Let's Go To Veegaland ( A Thought On Life) | Harison Xavier
Everyone wanted to go to Veega Land (Now Wonderla ), as a little kid, I used to look into Veega Land's newspaper advertisements and dream about going there and enjoying the rides. Veega Land (Before changing the name to Wonderla) is a household name in my state when it comes to a vacation spot, I used to beg my parents to take me to Veega Land. I often get the reply "there is nothing there", "only rich people go there", "We don't have time", "You don't study well" and so and so. In my school days, our senior students often get the opportunity to go on a school trip to Veega Land. Even I would be excited and I would say to myself, "Just 7 more years and I can go to Veega Land, O Yes, I am so excited." I have met kids who were lucky to visit Veega Land early, they would share the experience they got and how they spend their time. They would explain like, the journey was tough till the location as they have to wake up early or start their journey the night before, once we reach there, we will need to stand in a queue to get our tickets, if we are prebooked, we could enter faster, once inside we will need to change our clothes and they start running towards the rides to stand in a queue first. As it is the most famous amusement park in my state, people from all over the state come to Veega Land for a day full of fun. - so the queues are very long and most of the time in a year it's busy. Then the real fun begins as you enjoy all the rides with friends and create new experiences. I would listen to their endless stories with wide ears and eyes. I couldn't get enough, I wanted to hear more. I often feel jealous seeing kids of my age and younger going to Veega Land and I could only dream about it.
Years went by, don't know how many but more than 10 years went by and the dream just became a wish and it was still inside but not as much as I wanted when I was younger. It was in 2015 when one of my friends suggested that we all go to Veega land (by then it has changed its name to Wonderla) for a break. He had a car and we all got enough money to get there and buy tickets. ( It was a time when we all were complete losers and nobody cared about us - so we were free to do anything) I had to report to the office that day morning and I was not sure, I thought that I would just go to the office and spend my time "productively". By these many years, I learned about money and failed more than a thousand times in life. I really didn't want to spend money on a break, I was earning less than the minimum wage and I can't afford to go with them.
I do admire the courage of these friends who never worried about the future, money, or time. They knew well they enjoy their life. Any time I see them they are on to something new, doing something brave, I wished I had their courage to do things.
They offered me a lift to my office and the plan was to drop me at the office and they will go to Veega Land for the day. It is always hard to leave home, every time I leave home, I believe that I will return home as a successful man, but it never happened. Same as always, I left home, met my friends at their place, got in the car, we were 6, and just drove towards Veega land. Simple, no many preparations, just do it. Someone once said, moments that are not planned are the best moments. Planned trips rarely happen.
One more reason for not going to Veegaland is the friends that I am going out with are not that close. Three of them are mutual friends of my close friends. I really don't like to go with them.
On our way, we talked about life, past, future, success, failures, and I was mostly silent, I was mostly worried about the office, I just wanted to be successful at my stupid job and get a raise very soon. I wished if I could travel with only my close friends. So that I can act freely and say things freely. Anyway, this is the best we all could do. We are all here in this car together to a vacation spot.
We reached near our office, my friends started pressuring me to go with them. At some point, I too decided that I am going. It's been a very long time since I had a happy moment, all this time I have been treating myself very badly. I must give myself permission to enjoy, after all, there is nothing there at a dead-end job. I will never know when will be the next time I will be with my friends. It is sad to see them go away. I wish if I could be with them and enjoy my time for longer.
Anyway, I canceled the plan to go to the office and went with my friends to Veega land, so that's how I end up going to the dream place. We reached there around 9:00 am and it was crowded already and we parked our car and took out our bags. The Guys started taking pictures immediately, there were luxury cars parked nearby and they wanted to take pictures next to them. I am not interested in taking pictures, I believe it takes time out of us from enjoying fully. I hurried them and we went stood in the queue. I was excited. My childhood dream is coming true. We bought our tickets, we didn't have money for fast track tickets so we took the standard one and went into the changing room. People are all in rush, everyone wants to get in the rides first. We took the lockers next to each other and changed our dress and started running. We planned ahead that we will take all-electric rides first and then go for water rides.
The place must have the highest density of happiest people. So many people to count, so many languages, cultures, religions, beliefs, yet they all coexist and are happy. Is this real? Is this real life or am I dreaming? Happiness is possible if you let it. People choosing a day to have fun, scare themselves, relax, have an adrenaline rush, that's funny.
We didn't hold back either, we turned into kids when we got inside. I was happy that my long-time dream came true. I can't believe this is happening, I am at the place I wanted to be. I and my friends rushed into each ride and had fun. Adventure rides really excited me. I really liked getting scared. Once I forced myself to get out of my own prison, I was happy. Life doesn't have to be so strict all the time. It is necessary that I must have fun. I was conditioned to live in a prison-like environment, and getting out of this self-created prison is very hard.
So it is possible to create an ideal world for people and everyone can be happy and enjoy life at the same time. I wonder why people are not?
After we completed almost all-electric rides we went to have our lunch, we sat there and chat about our individual experiences and laughed about it. It would have been a big loss if I didn't join them. (Thinking about it now, this was the only time I ever went to Veega land.) After lunch, we walked for a while, we are able to talk about n number of things.
Now it is time for us to begin the water sports, as we all come from a hill station we don't have many rivers or pools near us, so we are very excited to play in the water. Couldn't believe that I am finally having fun. It has been a very hard year for me and just for this one day I got a break from it and I am forgetting my life outside. I am completely free here and happy. We played in different pools for the rest of the evening. I can't remember what we did but I was having a great time.
Time passed on, a minor burn in my chest, there is not much time left, less than an hour, after that, I must say goodbye to this magical land. I will be going back to the real life. Hardship and misery are waiting for me at the door. I must enjoy the rest of the time I have with my so-called friends, I didn't choose them or did they choose me, we are just here, I could have had greater fun if I had my closest friends with me, but it's life, this is the best we can have. Learn to work with what I have. Enjoy the moment. In the end, this will not be enough.
Towards the end, we were so exhausted and we did want to do more again, yet we were just laying down at the pool relaxing, I started to watch people again, everyone is still happy and they are not bothered about the time or others. This should be life. Live every moment to its fullest. If you could be happy and forget about everything else for 6 hours, then you could be happier than you are now. Why nobody is seeing this? The company sold happiness to you for 6 hrs. Isn't it a lesson for you to learn how to live life?
We are born in this world by accident, or for a reason or even 100 other reasons that we can think about, we couldn't control our birth and we can't control our death. So what we are left is the time between birth and death. Why don't we choose to be happy during this brief time we have. (I don't know what the readers think, or what they have in mind. I am viewing this life as a trip to an amusement park, I am here to be happy, enjoy, face the adventure, if something goes wrong, I die. And that's the end. )
A loud bell rang, it is time. I must leave. We must leave. There is a slight disappointment in everyone's face. It was fun and beautiful but I must leave now. I was silent, I didn't want to go, so did everyone else, nobody wants to leave, This is death, we all know someday we will die, and we don't have much time left. So be happy and content with what you have and also keep growing from where we are. The time is ticking, so enjoy now. The bell is going to ring anytime soon.
As a poem reminds me - "Rage! Rage! Rage Against The Dying Of The Light."
Comments
Post a Comment