A Perfectly Imperfect Vacation
Why Saint Ramakrishna said that after Enlightenment, life becomes a holiday?
Last week, I took three days off from work to go on a summer vacation with my family. We went to Ambasamudram, a small town, famous for its ancient temples and the perennial Thamirabarani river.
I informed all my major clients in advance that I would not be available for any assignments on those days. However, while we were waiting at the railway station in the afternoon to catch the train for the planned getaway, I received a call from a client. They were facing an issue they couldn’t resolve on their own, which meant I had to spend the next few hours managing the situation over the phone and through emails.
The next day I had a missed call. But it was from another customer, a hospital. I had written a press release for them a few days ago. It was about an advanced surgery that they had performed for the first time in the city. Now the hospital wanted to claim that the procedure was in fact south Tamil Nadu’s first. So, they sought my expertise - though, all it required was to replace “Trichy”, the name of the city, to “south Tamil Nadu” in the headline and in the lead paragraph.
When another call came through, I couldn’t help but think that if I had truly wanted a perfect vacation, I should have either brought my laptop to Ambasamudram or left my phone behind in Rajapalayam.
But trouble has a way of finding you. Even though I wanted to take only my wife and children for the vacation, we finally went to Ambasamudram with my in-laws. My initial reluctance to do so turned out to be totally justified. For, nobody could predict when my father-in-law would flare-up and why. Whether we were on the move or trying to catch a moment’s rest, we were subjected to an endless monologue about his glorious past — managing spinning mills, setting up businesses for relatives or building temples. If only I had received a hefty dowry, it might have made things a little more bearable.
The dips in the river could have been a perfect escape from the scorching sun and a watertight shield against all sorts of irritants. And to some extent, they were. We bathed in the river twice a day - morning and evening. But the rampant pollution was a big dampener. I was taken aback by how casually the locals abused the river with soaps, shampoos, and plastic bags. The pilgrims were the worst: they threw just about everything into the water. While we were bathing, idlis, dosas, and garlands came floating toward us — as if we had ordered river delivery.
Definitely, it was not a perfect vacation — but then, it didn’t need to be. The Japanese philosophy of Wabi Sabi finds beauty in imperfection and impermanence. The way things unfold or the way people behave can be far from perfect. We cannot avoid imperfections. And the outer world’s imperfections can stir inner unrest. But these inner effects are impermanent. We don’t have to do anything to lift our low mood or quieten the agitated mind. Left alone, they pass on their own.
In other words, there’s no task to fix things — not outside, not inside. Perhaps that’s why Saint Ramakrishna said that after Enlightenment, life becomes a holiday. A perfectly imperfect vacation of permanent impermanence!
Cheers!
Sankar G
Rajapalayam
Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter. I value your feedback, so please feel free to reply directly to this email or reach out at sankar@sankarg.com. You can also contact me via phone or WhatsApp at +91-9790276206.
I’m a freelance writer, helping individuals and organisations create content such as articles, blog posts, press releases, speech drafts, and corporate/marketing communication materials. My work includes authoring books (here is my books page) and developing ideation frameworks, related to management, education, and spirituality. I conduct young author. and student journalist workshops to expose the young minds to the tools of creating stories and news reports.