DISTANCE ENCHANTS

Recently the victorious 1983 World Cup Indian Cricket Team, went to Lords and relived those pleasant moments after the victory. Very often University Alumni proudly recall the happier days they spent together in the Campus and hostels. In fact, in IITs, every year one batch celebrates its Silver Jubilee. To every guest we proudly show the marriage album or run the DVD to look back at the ceremonies. We always find a thrill in reliving our glorious moments of the past.

Dhyanchand dribbling the Hockey stick, Prithipal Singh converting the penalty corners in his own characteristic way, A Chuni Goswamy scoring a goal in sheer speed, a Kapil Dev turning out a tantalizing out swinger from an immaculate side on action, kissing the edge of the bat and landing safely in the slip’s hand - would we not proudly recall every pleasant moments of the past?

Thousands of Tamilians would ooze out saliva when they recall the softest Idlies of Ambi’s Café, be it at Chennai’s Broadway or Trichi’s Theppakulam. How many of us, in our thirties, forties, fifities and sixties go into raptures, if a mention is made about our barefoot days in the streets of Malabar or Travancore! The thrill they provide us today is perhaps much more than the ones we actually experienced when the past were present then. The ecstasy increases in proportion to the distance traveled in time.

The raptures do not confine to the Time past alone. Time future also promises pleasant moments. No wonder Robert Browning, considered to be most optimistic of all English Poets, asked

“Grow old along with me,
The Best is yet to be”.

If we believe the ‘best is yet to be’, would the thought of death torment us? We should always have something to look for, that alone keeps us alive. One shudder to imagine a situation, where one does not have anything to look for. Looking for something always make Life meaningful. Those who do not have things to look for, lose charm in life and start developing suicidal tendencies. Dramatists and story writers captivate us, by keeping us in anticipation for the denouement. The few days prior to the Marriage day in the Family are the most thrilling days. We anticipate our friends and relatives from distant places to arrive, and spend happier hours together. When the ceremony is over, to escape the tedium, we go back to memory and try to relive the past.

It is not only distance in time, that provide us the delirium, it is also distance in space, (both Physical and mental) that exhilarate us. Referring to Jawaharlal Nehru, my English Professor Mr.Banerji used to say, ‘he is like a Star that twinkles from afar. We are lesser mortals. Let us admire him from the distance’. Being lesser mortals, would we not admire a Sachin Tendulkar, a Vishwanathan Anand or a Lata Mangeshkar our contemporary heroes/heroines, from a distance?

Distance enchants. But the thrill is diminished by proximity. Those in love, may view this as blasphemy.