Can a series of events unfold in your life, in a certain way to keep your daily routine thrilling and suspenseful?! Actually it can! But, in reality we all tend to avoid such happenings!

For example…unlike your regular weekend mornings, you get up too early and prance around a little in your garden! Only then, you decide to get a patch of land cleared for herbs, then…with full enthusiasm you run to the store to get some more manure; on the way back, you see a farmer’s market and buy an unknown wild greens to try; by the time…its way past time for your lunch, You realize you ran out of basic groceries, so you pick up a sandwich from a nearby gas station; It turns out totally unpalatable, you regret and curse saying…you should have went with usual routine…prioritizing your day’s schedule! And, prepared something predictable / palatable like dahi chawal. Does this sound familiar?! So, the next time, you think of spontaneity…you revert back and stick to your ground reality.

This is a kind of syndrome that exists in everyone, as we age. The high need for routine! We like events to be scheduled and get anxious when there is a sudden change of plans. We even prefer to eat the same menu…its not all about the taste of kumbakonam degree kaapi or the steaming hot idlies…its the predictability that counts! Have you ever stopped and asked why?

I know a professor who delivers his lectures in the same fashion! In an exact tone, it goes on and on, the each time without any break for years!!! The monotony is so monotonous…that I can even bet a top dollar stuff saying: when he would actually crack a joke (that is soon after an example)! Anyway…I am pretty sure that he rehearses his script…including the jokes, semi colons and comas! He kind of speaks with a pattern…predictable stress and pause all along his lecture! And, I wonder if he even laughs in italics.

“Spontaneity” – Is a meticulously prepared art. Everything can be made better, by planning…an effective planning. Yeah, even the day of your ‘spontaneity’ and be constructed and well rehearsed. I randomly cook something mysterious (or at least, I dramatically say so), though my intentions were all to produce a basic meal! Which, stirs up the pleasure and brightens the day. Thus, my ‘specialty dinner menus’ were all never made over the spur of the moment!! Things were planned in advance and well-rehearsed in my mind over a million times. It would be funny, if anyone checks my ‘To Do List’ and see a poem written in a convincing manner to be inserted in my hubby’s lunch box (that should be used, a day after a heated argument)!!!

Speaking of cooking and spontaneity…it can be fun some times and a challenge many a times. So, you plan everything subconsciously to make it fall in right places! Well, ‘Spontaneity’ is like ‘Equality’…disappears the moment you achieve it! Yes, for even ‘spontaneity’, there are some ground rules. It comes directly from instinct, from your mind…where you choose a ‘sweet’ over a ‘savory’ snack from an assorted platter. I just  wonder…whether I could even orchestra my plates and glass wares to fall in a certain way, in order to break it up in a fashion and that could produce an expected sound!?

It is really not that a surprise…when I plan a surprise party for my significant other! Maybe that is why…I have spontaneously omitted this commitment of ‘surprising him’ altogether. So, what am trying to tell you all is…’Predictability’ sucks and you will never end up reaching a happily ever after, if you fail to surprise, now and often!

Discipline and some structure in our regular routine lives could be comforting…but, you see…’Persistence’ is like science, it exists there even if don’t believe in it!!How about some spontaneous cooking spree. Totally, off the hook?! On the other hand, its a way to drive someone crazy. Lets, start from here…the next time, when the bearer asks you ‘ready to order?’…Ask him/her to surprise you. Get out of your comfort zone and try to break the routine and keep things unpredictable and fun.

 © 2014 Malar Gandhi, All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.