Skip to main content

An unplanned pause




Life was running it's usual course dwindling between windy Fagun mornings and humid noons until this unplanned pause took its toll. My part of the world is a tiny, often ignored speck which recently caught attention in the political upfront due to the burning infiltration agitation inscribed as CAA. Our silent streets roared with people thundering slogans and protests.

CAA taught us another way of looking at our lives: to answer back when threatened. It taught us to fight for our rights.

This time Covid 19 has put an unplanned pause to our ever busy rat chasing race. When was the last time we actually stopped chasing stuff without being instructed to?

I was apprehensive in the beginning. I, like most of us thought doing nothing can be boring. But, the stillness around me has brought my tormented soul home. I have learnt to relish the morning light and smell of the evening dhuna. The unfamiliar yet familiar looking still landscape has taught me to uncover meanings.

I remember getting anxious of crossing signals. Each time I rode my scooty, I would pray to not be stuck in that one minute red stop. A minute of stillness was not something I couldn't afford but I was not used to be at ease in stillness. It jerked me from within. I wasn't trained to stop ,I was trained to keep running.

This time, life has drawn a red light urging us to stop being the person we used to be. It has taught us the simple story which we have ignored. Nature has the power to teach us when needed. Nature has a way of reaching you. You might be stuck in a concrete one bedroom flat but the moment you bring home a tiny plant it teaches you the art of perseverance. It talks back when needed. The tiny buds appearing after days of tending and care, reassure you of the possibility of healing.

We all heal when we leave ourselves open to experiences. Our scars make us stronger. This time would soon pass, life would catch it's usual vigour but let not any red light make us impatient anymore. Right now we need to train ourselves to make use of the red light time: the more we try, the more silence will put us in ease.


Read any book, play silly games, laugh out till your belly hurts, try yoga, try what you thought you couldn't try as you didn't have time and even if you have more time try to run behind time. Sit back, take deep breaths, let loose toxic thoughts. Bring home a pet plant. Water it. Let it grow as you grow holistically.

The time is difficult but better days are ahead.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Life on wheels

The one thing that I always had dreamt of as a kid was to have a caravan that could take me to places.I always wanted a gypsy styled life. The idea itself mesmerized me to the extent that I kept dreaming of it the whole time not even realising how it was time which kept on rolling but I stood exactly at the same place, my dreams could never concretize. What was laughed at as a childish game was so important to me that I keep doodling it in my memory till now. I see a meadow, lush green with those small daffodils growing by, perhaps Wordsworth's daffodils! Then I see a girl, her wild unkept hair sailing in the gentle breeze. She has a smile which speaks of solitude, and her heart , well that's swelling with happiness as he looks at her caravan, after all she finally has a life on wheels. What more could she wish for, what more  can anyone wish for? It's not always that we get to live a life we conceived as a kid, life keeps on deciding our track. From what we liked doing...
2 comments
Read more

What do you want to be?

While I was in my 10th standard, almost everyone I met wanted to know what I wanted to be. This question always perplexed me. From the lens of a fifteen year kid who was not yet sure of the changes which awaited in the near future, this question gave me nightmares. I would constantly sit by the mirror and ask myself, what actually would be my answer. My friends always had fancy answers at their disposal. They would confidently chirp whenever any one asked about it. What amused me most was, my friend who had no inkling to study Biology wanted to be a doctor and another friend who detested the idea of even cooking noodles, wanted to be a chef! But whenever they spoke about their wishes, they would always sound confident. And there I was, fumbling for words which refused to escape my lips. It was not until I entered Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya to do my plus two, I found my voice. The teachers there have a different way of viewing life. For the first time, I no longer felt the classroom...
2 comments
Read more

Grandpa and me

I am the eldest grandchild in my family. And being the eldest, I was pampered a great deal by my grandparents. My aama (grandma) and baa (grandpa) always shielded me from every possible dangers including thrashings from maa. I have pleasant memories of evening story sessions as grandpa took me to bed. Aama would oil my hair and tie pony tails which resembled coconut trees that I used to draw. Sundays meant elaborate sessions with my grandparents. Baa would trim my nails, aama would fondle me to sleep. Their bed room was literally my playing room, my story book reading room, my painting room and what not. With time, as I grew, I got a room of my own but their room was still my favourite one. When I left for hostel, I missed them more than I missed my parents.  It was in the year 2014, I had come home after my exams when aama received a pressure stroke . She couldn't make it. I had spent a month as he lay sick on her bed. All of a sudden, there was a role reversal. I could...
2 comments
Read more