Sunshine

Let me tell you a once upon a time story. A story about sunshine.And how it changed my entire life.Back in 2009,I was a mundane post graduate student. That’s when she walked in with a week-old glass of Long Island Ice Tea.She offered it stating nonchalantly-‘If it didn’t kill me, it won’t kill you either’. That started a friendship which changed everything. Her principles were simple. If you love doing something, do it. If you are scared of something, don’t think twice about facing it. She did not preach; she just transformed the life that I had with contagious enthusiasm.With the map of the world laid out in front of us, we made an implicit pact to explore.Travelling became our favorite teacher; and lessons were learnt in treks and museums.We once went to Rishikesh. I had acute hydrophobia and acrophobia and there I was, standing on a cliff, staring at the Ganges below me. All I was supposed to do was jump. But,fear can be a vicious enemy at the best of times. I spent an hour stepping forward and inching back. Then I heard her say ‘You’ll never hear the end of this, if you don’t jump today’. I jumped. That fraction of a second of free fall cured me a little bit; made me a little stronger. Soon, we started executing all our wishful thinking. We did a 17 day backpacking trip in Europe. We hiked and parasailed amidst Swiss mountains, drank a mass of beer at Oktoberfest, ate Amsterdam’s special cakes amidst other things. We realized that a lifetime is less to see all that this world has to offer. And every day spent not seeing something new is a day wasted!I call her Sunshine, because she warms up my life.For three years I have been seeing the world through her eyes. In those eyes, there’s no reticence or regrets. There’s just a willingness to follow your heart. My heart; well all it wanted to do was travel and write. And that’s what we’ve been doing ever since. Like I said, this story does not have a happy ending, but happiness is written all over it!