's odyssey!

I’ve the dubious distinction of being hit by that dreaded ‘midlife-crisis’ much before the middle-age did so. Although one could relentlessly argue as to how middle is middle, it’s been a blessing in disguise so far. Mid-crisis (no pun intended) I tried hard not to fall into the stereotype of covering my bald-spot, driving a Porsche with the top down and a gorgeous blonde by my side. Mainly because I’m not bald, I couldn’t afford a sports-car and well… you get the picture.

It’s very hard for me to nail down that very moment (or that year for that matter) when adolescence ended and the next phase commenced. In fact I'm not sure if I made a smooth transition from my awkward teenage to my ‘Odyssey years’. I’ve never had the urge to backpack myself into remote spiritual destinations for finding myself. My middle-class upbringing never let me contemplate, even for a second, to take a year off from everything and resume college later. I’ve probably conformed to conventional norms by enrolling myself into a prestigious institution and landed a comfortable job.

Only when I was comfortably settled in my ‘adult-phase’ did the realization dawn upon me that I was about to do my job every day for the rest of my life and that woke me up. There was so much I had to do and I didn’t want to continue with my ‘cushy’ life for the next few decades to find myself at a point where I would begin to wonder if I had made the right decision.

With able support from my family and friends I was fortunate enough to restructure my life to do what I really wanted to do. It may have involved a little struggle and it could have set me back a few years – but to be paid to do what you love – ain’t that the dream?

And thus I found myself in my so-called ‘Odyssey years’ but only by a sort of trial n error process between adolescence and adulthood, zigzagging between various things and striving hard to keep my life from breaking apart at seams that hold these very phases together. I didn’t have to desert my family and people close to me, experiment with mind-altering substances or go on long indefinite trips. As much as all these things might have their own edge, or so they say, – I went on my odyssey by staying close home but by following my dream.