A Great Spontaneous Morning

Today started like any other day: I got up, followed my morning routine, and went to drop our son off at school. The only change was that my wife joined me for the drop-off, and I realized I had only the two-wheeler keys with me—nothing else, not even my mobile phone.

On our return, a fleeting thought occurred: why not have breakfast at a nearby Misal house? My wife agreed and mentioned that she had her mobile with her (we needed it for payments!), so we headed to our usual place. Unfortunately, the place was closed for its weekly holiday on a Monday. It had somehow skipped our mind to check, before we headed there.

This led to an unexpected idea: why not enjoy a leisurely Monday morning? Of course, work was calling and those tasks and chores were not going to complete themselves; but it had been very long since we both had some together time for ourselves. We decided to drive to one of our favorite city areas. We used to frequently visit that area in the pre-kid era, but had almost completely stopped going there afterward.

The only issue was that it was quite far away—about 10 km—to travel on a two-wheeler, and I hadn’t driven that far in quite some time. But in any case, we decided to take the plunge and go for it. We visited Dangi Patis , that serves great Patis/Pakora – fried bread with a masala potato filling. After that we tried out a new Misal place that we had planned on visiting for quite some time now, and then just had a long chat at a great specialty coffee house.

This morning somehow evoked very strong positive feelings for me. Having the freedom to actually make such a morning happen, without any of the usual worldly distractions, felt just great. Even in the pre-kid era we had done this only a few times and mostly on weekends, when almost everything is just super-crowded in the city. The only times that came close were when we drove to the hills on a weekend morning or during a leisurely vacation.

I am at a major crossroads of my career at this point in my life. Today’s simple, joyful escape from the routine was a breath of fresh air. It was a great reminder about focusing on what truly brings me happiness and peace, and not letting go of the first principles.