The Year That Was...
GROWING UP, WE DIDN’T HAVE MONEY TO SPARE FOR SOMETHING PEOPLE CONSIDERED QUITE FRIVOLOUS: TRAVEL. SO THE IDEA OF BEACHES FOR SOMEONE WHO’D LIVED HIS LIFE IN DELHI SEEMED AN UNATTAINABLE FANTASY. IN COLLEGE, I CHANCED UPON THIS MOVIE CALLED ‘THE BEACH’ AND TOLD MYSELF, “WHEN I MAKE IT IN LIFE, I WILL VISIT PHI PHI LEH” – THE BEACH FEATURED IN THE MOVIE. I THOUGHT THAT MEANT I’D HAVE TO BE RICH; IT SEEMED ALMOST LIKE A PIPE DREAM. BUT SOMETHING MOTIVATED ME TO SAVE UP, JUST IN CASE. FOUR YEARS LATER, ON MY BIRTHDAY THIS YEAR, I HAD SAVED A FORTUNE (BY MY STANDARDS) – ENOUGH TO TREAT MYSELF TO A TWO-WEEK TRIP TO THAILAND. AFTER SPENDING A FEW DAYS EXPLORING BANGKOK, I EXCITEDLY MADE MY WAY TO PHI PHI LEH.
I PUT MY HEADPHONES ON AND PLAYED PORCELAIN BY MOBY, A SONG FEATURED IN THE MOVIE. IT WAS PROBABLY THE MOST SATISFYING MOMENT IN MY LIFE. I WAS ALONE AND I DIDN’T KNOW A SINGLE PERSON AROUND ME. THE SAND WAS
