I like to move it, move it… Said Sacha Baron Cohen, King Julian of Madagascar. I wanna move it too. I just finished watching Madagascar and related to one thing over there, no actually four of them since there are four characters which were diametrically opposite to each other but the values they represented very pretty much the same, that of sticking to each other, friendship, a hypochondriac and the wanderlust in a person who is cooped up in his enclosure for a very long time. All these four characters were same in this respect. They all had this wanderlust thing in them.
I mean, you really don’t have to be locked up in an enclosure to feel claustrophobic. You could be out there in the open space or a road or anything and still feel like everything’s closing in on you. You can actually feel the voices ringing in your head when you really don’t want to hear it. And even something as beautiful as a bird’s chirping sounds jarring and harsh. And you get this itch to break free and run away to some place which is totally, completely free from all these material trappings that we’re surrounded by in our daily life.
We’re trapped so deep in this circle of earning, saving, amassing all those things which would bring us on the top of everybody’s list, that we’ve forgotten or some of those unfortunate ones haven’t even had a taste of freedom, what it is to be free.
One might say that this is nothing but escapism, trying to run away from things that we’re not able to face. But the fact remains that every one of us, every single one of us wants to break free, without a worry in the world, enjoy the bounty Mother Nature has given us.
Sitting here at my work, on a sultry day, I’m actually daydreaming of just packing my backpack, just getting into one of those horrid buses and just travel to one of those places which is as close to nature as it can get. Mountains, trees, ponds, rivers, wild animals in their natural habitats, the birds chirping… Ah, what bliss. Ok, all those who call this slumming it, well, too bad. You’re missing something. Just imagine the morning when you don’t have to hurry to catch that bus, or haggle with those annoying rikshawallas. Just imagine the taste of food which you savor every morsel and not cram it into your mouth in a hurry and don’t give a dime’s worth how it tastes. Do you even remember how your last breakfast tasted? Naah, I don’t think so. Imagine the day when you don’t have to lose your cool and wouldn’t want to rip the throat of the guy who is honking his head off without bothering about the noise pollution just because he wants to go before you.
Sounds like a different world, ain’t it? Oh, yeah that’s what it is a world within a world. I know that we can’t actually go away on a stretch for a long time, since some of us have to work for a living. Heck, we even need money to go to those places. All I can say is fortunate are those who can take some time off, even if it is a week (which incidentally is a luxury for most of us) and go as close to nature as possible.
And here some places which you could go – Coorg, Manali, Bandipur. If you have any more places, you could add it to my list. Till I can actually go and fulfil my wish… I like to move it, move it…
Now before I go sign off you might be wondering where the whole thing of nature, breaking free, etc, etc is related to Madagascar… Well, here it is, Marty the zebra turns 10 and he hasn’t seen the other side of the zoo wall. And this bothers him enough to want to get out of his enclosure and want to see the wide, wide world and the wild. Oh, he does escape, which is a visit to the Grand Central Station, which is grand and which is central. His other friends, Alex, the star lion, who loves New York and his zoo, Gloria the hippo who’s game for all things that her friends do, the peaceful and sensible one, and the hypochondriac giraffe Melman (David Schwimmer is amazing) who all wanna stick to their friend zebra. Now they accidentally land up in a forest of Madagascar and experience for the first time, the beautiful wilderness. But at what cost you’ve got to watch the movie. And a special mention about King Julian. Whoa, man!!!! The guy’s too good. And just to show how good, look at the video… I like to move it, move it, Ya like to move it, move it… Move it, move it, move it…
Great post!