Silence

Have you sat on your couch and listened to the silence around you? It’s almost 8pm where I am, I look out the window and the leaves are dancing after a rain. I don’t hear birds, I don’t hear the wind chime. It’s absolutely quiet. Pin drop silence. The only noise in my head is the search for the next word I need to type. the sky is a blue-grey. If I hit the letters on the screen of my phone, I can hear a faint tap. Other than that, it’s silence, outside and inside.

It’s my zen state. There is no place I need to be, there is no task I need to be doing, there is no expectation of me. In this moment I am transported to the pool in Mexico where I am floating aimlessly, my face towards the sun. All the noises around me are hushed and all I hear is silence.

Last night, as the movie “96” ended, I started crying. In the past when I have watched this movie, I have cried, because the story has similarities to my life. Yesterday, that wasn’t the case. As the closing credits rolled, I cried like my chest was about to burst. I wanted to scream, “Appa died”. It’s been 7 months since he left, and yesterday it hit me. Not sure why. But in those tears I let go, of him and of all the men and women who failed me. I let go of all the unhappiness of forty four years. Is that even possible, you ask? I don’t know, I am just finding out. This morning it was raining when I went to drop my son to school. On my way back, the skies cleared up and as I turned onto my street, I saw a ray of the sun, shining brightly. As I searched the skies, there it was, a beautiful rainbow. I felt cleansed.

I can still hear the silence. It’s a kind of peace I have never known. The world is just as it should be and my world is just perfect.

Happiness

I am a subscriber of positivity pages on social media. Most of them tell me to find happiness within. Honestly, this concept never made sense to me. How can I find happiness within me when everyone around me was pouring sadness over me, making me sad in the process? Everyone has problems and thats what they want to talk about first. As a listener you can be easily swayed into that direction. So what is finding happiness? And how do you do it?

I just exited my forty first year of life. Maybe half-way or more than half-way through and finally I learnt what this means. It is not happiness that one should seek, but stability or equilibrium with yourself and your thoughts. Happiness simply follows. The first step is to know yourself and draw a boundary around yourself. You will not sway outside this boundary, give yourself enough room to feel your emotions, but don’t let anyone else’s emotion cross the boundary and mingle with yours. It took me a long time to know myself. I am still not there, but I know I am on my way. This path of self-identification is helping me understand who I really am.

When you don’t know yourself, you build these walls of sand around you thinking they are your boundary, but the slightest wind will crumble them. You can never be happy within these fake walls. Its days and days of pretense which you want to believe is the real thing. You cannot wake up one day and say, yes, I have no more fake walls. It takes time effort and people around you to help you get there.

Finally when you find happiness within, nobody can touch it and change its baseline. It is a state of enlightenment, maybe the first step to enlightenment. It’s been a year since I wrote the first part of this blog. At 42 I feel I have come closer to myself and found happiness sitting there warm and cozy. It’s not an easy find, it’s not an easy journey to yourself. Once found, your thoughts are elevated. Do I really need to say something here? Maybe not. Does this really impact me? Maybe not. Does anyone need my opinion? Probably not. Before saying anything you put your happiness first subconsciously and determine the course of action that doesn’t meddle with your inner equilibrium.

You finally know what you want actually let me take that back, you finally know what you don’t want. You can clearly delineate between the negative energies in your life and can manage them. You finally see that door you’ve been looking for and it’s within reach. You can run. You can be free. You can be happy.

Hello

Hello

He said

I am here

Where here, she didn’t see no one

Treading the same land

Seeing the sun as you do

She skipped jumped

Hopped

Her dream of each night

Was coming true

Could this be true

Would it finally happen

Maybe

She mused

When can I see you

The ray had got to her

Through the cloudy skies

She had waited

Days

Months now

To be held

In love

In life..

Journeys

I wanted to travel around the world, always. My commitments to my parents, siblings, family and children held me back from taking off to unknown lands and new people. Today I turn 48 and I am making my first solo trip to distant places. As I board the big plane to Delhi, I think of my yearning to see the Taj Mahal. It was something I wanted to see with the love of my life. Since that plan never materialized, I am starting my journey with the one place I want to see before I die.

It was Diana who gave me the idea of finding a co-traveller on the internet so I didn’t have to make this journey alone. I set up a profile on the findatraveller.com website and waited for a match. This was similar to the matrimony sites but found travelers, not leashes. That is how I found Jay. It was his first time as well visiting the Taj Mahal. He was traveling from Paris to Delhi and the deal was to meet him at Delhi airport. Travel plans were made so we would arrive in Delhi a few hours apart.

I was really looking forward to this trip, a journey through the streets of Delhi followed by a tour of the palaces at Rajasthan. A ten day ordeal. I had packed my cotton clothes to beat the heat and had adviced Jay to do the same. I would wear an orange salwar and Jay said he would meet me at the Air India Lounge. I got there first and sat down browsing my phone waiting for Jay to arrive.

A coupe of hours passed before a pair of shoes planted themselves in front of me. I look up and “Anu?”, he asks.

I stand up as he takes two steps back. I extend my hand which he grabs with a strong hold.

“Yes.. Jay?”, I quip.

“Shall we go?”

“Yeah, let’s go”.

Texas Book Festival

2 days to go to the Texas book festival.. find me at the Writers League of Texas booth!!

Reunion

Small talks

Little laughters

Shot size bantering

Is all there is

Is all there will be

Crossing paths

Like two cars passing by

Short-lived acquaintances

They come and go

And there are plenty

Starting with small talks

Ending with small talks

These are loose threads

From another lifetime

This I am sure if

For

Each life

Is a reunion

Of the souls..