Oh freedom! I Love you..

I am writing this blog post from Afghanistan…a place that would never have been on my list of countries that I would love to visit!! Nevertheless work has brought me here and when I was asked to go from my office I didn’t batter an eyelid for a second and thought this would be an opportunity to go to a country that I wouldn’t imagine going to.

As the plane lands in kabul all that one can see is barren land all around…brown, dry and depressing. The airport is full of army helicopters, bunkers and broken down aircrafts and so on.. again depressing….As I enter the airport a passport control officer spots me and points to my bindi and says u! come here! I instantly realise that I am standing out (in the plane from Delhi there are only 2 women and I am one of them) in a crowd because of my bindi!!! Alarm bells starting ringing!! Why is he calling me? What have I done?? Nevertheless he was only trying to help me by clearing my immigration as fast as possible. Gosh! The evil mind that I have!!!

I was supposed to be booked at an ecotel hotel and I was excited about being in a ‘resort’ in a city like Kabul!! I near the hotel and the driver gets off and opens the door. I ask him very innocently whether we have reached because all I can see is a fortress in front of me! The gates of the fortress open and there is the ‘resort’! I swallowed hard and came to terms with what I was seeing in front of me. If I was to compare this place with some hotel in India it would probably be like a two star hotel! Anyway, I have lived in terrible conditions in the past and as usual I was quick to adjust myself to this new situation as well.

Minutes after I settle in I am called for a security briefing! Curfew rules, cover your head, wear full sleeve clothes, radio handset to everyone, no moving out alone anywhere, no shopping (yes! No shopping!! U read that right!!), no eating out, no public transport etc etc. I was expecting this so it was not a surprise to me. Though what struck me hard and I am still thinking about it is how much we take our freedom for granted back home. Small things upset us; we crib about freedom of expression, movement etc etc and here is a place where your life is at risk every minute of your life; life is unpredictable and need to be cautious even while you are indoors or sleeping. Are we not glad that we can go for a drive whenever and wherever we want you? Are we not glad we can go to any shop any time of the day? Are we not glad we can move around anywhere without people keeping track of where we are?

So for all those of u who are reading this post put your life in perspective. Stop cribbing about the small things in life, live life to the fullest, make the most of what u have now coz u never know when it is going to go away from u, live in the present moment and most importantly enjoy your freedom!