Anuraadha Tewari, who wrote the Story and Screenplay for movies like Fashion, Heroine, and Jail, feels people should take a two- to three-day holiday to break the monotony of life. She feels it is very important to refresh and rejuvenate to bring out one’s true potential.
“I think it is sacrosanct to take 2-3 day breaks from your normal routine. To me, it’s a way of life and has been for the last 20 years because, especially as a writer or creative person, you’re into a project, into a flow. It is so important to take a break because it’s a change of energy. Like there’s a saying, ‘hawa-paani change karna’. It’s when you break that routine and break the flow that you actually find the new flow. So I do that all the time. Everybody knows I’m a huge traveller. I take two international destinations a year, but I take a 2-3-day break every single month because I find myself dysfunctional without it,” she said.
“I’ve been an avid traveler for the last nearly 30 years and been to 53 countries. I have 2 kinds of holidays, one a break and one a full blown holiday. In both cases my main requirement is that of a pretty, vibrant and a nature-driven place. So I decide at that point what I need—do I need sea, mountain, or forest? I decide based on my mood. Sometimes I need all three, but I pick a place accordingly. It brings new people and cultures into my life. I do keep telling people who are always planning to go on holidays but rarely do, the first thing is to book the tickets, or make a free reservation for a hotel. The moment you book something and make a serious commitment to your plan, it happens,” she added like a true Travel Guru.
Speaking of taking a break in her profession, she feels that as a writer, it becomes imperative to go on holiday, even if it is for a few days, because writers hit a creative block. She added, “I try to go to a new place each time for fresh energy and discovery.”
But yes, she agrees that even when on a break, people are still connected to others because of mobile phones. “There are times when I’m most available on my phone, even when I’m on a break. But for me, there are two kinds of such breaks. There are some breaks where I’m actually writing. So, it’s just a break from Mumbai and from my regular routine, but I’m writing in a new environment. So, I’m most accessible on my phone, and all devices that allow video calls because, well, I’m still at work. I can be working from Antarctica if I have to be,” she said.
“And then there are a few breaks where I’m recovering and when I’m recharging. Those are the times when my phone is not really off, but you must know my phone has been permanently silent for the last eight years. So, in that sense, I only take the calls I want to, and in fact, those are the breaks I choose to connect to only when I want to. And in fact, those are the breaks I don’t take my laptop along with. So, it’s the break from the laptop, actually, more than anything else,” she added.
Anuraadha firmly believes that people these days avoid taking breaks because of their professional commitments and competition.
“Professional lives are so demanding that people are very insecure about leaving. Honestly, I was like that at the beginning of my career. I just used to feel, Oh my god, how can I leave because I miss out on things. And also, people who are in regular jobs, corporate offices, or corporate jobs just can’t get up and leave. So that, of course, is there, but I just think it is increasing, especially post-pandemic. People have understood the need for such breaks, and I think people are working that out pretty healthily or leaving jobs if they’re not allowed,” she said.
On a lighter note, she even mentioned that adults do need holidays, but they are no longer called summer or winter holidays. “We don’t necessarily call it summer vacation anymore, but I do know that often people take short sabbaticals. I’m definitely one of them. Sometimes it’s summer, sometimes it’s winter. But like the sense of a complete holiday during a season,” she said.
Anuraadha even described her ideal vacation and said, “It is when you are not a slave to your phone, and it takes a little bit of courage because it’s actually like almost cutting off from an invisible umbilical cord, the sort of mother core center of some sort of energy that you think you’re always part of. So, it does take you some conditioning to break out of that, but I think that’s what vacations and those breaks are all about—to recharge your batteries.”
