A Philosophy into an attitude into a lifestyle
The Philosophy
Most religious philosophies propose a continuity of life – either an afterlife, or a cycle of life or at least a stay in heaven or hell. According to such views, life is just an episode in the larger scheme of things. In order to ensure that we behave, we’re generally told that for better future episodes, we need to endure hardships, sacrifices, sufferings in this episode. At best, we’re told to disengage from worldly pleasures or pursuits. It reminds me of how we coax children – “If you behave well, you’ll get ice cream over the weekend, or your favourite remote controlled car on your birthday!”
Life’s a gift, not suffering
In my humble view, life is an emergent phenomenon of a complex interaction of the elements of nature governed by a set of laws (Quantum Theory, General Theory of Darwinian Evolution, Complexity). It’s a tremendous stroke of luck, given that it’s rare and highly unlikely probabilistically. On top of that, human intelligence is an even bigger stroke of luck given that it’s even rarer and less likely probabilistically!
The ancient Greek philosophy, Epicureanism and the Indian Philosophy, Charvaka, claim consciousness as an emergent property of life which begins with life and ends with life. Both philosophies propose an ethical pursuit of rational pleasure – the emphasis being on friendship, contemplation, and simplicity are key sources of happiness.
The Attitude
Holiday is an attitude! It’s anti-routine, anti-boredom, anti-zombiedom. It’s an attitude to treat life as a gift – a holiday- to enjoy, to live deliberately and not get tossed around and accept it as destiny. There’s an urgency to make things happen. You want to live, before you die. Every day you wake up and ask,
“What’s the plan for today!”
“What’s new!”
“Where are we headed to!”
“Whom are we meeting today”
This attitude makes you more receptive & curious to happiness, solutions, tranquility, as against the zombie mode of living which numbs your senses.
Travel is a leverage
It’s a leverage that enables you to live more lives in one life. You imbibe different cultures and appreciate diversity. It’s like creating many episodes of life rather than just one.
My vision – 30 lives in next 30 years
I’m financially free. I live on my investments. That makes me geographically untethered. It’s my deep desire to spend the next 30 years in 30 different places for a few months each – soaking in the local culture, living like the locals live.
The Lifestyle – Flâneur vs Tourist
I got this understanding & inspiration from Nassim Taleb’s books. A ‘6n-7d’ tourist carries a lot of positives – an urgency for making things happen, seeing places, meeting people, eating their food etc. However, he is too tight-scheduled. Tourism is just a cursory glance; there’s no time to feel or live the place. That is what Flaneurism does; and that is what I hope to do with my staycations lasting a few months.
First Baby Step
I welcomed the new year, 2025 by embarking on road trips with my family. I spent about 45 out of the first 150 days of the year travelling across 4 states in India – Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Any stay beyond 2 nights was in homestays. Our biggest stay was in Bangalore for about a month. We used a hub & spoke model – Airbnb’d a home in Bangalore, which gave us a settled feeling and roamed around. We reconnected with our friends & relatives; visited forests, waterfalls, ancient temples, hill stations, museums; relished local cuisines, even endured the peak Bangalore traffic.
Technology makes it feasible
With modern technology, planning staycations has become very easy. The stay was organised through Airbnb – a fully furnished home with high speed internet, smart TV, two bedrooms and all basic stuff. The rest was easily managed through quick delivery apps. And we were set.
Proof of Concept
This was an experimental attempt…a successful one. We have a proof of concept now. And in due course of time, fingers crossed, I’ll be able to live the Life as a Holiday.
Here’s The Thing:
Life isn’t a punishment to endure for some deferred reward. It’s a rare, wondrous chance — a cosmic holiday. Drawing from philosophies like Epicureanism and Charvaka, and inspired by thinkers like Taleb, I’m setting out to live 30 lives in the next 30 years. This is a personal account of how I started this journey — not as a tourist, but as a flâneur, not in haste but in depth. Welcome to my experiment in living deliberately.