Hey, how are you doing? I’m driving back home, on the same road where I recorded my last blog on that rainy night.
In India, we have one of the biggest Hindu festivals, which we call Deepavali, or, in short, Diwali, on 8th November. Diwali comes from one of the most famous Hindu scriptures, the Ramayana. The scripture says that on this day, Lord Ram came back victorious to his kingdom, Ayodhya, after defeating Ravan in a ferocious battle in modern-day Sri Lanka, to bring back his wife, the queen Sita.
She had been kidnapped by Ravana. He was provoked when Ram’s younger brother, Lakshman, attacked Ravan’s sister and cut off her nose with his sword. When she went back and told her brother the story, it made him very angry, and to take revenge, he decided to kidnap Ram’s wife. He could have directly challenged Ram, or even Lakshman, and they would have fought, and maybe either of them would have met an honourable death. But all these are could-haves and should-haves. If that had happened, the chain of events would have been something else, and we would never have had that scripture.
After the war, Lord Ram killed Ravan and came back to his kingdom. That day was a new moon day. It was completely dark, and the people of the kingdom lit oil lamps, lanterns and diyas to light his path. Since then, every year on the same day, we celebrate the Diwali festival.
It is one of the two major festivals, Holi and Diwali. Holi comes around March, when we step from winter into summer, and Diwali comes around October or November, when we step from summer into winter.
So I’m going to my hometown, where my parents live. My hometown is around a two-hour car drive from the city where I work, if you don’t hit a lot of traffic. Otherwise, since my way passes through the capital of India, New Delhi, which is full of traffic most of the time, it takes at least three hours to reach. But today, since I started very late, around midnight, I luckily don’t have to face a lot of traffic. The traffic has been manageable till now, and I’m hoping it stays that way.
This is something I really like about late-night drives. You often find empty roads: no traffic, no people, no distractions, no obstructions. You can just keep going. You can stay in your thoughts, and you don’t have to worry much about people honking at you or blocking you. So I have always been fond of late-night drives. I never miss a chance to take one.
Recently, I’ve become a morning person. I try to wake up at 6:30, or by 7 at the latest, and then I try to go and work out. Earlier, I used to go on night drives a lot. Nowadays, I don’t get much time, but whenever I don’t have to go to the gym the next morning and can wake up a bit late, I go on a night drive.
Mornings are not that great. Very early mornings are also kind of like night, but as the sun comes up, everybody starts coming out of their homes, and the roads and highways start getting cluttered. For me, late-night drives are always great.
My father always suggests that I travel in the daytime, because if my car breaks down or something like that happens, it is easier to get help during the day than at night. I completely agree. But unfortunately, with my schedule, the way the traffic behaves and where I live, it has become very, very hard, almost impossible, to reach my hometown without going through an excruciating traffic jam. It’s a pain in the arse, I am telling you.
I have a manual car right now. I drive an EcoSport, and I love this car from the bottom of my heart. But it’s manual, and in a traffic jam, pressing the clutch again and again is not easy. So I always end up travelling at night, like I’m doing right now. And for me, so far, so good. There’s not much traffic, and I expect to reach my hometown within two hours of starting. That’s good. I’ll just go home and sleep, and I’ll meet my parents in the morning, because they sleep early and have already gone to bed.
Something else I wanted to share with you: for the last few months, I’ve been getting this urge to start writing a story. To create a fictional story. Maybe I write a character and build a life around that character. I think that would be fun. But right now, I am a bit occupied with the platform I’m creating. As I mentioned in my last blog, for now I want to finish what I’ve started, and then maybe I can start working on this as well.
I did write a book earlier, but it was a self-help book, without characters or a story like that. I think it would be interesting to write a book around a character and a story. Maybe it can help people have a good time, and make me feel good too. So why not?
My God, I’m passing over one of the busiest expressways in the country. I’m driving in the centre lane, which often has no traffic, but the side lanes are stuffed with heavy traffic jam. I’m not sure why the traffic is there. There’s just an overwhelming number of vehicles: trucks, buses, personal cars, and it’s just impossible for the narrow road to accommodate everything.
Recently, India has seen rapid growth in car affordability, and credit has become much easier for Indians to access. A lot of people and a lot of homes have cars now. India has made some progress in the quality of life of its citizens. There are a lot of cabs right now too. People are travelling in their own vehicles, or taking taxis and cabs and moving around. The thing is, people are moving around; they have money to go out and spend, and that spending reaches others. It all runs on top of one another. One person’s spending is another person’s income. That’s great.
There’s no specific topic I wanted to discuss today. I was just driving, and I thought I’d talk to you.
So, have a great day. Keep going, my friend. I’m not sure what time of day it is where you are, but I wish you a great morning, a great afternoon or a great evening. Have a good time. Thanks for reading, and thanks for dropping by every now and then. Your love and support are my biggest motivation, and the energy that drives me and pushes me to come back again and again and talk to you. I like doing it. I like talking to you. I hope you like my words and my thoughts, and connect with them.
With these words, I will pause and take a rest. Have a great day. Keep shining. Keep winning.
~R
