Sitting on a cane chair at a roadside shack off MH SH 248 we waited for cold coffee while warding off a million houseflies that hovered around and over us. The day was overcast, and had been so for the past entire week. An impulsive trip had been planned 20 minutes back to rush some 35 kilometers away, just for the kick of it; and just as instantaneously the ad hoc plan had gone kaput - thanks to the ill provided for transport facility. Now we were cooling off the adrenaline rush.
The cancelled trip, however, did not dampen our spirits. It seemed to be a day of impulses. We picked up our glasses of cold coffee and set out on a walk to the lake which was 2 kilometers in the opposite direction of our earlier planned getaway. The serene weather, the lush greenery all around and our restlessness were enough to trigger an aimless walk. Balancing on the edge of the state highway, getting out of the way of speeding state transport buses and bullock carts alike and simultaneously avoiding falling into the muddy puddles and bushes we moved on.
The bluish grey sky blended amazingly well with the green fields. The horizon was breathtakingly picturesque, and formed a brilliant backdrop against a tiny thatch-roofed hut by a sugarcane field. The Master painter had done a laudable job on the canvas that evening. That sweet smell of wet mud, that gentle zephyr. The cattle being herded back to their farms and their little ones scampering around. The atmosphere seemed to just pull you in. It was a rendezvous with Nature. Most unusual, most unexpected and very beautiful.
We kept walking without any track of time. Also, got a bucket load of rain water splashed on us by a wild four-wheeled crusader. The sheer oddity of our wandering added a sense of mystery and adventure. What were we? Just a few pairs of traipsing feet. A few pairs of pattering feet that knew not where to go, but went on nevertheless. A few pairs of meandering feet that were discovering a strange calmness out of nowhere. Just one of those few instances that reiterate that the best things in life are not things at all.
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