Build me a sanctuary in the decadent unknown

It just hit me this morning! On a regular working day, life doesn’t really kick into top gear until the Google banneret pops up on my screen. The seemingly routine episode has succored the brain, bellowing the bulleting: ‘you are now connected to the world’. On the occasional morning when internet doesn’t boot up, the exasperation is immediate and the mind refuses to accept that it could still be a normal day.

Over the years, I have been able to master the preternatural art of switching myself off the world on weekends, national holidays, and whenever I seek refuge in my wildwood sanctuary. Dinner on Tuesday with a delightful Arthur Senanayake reminded me that I wasn’t alone. We are adventitious neighbours, no, not here in the concrete jungle but in the wilds of the south-east, a mere country mile from each other. I find Arthur refreshingly a far cry from bromidic tycoons and CEOs. Through his lofty highs in life, here’s a man who keeps his youthful inner soul alive and ear to the ground.

It’s bewildering how we bump into a zillion people but seldom find people who touch our hearts and become part of our journey. And when that rarefied meeting occurs, it reminds you that life isn’t always a conspiracy. Even Conspiracy Desk has its off day.

Sonali Fiske, a childhood friend, may have long drifted out of my journey in life but the world of Facebook still lets us know where we are going. She is still philosophical as she was then. Here’s something she posted. I love the airport – it is a strange no man’s land of comings and goings. Perhaps, it is a reminder that we’re all drifters pausing only to bump into each other for a bit. Or, that for every departure, someone arrives; that each farewell begets a new beginning. I don’t know the outcome, but to journey on with no fixation or restraint is perhaps the lesson. And so I avail myself to the unmapped, groundless void. There is insufficient time for mediocre gaps and second-rate adjustments, or the yawn of being weary. So I give up the middle ground, the sanctuary, and surrender to the danger and vastness of the decadent unknown.

It is the decadent unknown that inspires greatness. While the majority swims with the tide, few stand up in the name of good, building sanctuaries of love and kindness. They offer a respite to the weary soul and induce hope.

Our happiness is almost always muted by the world around us. That’s what we like to believe. We are accustomed to giving excuses and palming the blame. We complain about our plight, our government, our society, lawlessness and vanishing of values. Our journey, our happiness is always interrupted by a world spiralling towards anarchy. But our incredible human potential is endowed with the grit and determination to charter our own course; find contentment in life and build our own sanctuaries of happiness for our families and friends.

My faithful friend Gamini Karunaratne of CRIB fame puts things in the correct perspective. A man who drives a Morris Minor looks to his right and grudges the man who drives a Mercedes but never looks to his left to see the man who trudges on the wayside with a heavy load, he urges me on.

I decided that I’ll only look over my left shoulder here on!



(Dinesh Watawana is a former foreign correspondent and military analyst. He is a brand consultant and heads The 7th Frontier, an integrated communications agency which masterminded the globally-acclaimed eco tourism hotspot KumbukRiver. Email him at [email protected].)