Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home.
There isn’t a day without a moment, no matter how minute, in which we spare some time knowingly or unknowingly, in memory of having been somewhere or the wish of being somewhere.
Many of us visit and revisit the websites which allow us to know how that trip which circles our minds can be fulfilled. Holding on to our obligations towards our families and professions, our minds and hearts await that breath of a different sight.
Our everyday life comprises of almost everything we want and can possibly have. We decorate our daily lives the way we want to with our inspirations and aspirations, in a way which displays a part of our inner selves. However, no matter how comfortable we may feel in the warmth of our homes sitting and reading a book, painting, singing, dancing, cooking, coding, gaming etc, the allure of the outside can be resisted by only a few of us. The curiosity of what remains to be seen or experienced and yearning of where the heart wants to be once more, takes our steps far beyond our neighbourhoods.
I haven’t been much of a traveller. When I completed my graduation, the string of events that followed influenced my life in a manner which made it less worrisome for me if I stayed around my home and family. I had responsibilities which couldn’t be ignored. However, I have had several wonderful outings and most importantly these outings helped me to gain a perspective on writing and also to develop interest in photography to the point where it has become my favourite and frequent hobby.
What I will never forget though is the first time I felt far from home and in my mind, it was the farthest in a manner. I was almost six years old and by that time the feeling of being at home wasn’t so clear to me. I was fine anywhere as long as one of my close family members was part of the crowd around me. Every place felt secure and homely when they were around.
Around this time of my life, me and my family lived in a city which was and still continues to be famous for its resorts and beaches and for the people of the city these beaches were regular places of recreation.
One day, one of my best friends in the neighbourhood told me that he and his parents were going to the beach and if we would love to join them. It was a beach which we didn’t go to often, mainly due to the long distance it was from our apartment and as well as the poor condition of the roads at a particular part of the route which consumed more time.
I agreed to talk to my parents upon my friend’s insistence and sadly got to know my parents were not free on that day. When I told this to my friend, he said if I want, I could come alone, his parents would look after both of us.
Hence, his mother had a talk with my mother and it was decided that I would go with them. I was quite excited for the trip having not known what it would be like for me to go out without a family member present.
My parents must have asked me a hundred times whether I would be fine going out without them and each time I replied with a ‘yes’.
Everything was set and talked upon and we were going to the beach in my friend’s parent’s car. It was evident from my friend’s running nose which displayed a shade of red that he was not well. I know his parents might have suggested cancelling the plan while he might have insisted upon not cancelling it.
His mother smiled at me while telling me that my friend would be fine by the time we reached the beach, he had taken medicine. I think for a moment there I really thought he was getting better when he started telling me about what he was going to do at the beach but then he fell asleep when we hadn’t even covered half the distance and he kept sleeping till the very end. I would have loved to give him a shake to wake him up but his mother told me not to do so.
We reached the beach after a journey which had started relatively well in the beginning but had lost its fun for the obvious reason. I was already getting the feeling things were not really turning out to be as well I thought they would be.
A room had been rented beforehand for us to stay. My friend woke up visibly more unwell than how he was before he went to sleep and barely spoke anything to me. His mother held him and walked him to the room where he fell asleep at once.
Lunch was ordered to the room which I ate amidst the most silence I had experienced till now. My friend’s parents didn’t even try to find the remote to switch on the television and my friend looked like he wouldn’t wake up until the next morning.
This was the first time in life I realised that as a child no matter how good your friendship is with someone, that doesn’t mean you are friends with their parents as well. Beyond those sweet smiles and talks on seeing a child lies a boring thing called adulthood.
My friend’s father asked me to come with him to check out the beach which I did. He asked me some questions about my school which I answered like I answered my teacher in the classroom. After a while he got bored, I guess and sat on the sand while I walked ahead to the part of the sand which was lightly touched by water. I think he called out to me to not go very far, but I was beyond responding.
I looked at the sea and the setting Sun, I think the tears went down very rapidly from my eyes. I wiped them fast; I didn’t want my friend’s father to know about this. Well, I was missing my parents and I was so far away that I couldn’t reach them even if I tried to and mobile phones weren’t every household thing yet. I didn’t know how I would spend the night.
I know I shouldn’t say it but at that moment it felt like a good thing for me. My friend’s parents decided to return home concerned about my friend’s health and hence we returned, I was back to my home with my parents.
That was the moment I felt most distant and far away. When I grew up I realised there are more than one type of distances, most can be covered or mended but not the one between life and death.
Early Morning Memories 
One response to “In a distance”
Really interesting read.
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