The other day, me and a group of friends met for coffee and conversations.

These meet-ups are spontaneous rather than scheduled- sometimes we have several of them in a week, sometimes once a month.

At the end of one such meet-up, me and another fella who live in the area were heading home… when we smelled the curry. It was the prata shop. And it smelled great. We looked at each other. In that moment, we both realized that we were both hungry. It was about 3am. We weighed the pros and cons in a fraction of a second- we could indulge and have the prata, or we could go home and get a little extra sleep. But my friend was going to enlist into National Service in a couple of weeks- and the opportunities for 3am prata were going to be scarce in the foreseeable future.

It was self-evident that we had to have the prata, and so we did. We even serendipitously met a couple of interesting friends-of-friends, including a local football player. We shared stories and anecdotes, and caught a glimpse of each other’s lives, shared a moment of contemplative co-existence. It was pleasant conversation, and great prata. Time slowed down for us- in those moments, we were the masters of our fate- we were in the zone. The night air was cool, crisp and fresh. The prata was delicious. (As was the milo.) And a great little memory was formed.

I have several moments like these in my life- you know it, when you skip school to play LAN with your buddies, when you decide to don your running shoes and burst out your house for a dash around the block, just because. When you look back on your life, I find, these are the moments that really stand out, that we’re going to be smiling about, even on our deathbeds. These are the moments that we live for.

I can think of so many circumstances where this applies. When an old friend happens to be in town, and asks if you have time to catch up. When your children want to play, perhaps. When your wife suggests a random date, just because. When an old book or movie calls your name.

When you smell the curry, get the damn prata.