Catharsis - Into the Wilds and Out

Our lives are too complicated, not always by default, though. Since human nature is complex and humans all too weak, we unwittingly begin weaving webs around us, more often than not getting trapped in our own webs. We forge new relations, raise our expectations, anticipate things and get disappointed when our expectations are not met in full measure. This gives rise to problems. Our credulity plays a major part in this cycle of affliction.

The author, Zorawar, primarily a journalist of many hues, had never done a story before this. This is his maiden attempt. In this brief story, he recalls an event of 20 years into the past, observing a small group of friends in India, who are on a pleasure trip to the coastal state of Goa. The group is boisterous but also nonchalant. He soon finds out that a few members of this group make all too obvious and conscious efforts to have happiness as their mission while on their short vacation. They have cracks in their seemingly normal lives. Outer appearances conceal their real emotions. But they must make the best use of time and situation to entitle themselves to a well-deserved break. However, fangs of loneliness still manage to ensnare them, however much they remain surrounded by friends. In the process, the writer realizes his own life hasn’t been as perfect as he would have liked it to be. Life is not all that fair, after all.

It is a story inspired from a few pages of some ordinary peoples’ lives, narrated in an extraordinary style.

Keywords: psychology, despair, search of happiness, façade, beach, fun, deceit, friendship, love, betrayal.