Pampered Silly

Have you ever been pampered silly??!! Like so pampered that you are scared that your happiness might just get jinxed. 2009 ended with such amazing pampering that I at one point was scared that it’s too good. Its gonna get jinxed and I am going to land up with egg on my face.

Wow, such pessimism that I was a bit upset with myself. What happens to us when we grow up? When we are born, we land in lap of luxurious pampering. Every cry for food is met by immediate attention of our mother. Every movement monitored with love and concern of our parents. We are showered with gifts by one and all. Gifts that we have no memories of. The first couple of years we are pampered silly by one and all…coochie cooed, hugged and snuggled endlessly. Pampering is all we know.

The irony of it all, from being the first born grandchild and the most pampered daughter, today I am actually feeling scared that I am being pampered. Makes me smile at wonderment called life. All I know is that I have not been treated so tenderly and affectionately in the longest time.

I went on a life altering road trip to the hills. This time is was a new destination, McLeod Ganj, a suburb of Dhramshala nestled in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh. I have travelled far and wide in India and it was a surprise to a lot of people that I had never seen Dharamshala. I guess all in good time.

From checking out graves at 'St John in the wilderness' to eating orgasm-inspiring Momos, it was unpredictable and spontaneous. We smoked up, drank wine, walked about in the night in pitch-dark hills. Did a daylong trek that was as breath taking as it left me breathless! Ha…this is what holidays are meant to be.


Closed temples were opened in middle of the night; even gods were smiling at the naughtiness of pestering the priest to open the temple way past Gods bedtime! Medicines were miraculously produced in pitch-dark roads. M actually had the gum shun of handing over the wheel of the car to me at 2 am in the foothills of the grand Himalayas. Errr…me…I just started to drive 3 months back. Then next thing you know I am driving through a pitch-dark jungle speeding at the curves and giving my Co passengers a fright of their lives! The only other witness to this madness was the full Moon.. Ahhh…. The moon has been a silent witness for the past year. The moon that had prodded me to endure the darkness, stood witness to my immense joy that week.

My heart had been thirsting a waterfall for a long time. We spoke about it often, and there I was standing next to one with such happy joyful people. In the winter it was far from inviting yet two mad boys jumped in…brrr…this has got to be insanity. Cut to me in a village in Punjab chewing on sweet barley and pulling out turnips from the fields with 2 tiny tot kids. They knew so much more than I could ever imagine about pulling out vegetables from the ground. Sitting on a charpoy with a grand old man drinking very milky and very sweet tea…my soul was growing every second.

The best part of my holiday was the way chapter was closed for 2009. I sat in deep meditation with that one person who knows be better than I sometimes give credit for. That one person who has pampered my soul. For the first time in my life, I brought in a New Year in total silence, peace and gratitude.

Can you think of a better way to ring in 2010..I can’t??

On growing up, why do we feel guilty when we get pampered, while as a child it was our birth right, A Seed for Thought?