Hitting the road is what you dream about when you are confined to a job. The question is:Who will you travel with when you roll out, well oiled for journeys that will enrich your life? I guess I have been lucky looking back at the miles and the milestones we have travelled together like a proper family...
Here are a few things (in no particular order) that I have observed about this experience. They say two's company, but five or even seven, is like a troupe. But being the sort who's always enjoyed the designations that have come with every promotion, I don't mind that leader feeling at all when I'm on the road. What's not to like? A 9-year-old sets the direction and even decides the halts! Her cousins are paying no attention to anything inside or outside, their phones are plugged into the Smart Play.
Life has become a journey wherein I find so much room for more. Want your kids to be popular with their friends and friends' parents? Discover the pleasures of picking up and dropping chirpy school-goers for craft classes and other fun outings. Believe me, it's no less fun than picking up wifey's attractive pals on the way when you are dropping her off for a kitty. In case you are thinking all this is going to my head, well I'm a practical sort really. While I'm not below average by any means in likeability or charm, I know for a fact that folks like to travel with us because they don't feel they are crowding, and every nook of my Ertiga has convenience and comfort.
So I get to hear exciting hiker stories during a long drive, or the dreams of Grade 3 kids, plus cricket gyaan on a Saturday from half of my league team, or about all the miracles witnessed first-hand by my four gregarious aunts during their pilgrimage tour. I mean, to each their own, and I'm happy to feel a part of all the great action. I call it a luv for life in all its diversity.
You know, there are highway fans who love to spend hours at a stretch on the road. I've never been one of them. I put comfort first – how's everyone feeling? The more comfortable they are, we'll consider how much farther to go. You should luv the trip, what's it about otherwise?
Like some great poet surely has written somewhere, there's a season to be a twosome, and there's a time to go with a herd. If spring is perfect for the former, then it must be the monsoon when it's just right for a drive up to a ghat destination like Malshej. What a gush! What a soaking! Mustn't pass up Nature's own invitation to the non-feathered peacocks and peahens to sway and strut.
Spreading the luv at year-end is another fun activity – since I can't sing for nuts, I help in taking the local carol group around in the run-up to X Mas. A key role - you ask? Well, if I sang too, it will soon be an off-key role for sure! Which irrelevantly brings to mind that the one I drive, has keyless entry and go, and a push-button for engine start/stop.
" Ups, downs and sharp turns... Life goes through lot. But there's something that keeps us going – the feeling called LUV. Introducing the all-new Maruti Suzuki Ertiga. "