The Art of Laziness

Consider this scenario: You wake up with the sound of the alarm at 6 am or some such unearthly hour. The feeling inside you is 33.33% frustration, 33.33% anxiety and 33.33% anger against the world in general. You turn the alarm off and then turn over to take a snooze for 10 minutes before finally (and reluctantly) getting out of your bedclothes. A hurried brushing of teeth and other such stuff, and then it’s time to boot your laptop, to try and complete work pending from the previous day.  Breakfast gobbled up somehow, and then rushing off to work, all the time fearing you’ll miss the train/bus you need to catch and be marked late…

A long day at work, and then back home, dinner ingested, a few cursory words to the spouse and kids, and then to bed – with thoughts and worries related to work at the back of your mind at all times…

And the next morning, the same drill all over again…


The side effects of this kind of lifestyle: You tend to get tired.

Side effects of Lifestyle#1: Getting tired.

Now, consider this scenario: You wake up with the sound of your kids yelling out a ‘Bye Ma’ while going out to school. You manage a lazy half-shout - ‘Bye! Have fun!’, and then turn over in bed… content in the thought that you still have at least an hour’s sleep left…

If it happens to be a Saturday, it’s even nicer. After stretching your sleep to your heart’s content, you wake up and have a relaxed, unhurried breakfast. Then go for a walk in the hills with your daughter, soaking in the pleasant January sun. Stop at the hill top for a round of free hand exercises with her – bang in the middle of the road! (This would perhaps raise eyebrows on a normal city road, but we live in a sort of hamlet and there are very few walkers on this road.) Then walk down to a small park – and enjoy swinging gently on a swing under the shade of a banyan tree, while chatting about all kinds of things with your daughter…

The rest of the day is spent in doing a bit of writing, reading, cartooning, some shopping perhaps… and that most blissful of all blissful pastimes- an afternoon siesta! Come evening, have dinner with the family and then go for another long walk – this time with the spouse. Everything seems calm and unhurried – you feel ready to take on the world…

But, yes, there are side effects of this kind of lifestyle too: You tend to get 'tyred'. :)

Side effects of Lifestyle#2: Getting 'TYRED".

Yes, this is the idyllic life I am leading right now... and I am enjoying it to the hilt! Sure, there are pros and cons of each kind of lifestyle – other than getting 'tyred' (which has already happened to me), in this languorous lifestyle I miss the satisfaction of working on a challenging project... brainstorming on ideas and creating programmes and products that would bring about social change. But the satisfaction one gets from baking a perfect orange tea cake that is devoured with relish by young and old alike, is no less, believe me! The only thing is, leading a lazy, unhurried life is an art - and one has to learn to enjoy it without any guilt pangs... :)

Whatever else, I am truly glad that I decided to take this year-long vacation. I feel rested and refreshed and ready to take on any challenge... I think I’ll begin with the biggest one that I am facing right now – getting rid of the huge tyres around my middle that this ‘idyllic’ lifestyle has gifted me!