostesses were pretty but not as the popular media puts them except for one. (maybe I should try an exotic airlines next time if they have an economy class ticket). The take off was uneventful although the grumbling of the aircraft made me miss a beat or too but nothing too fancy. The most awkward moment of the flight was the one where I was asked about my options for a drink, although the thought of savouring a wine or something like that did exist the look on ma’s face made them rest(Most probably I will be returning alone ;-) so let’s see). After the initial excitement it’s a dull affair for most of the next 9 hours.
Zurich: We had a stopover in Zürich for about 3 hours. Even the airport was promising and I can only wait to get out of that terminal and have a look at this beautiful city for real. So for most of the next 3 hours we spent waiting, trying to get hold of the duty free shops. And once you are out of India you catch a serious disease of CONVERSION. So it’s like “Oh My God!! Coffee is Rs. 200” and something like that. Thanks to the wonderful hospitality of Swiss airways we didn’t have to buy any outrageously priced product. They filled us to the brim just before landing, saving a lot of “Oh My God!!” scenarios.
Toronto: The next flight I handled like a pro, like a frequent flyer who have been there so often that he couldn’t care less. Air Canada has some of the eldest airhostesses after Indian Airlines, a fact part of which I can now verify.
They provided quite good meals and in flight entertainment though. Day flights are boring and not as fun as the night ones. The scenery changed once we were on the outskirts of the city. The outskirts were mostly farms and fields with occasional settlement in between. The documentation on immigration system in Canada had me a little worried but it was a piece of cake.
Next One: The Toronto experience or more aptly The Mississauga Experience
P.S.- Do have a look at the trivia section below to remove any lingering doubts you may have. Comments and questions are always welcome.
Trivia Section: For the persons wondering how come this all of a sudden, here is the full story. It wasn't me it was my dad. Sometime in the early 2000s dad had an idea, let’s immigrate to Canada, he filled the forms and we completed all the procedures for the next 6 or so years (Yup that’s a lot of time and it requires time until you are desperate and willing to pay the consultants, majority of who are just crooks)
Now they gave me and my family a visa which was valid till March’09. The procedure required at least one visit to Canada within the time period, after that you had the choice to delay it further(only requiring 2 years residence in Canada each 5 year to maintain the Permanent Resident status). As this period is a little dull at college due to the abundance of festivals I decided lets fly away. And here I am. Now I have the obvious choice at the end of my course to pursue my life at any of the location and where I would be is anybody’s guess. Lots of trivia for sure!!!
