During my college days, one of the most enjoyable and productive parts of my life was the travel from college to home. I would usually travel via bus, and I loved doing that. While the route from my college to home was truly beautiful and remains one of my favorite roads, what I really enjoyed about it was the amount and quality of time I had at my disposal. During my trip, I could listen to songs, podcasts, or simply exist. Now that I’m done with college, I find it difficult to get that kind of quiet time. Whenever I'm near my laptop or have access to one, I either try to be productive or end up doing something fun and dopamine-driven. I miss such trips.

Once I left college and started work, I got myself a motorcycle. This meant I rarely had to rely on buses for travel. With that, I also lost the free time that I had during travel. I did consider getting speakers for my helmet (yes, those exist), but I'm very concerned about safety. When I’m riding a bike, I'm always just one bad decision or distraction away from death or injury. So, I can’t afford the comfort at the price of increased chances of me getting injured.

This is where cooking came in. This year, as a part of my "Bruce Wayne" arc of getting lean and strong, I decided to learn how to cook. My mom has been very patient with me over the phone to help me make my very first chicken curry. Initially, it took a lot of focus and I had to actively try to remember things and not mess up anything. But now I've made it something like 5-6 times, and the same recipe doesn’t take nearly as much focus. The other week, while cooking, I suddenly realized that I was thinking of nothing. I was just existing. The feeling I had on my bus ride home was back. I was really happy. Learning to cook, which started as a chore, suddenly became much more interesting, as it gave me something I missed so much.

Typically, it takes me around 1-1.5 hours to cook something up. During this time, I can listen to a podcast (lessgo, Huberman fans!), or think of whatever occupies or stresses me out. For example, I completed two full Huberman podcast episodes between last week and today. I'm super happy about that.

There is also this sense of achievement when you eat the food you cooked yourself. This gives me a similar kind of high that I get from running. I've not heard anyone talk about this before, but this was something that I experienced. And overall, this is a good thing; like when you think about it, cooking is improving my mental as well as physical health. If someone told me this 2 years ago, I'd be laughing hard. But how the tables have turned. It's interesting how things can catch you off guard.

If you haven’t tried cooking yet, give it a try. It takes some time and getting used to, but once you do, I think you'll enjoy it.