minimalist life

I have been taking a hiatus from, well, socializing on the inter-webs. I do post an occasional picture and tweet. My presence from reading blogs, actively commenting on them and writing have come to a complete standstill for a little over a month.

It all started with me reading Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead. That book occupied most of my mental horsepower leaving little for writing. Filled with a lot of questions and debates towards Objectivism, I did some light reading before diving back into Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. This book answered a lot of my questions when I read it the first time and I am hoping to collect some tools to analyze Objectivism with.

Between and reading and a sizable amount of workload at my job keeping me busy, I have been battling the cold on my motorcycle on my way to work and back. Having grown up in Bombay, I am not very used to the cold and the twenty five minute trip each way takes a toll. I spend most evenings lying in bed, no lights, no sounds, my greyhound tucked next to me complimenting my need for seclusion. I cook dinner, fix lunch for the next day, watch a few minutes of TV over dinner, then go back to reading. I have gone days without switching on my laptop. I keep up with emails on my iPhone.

This alone time has enabled me to look around my already sparse apartment and evaluate the need for some clothes and a metal book shelf. I now have a big laundry basket full of clothes to give away and a book shelf photographed to sell on Craigslist.

I am rarely riding my bicycle. I walk everywhere. To the locally owned coffee shop, making friends with the Alva, the owner, showing off my greyhound to the neighborhood, she making more friends than I am, both furry and non.

This hiatus is good. It is a minimal state of being, living with less. No schedules, no commitments. You should try it sometime.