Remember those
joyous carousel rides when we were younger? I do and so vividly too; as though even
now with the stretch of my arm I’d be able to touch the mounts of zebras and
unicorns on it! Or, better yet the ponies that were always my favourite. I can
still feel the gush of sweetened fresh air on my face every time I think about
it. My eyes closed throughout; those rides were euphoric and epitomize a time
free of all the banalities of life. Sometimes I think if happiness would have to
ever place eternal dibs on anything in life, it would have to most definitely be
the carousel rides! Hung precariously; fearful of losing grip while being
pulled apart by the relentless and malicious centrifugal forces of what we call
life, I yearn to visit those distant shores where my heart would leap with the
same childish glee!
What wouldn’t I give to be
able to go back in time, to that point when life was all about fairies,
unicorns, hot chocolate and carousel rides?
What wouldn’t I give to flee
the reality that life actually is, even if it were for a nanosecond?
What wouldn’t I give for a
get-away to a far off place where everything is pleasant and happiness inducing
like childhood itself?
What wouldn’t I give for a
glimpse of life’s magic?
What wouldn’t I give for a
vacation, an escape or rather escapism?
But where would I find all
of that on earth?
Where would I find my
perfect destination, Peter Pan’s
Neverland?
Yes Peter Pan’s Never Never land!
I need a break
from the mad dash of life, the mechanical sequence around which life revolves
in the whole world. A break away from one and all, with my family, is all that
I seek. A walk into the far wild, leaving behind the temporal anxieties, is
what I pine for. But is there a place on earth; is there any place where the
heart and soul can together rejoice and bask in the healthy warmth of childhood
again?
Those good old days of yore!
A time when work didn’t
mandate a family to be strewn across the four corners of the country,
A time when every night I
would go to sleep after planting kisses on the cheeks of every member of my
family,
A time when I didn’t have
to rely on the phone to say I care or that I’m there!
Yes, as childish
as it sounds my perfect trip is a magical trip! It is a trip into Barrie's
fabulous island, Never Land, near the stars of the milky-way. How magnificent it
would be; a charmed land devoid of boundaries, as if at the cusp of luminous
stars and bright orange rays of the morning sun! As Barrie said perhaps it does
exist in our minds, maybe all it needs is a little thrust to search!
An escape into the unknown
is all I yearn for,
An escape into a land of
mystic possibilities,
An escape into the home of a
mischievous boy,
Who flies and never ages,
An escape from reality!
Yes away from life’s hectic
schedules and rude jolts,
I wish for a few days off!
A dip in the
Mermaid’s lagoon, a few nights in the Wendy house with Peter and the lost boys
too, a hike up Neverpeak Mountain, a walk with fairies through Pixie Hollow,
rides in the giant clam-shell pulley system, a cup of tea at Peter Pan’s house
atop trees; with all these and more what more could I ask for? Perhaps its
escapism at its best, but then which vacation isn’t about one?
If I close my eyes
and think then it is only the island of Bora
Bora that comes close to my perception of Neverland. A picturesque isle, as
if painted by Michelangelo or Picasso, somewhere in the vast expanse of the
Pacific with lagoons, barrier reefs and heavenly azure blues shielded by the Chartreuse
palms! Perhaps, that’s where I need to
go. Perhaps, that’s where I need to spend a week or two with my family in tow. Perhaps,
there’s where I’d laugh again with childlike glee and be free from life’s
worries even if it’s just a momentary flee!
Walking down the sandy beach,
Our feet covered in the beige sweet,
Witnessing the setting rays peach,
Swaying under the starry sheet,
Soaking in the wavy reach,
Days with my family complete,
Bora Bora, joy on its shores besiege,
My Neverland, My Peter Pan’s retreat!