This is written for Yatra.com under the forum Creating Happy Travellers!
The lovely mermaid passed my way, I turned my head “Oops”
Alice held my hands tight, I looked out for my Dad, he was all being hugged and
cuddled by “Mickey” and he was to my surprise relishing the love which he
missed ever since I got married and Mom passed away, he was in sheer need of
some magical sprinkle which would bring back some wonder in his monotonous and prosaic
life.
My eyes met his, tears rolling down his cheeks, it had that
youthful glow which had lost its colour somewhere amidst the doldrums of
challenges which every man had to face with old- age, loneliness, death and the
melancholic things of life.
I was at seventh heaven not because I was in my dream place
Disney land but because I could see some of the splendid rainbow colours
through my Dad’s eyes. The grey and black colours were so pervasive everywhere
in his small apartment. The windows and doors, the bed and sofa everyone had
the glum, the thick pall of morbid air repelled me and I could not see my Dad’s
eyes dousing in such colours.
Flashes again jerked me and I was there, My Dad running
towards my daughter holding her hands he lost himself in the most beautiful
parade of the Disney characters, I knew it was an unknown place for him but
somewhere I felt the glee, the joy of losing him in this fairy land, a sigh “If I
could have kept him eternally at this beautiful paradise “he could have
lost himself in these colours immortally so different from the colours of his
room.
Oops he came back with a lovely pink candy all smudged over
his face, literally panting to ask me if I was ready to go for the ride and
could I say a no. I said “But you were scared of these rides Dad.”
He smiled back “So what? This is a life time chance I would never again come here”
and I wanted to say “and all the fears which you had kept all
these years” but I did not because I wanted him to take all the crazy rides,
indulge in all the fun adventures and swing himself to all the joys of lifetime.
We all took one of the scariest rides, my heart thumping, my
heart beats pumping and my Dad who was 75 said “I don’t have anything to fear I
want to live again...LIKE A CHILD” I was taken aback by
his sudden utterance of something I could never have imagined from a person who
had always made me think that life was a serious journey. I smiled back and said “Dad
you have changed.”
The magical air, the rides, the adventures, the shows, the
parades and many of those characters which were roaming all over at Disney land
ground just made me cling to the place and I wanted my Dad to be one of those
characters and cloak himself as a Mickey or a Prince or a mermaids Dad and stay
there forever because I had seen those grin after years which I thought I could never ever see again apart from my childhood albums.
Suddenly I get a jerk and I found myself seated on my couch,
my husband running around the house frantically saying “You have won the Indi blogger prize for "Creating Happy Travellers”
and my reaction was “please tell me the destination?”
Creating Happy Travellers.
Photos clicked by me.
Creating Happy Travellers.
Photos clicked by me.
