High on Highway

“On the highway to life, we most often recognize happiness out of the rear-view mirror.”

On an otherwise boring workday, I decided to take a break from my equally boring (or highly satisfying, as other people see it) routine life and give in to my impulsive nature which has long been caged, courtesy no midnight ice-creams, no midnight rides (and/or drives), Go Goa craziness, and other general madness. Marriage binds you, in ways more than one. Even when you have the most understanding spouse! More on that later….

So, a couple of WhatsApp pings and reviews later, I booked a ticket for Highway. 10 minutes into the movie, I felt it’s a slice of life being portrayed. Remembered all the times I have eloped from home, quit my job to do a backpack travel alone, switched off my phone sipping drink and reading on a beach, made new friends over the counter, roamed around aimlessly, checked-in a hotel at my hometown and lived there (not at my home), fell in love with a complete stranger and missed him in my smiles.  All in my mind!

In reality, all I did was stay alone for almost seven years, made new friends, vacationed a lot, but never eloped. Though I thought would do it one day. Even when I got hitched, my best friend did not attend just to make sure I have a place to come down lest I decide to run away moments before being married.

But Alia Bhatt did it. Just days before marriage, she forces her fiancé to take her out for a midnight drive (which I did often). And luckily, she gets kidnapped. And lives her life those few days…fulfills her dreams…breathes as if there is no tomorrow. And she never wants the journey to end.

I always wanted to live by the sea. Live off what I earn for six months, and travel for the rest. To places I have never been to. Meet people I would have never otherwise met. Listen to the crowd, to people. Feel the fresh air. And Highway was that journey for me. A journey of self-discovery, of introspection! Of moments I only live in my mind, of things I could only ‘think of’ doing, of a life wherein I enjoy the journey, and never want to reach the destination. A reconfirmation of my belief, that two people need not necessarily be lovers or in any defined relation to feel connected.

Highway is a flashback. Of looking out of the rear-view mirror! Of that unnoticed tear in my eyes when Alia Bhatt says: “Tum mujhe jahan se laye ho main wahan wapas nahi jaana chahti, tum jaha mujhe le ja rahe ho main wahan pahuchna nahi chahti… par yeh raasta, yeh raasta acha hai.” Through her journey, it was my internal journey to freedom. Of the moments I never wanted to let go, of the memories I never want to die.

Three days and eight back-to-back movies later, I am still on the Highway. And never want the journey to end. If the destination is being happy and settled enough to go for annual vacations abroad, to have a perfect life, I don’t want to reach the destination. And all I can think of is book myself a ticket to some unknown place, drop a message to my family, switch off my phone, and set off on a journey to Highway.

For the movie, have just one word to say: Go, watch this movie. Set yourself free.