Leisure Memorised

It was 17th June 2014, one of the hottest days of Indian summers. My friend who came back home from U.S. on 15th June called me and offered me to accompany him for a visit to his farm house in Siswan village area on way to Baddi from Chandigarh. I accepted his offer and we left Chandigarh at 10:00 a.m. . At 10:40 a.m. , we reached his farmhouse. There was a tree house in his farm, which his father had made by a team of people specialised in wooden crafts from Saharanpur. It was a dream tree house to see . I was mesmerized to see the beauty of that farmhouse filled with greenry everywhere and the tree house which was the centre of attraction.

My friend told me that his father had spent 15 lakhs as a whole for that tree house to be prepared. It had all the facilities​, which a normal house has. As, it was built on two trees some 12 metres apart, making it spacious fulfilled with extra facilities. It had a toilet, a bar, a kitchen, a drawing room and a bed room. As we had not taken breakfast, my friend asked the care taker of farmhouse to cook breakfast for us. We get laid on bed in bedroom and started going down our memory lane discussing school time memories alongside waiting for breakfast. It was one of the best relaxation enjoying beautiful memories laying 12 feet above the ground. The memory we discussed was a tour to Toka-Sahib, a Sikh community Shrine near Naraingarh. When we were in 5th class, we were taken to that place to pay obeisance to God at that place and enjoyment. As that place was 5 kilometres away from our school, we went there by foot. On the way after crossing village Mianpur, there was a river which we had to cross for reaching the shrine. As there was some water in the river, we took off our shoes for crossing the river. One of my friends asked to give my shoes to him as he would carry my shoes along with him in his hand bag. I accepted his offer and gave my shoes to him. After reaching the Shrine, I asked him for my shoes. He was shocked and expressed his grievance that he left my shoes there. Fearing teachers, I didn't tell my tale to them. We reached back to school by a shrine's truck and I came back home by school van. When I reached home, my father questioned me for shoes. I told him the whole story. My father asked Principal that I had left my shoes on the river bank. Hearing this, the principal sent school van for searching my shoes and the search was successful. The peon found my shoes and brought them back. I felt relieved after getting my shoes back. After some time, the care taker brought the breakfast including stuffed vegetable chapatis, curd, butter and mango pickle. The fragrance of food served was so sweet, that I didn't wait to start eating as the care taker left the room. It was a unique feeling having breakfast in that tree house bedroom. It was a heaven moment for me. I felt honored to be a part of that beautiful breakfast. As our breakfast ended, the care taker was there with coffee. We drank it sip by sip watching the ducks swimming in a pool nearby from bedroom's window. As the room had a window AC, it was a beautiful feeling drinking coffee in cold environment of 18°C. After finishing coffee, my friend asked me to choose between a movie or a farmhouse round. I selected the first option of watching movie. We watched Mission Impossible part-4 starring Tom Cruise.

As the interval approached, my friend brought two Thunderbolt beers with Lays chips, and french fries made by the care taker. It seemed as we were enjoying business class in plane. After the movie ended, we had a lunch there with dishes of cheese, chick peas, cauliflower, rice, chapatis and salad. In dessert, pistachio ice cream was there. After having lunch, we took a two hour nap. At 5:00 P.M., we stood awake and ordered tea. Care taker brought tea for us in mud glasses. It had an awesome taste with fragrance of soil in each sip. It appeared that we were bonded with mother Earth just by having that tea. At, 6:00 P.M., we left farmhouse for home. I thanked God for blessing me with such a beautiful and kind friend who gave me a chance to live life king size. Spending the whole day in tree house was like utilising a Leisure I dreamt of till date. It was getting hard for us to leave that beautiful place as a connection automatically developed between us and that place. It was gave us a feeling of a 3 star hotel. If someone offers me to choose from a vacation to a hill station or a visit to that farmhouse with tree house, I will always prefer to choose tree house. The peace, a special environment, the tree house gave me will be missed anywhere else. I hope to earn too much to make tree house of myself in future. If God will guide me, I will own one for me too. Till then, my friend's tree house and my friend are always with me to share their special moments with me. It has been six years, I had a meeting with my friend. Hope to re-live those moments again if my friend again visits India in near future.

Following lines started running in my mind :-

Leisure best spent with enjoyment and fun,

Striking sure shot without any gun,

Living the memories with sweet coffee taste,

Utilising every moment not letting anything waste,

Peace and affection reaching their peak,

Without any hatred whose chances are sleek,

Thinking in the air about flying thoughts,

Which this beautiful tree house has brought.. tree house has brought.