#AtoZChallenge - 4-12-2017 - Letter J:

J for Journey

I board a Jet, intent on my journey, leaving behind a concrete jungle for a green one. I am hoping the destination is a verdant jewel tucked away from the madding crowd, an emerald set in the glittering diamond  necklace that is the river.

 It does  not  take a philosopher to  tell us  that life itself is a journey.  We set sail as soon as we are born,and then get on a voyage with a predetermined  destination.  We chart a course for ourselves and are helped along by favourable  winds, but sometimes find ourselves becalmed, or tossed about on turbulent waters. That part of the journey  is something we cannot control; it is destiny.
Yet, there is the inexorability of a Juggernaut. Quick aside : the word itself is an Anglicised version of  Jagannath,  the resident deity at Puri, Orissa. It is synonymous with the chariot festival wherein the deities are ceremonially drawn around the temple town in huge chariots. Devotees take turns in pulling these lumbering, massive vehicles with the help of stout ropes. The frenzy of the pilgrims is tangible. In earlier  times there would occasionally  be a tragedy.  People could get crushed under the wheels of the  Juggernaut,  not having jumped out of  the  way in time.
Life can look like a jamboree at times, but when things go wrong as they sometimes  must, it may seem like a joke the creator has played upon us.
It takes a lifetime  to realize that the journey  is also the destination.