"dil dhoodhta hai...phir wahi...fursat ke raat-din"- is a song that is amongst our favorites. In the hustle and bustle of our jet-set life, we often caught ourselves humming this line and wistfully wondering- if only....if only...we could find some leisure...some escape from this never-ending rat-race. "To what end is all this? To what end?" we questioned. Someone answered our prayers.
We took time off and went for an annual holiday to a hill-station or to a beach getaway. But it could not be for long. A corner of our mind was forever racked with guilt that while we enjoyed, others worked. We had to stay current and on "top of things" and not rendered irrelevant and dispensable when we got back to work from vacation. So, we took that occasional "important call" lounging in the hotel-room though it was holiday-time. Someone took care of this aspect too- not only do we have leisure, so does everyone...in fact, the entire world, freeing us up from even that guilt-trip!
The impossible is now a reality. The city that never sleeps has actually slept. May be, it needed that sleep. May be, it was unnecessarily awake and wearing itself down.
We were certain that the 6:38 local-train had to be taken each morning, else, the world would come tumbling down. Now, both the local-train and the commuter are fast-asleep, happily...in their respective sheds. We grew up...fed with the belief that corporate culture was akin to riding a lion- "sher ki savaari hai". It may be tough riding it, but getting down...is never an option. We wonder what happened now. The rider is standing on the ground, and as for the lion he was scared of...it is nowhere to be seen. We dashed across continents to attend those critical meetings- meetings where our physical presence was a make-break to the deal. Suddenly, deals can wait, meetings can be postponed and even if we had to attend them, our virtual, on-line presence is more than adequate! Deadlines that constantly hovered over our heads like the Sword of Damocles, where are those swords now? At least, at this moment, when I glance up, all I can see is the bare ceiling...or better, the blue of the sky!
It is as if...an entire edifice of power and pelf and pomp was totally built-up, more imagination and less a necessity. That edifice has come crashing down. Three weeks of home quarantine has burst the bubble. It is a humbling experience, but a necessary one.
The irony is, now, we have leisure, but miss the madding crowds. It is as if, we asked for leisure, but not so much of it that we should swim in it! We forever miss the missing! It is like the parable where the fisherwoman cannot sleep without the fishing-basket beside her. So too, we have got used to the smells and sounds of our urban rat-hole. There is no remedy for this madness. "Akele mein mela, mele mein akela"..."to find joy of a fun-fair in oneself, in one's quarantined life....and likewise, in the commotion of the fun-fair, to find that inner-leisure"- this is the only message relevant for all times. Storms may rage one day, another day, the silence may be deafening, through all that, we hold on to that inner fulcrum.
Our spiritual tradition has several pithy aphorisms. These are like the Japanese Haiku- just a little suggestion, which conveys more than volumes of verbiage. One of them is "summa iru" in Tamil- "just be". In these quarantined times, we understand the import of this aphorism, the joy of doing nothing, the joy of stillness, the joy of simply being.
The Corona days will end. Decades later, with the grandchildren at our knees, it will be a favorite conversation piece. "You mean to say...for a slightly complicated case of cold and cough, you had to close the whole world for a few months? What age were you in grandpa? Stone-Age? And what did the whole world do for two months sitting at home?" Gazing into those innocent eyes filled with absolute wonder, we will answer, "Nothing! We did nothing! We just were!"
We took time off and went for an annual holiday to a hill-station or to a beach getaway. But it could not be for long. A corner of our mind was forever racked with guilt that while we enjoyed, others worked. We had to stay current and on "top of things" and not rendered irrelevant and dispensable when we got back to work from vacation. So, we took that occasional "important call" lounging in the hotel-room though it was holiday-time. Someone took care of this aspect too- not only do we have leisure, so does everyone...in fact, the entire world, freeing us up from even that guilt-trip!
The impossible is now a reality. The city that never sleeps has actually slept. May be, it needed that sleep. May be, it was unnecessarily awake and wearing itself down.
We were certain that the 6:38 local-train had to be taken each morning, else, the world would come tumbling down. Now, both the local-train and the commuter are fast-asleep, happily...in their respective sheds. We grew up...fed with the belief that corporate culture was akin to riding a lion- "sher ki savaari hai". It may be tough riding it, but getting down...is never an option. We wonder what happened now. The rider is standing on the ground, and as for the lion he was scared of...it is nowhere to be seen. We dashed across continents to attend those critical meetings- meetings where our physical presence was a make-break to the deal. Suddenly, deals can wait, meetings can be postponed and even if we had to attend them, our virtual, on-line presence is more than adequate! Deadlines that constantly hovered over our heads like the Sword of Damocles, where are those swords now? At least, at this moment, when I glance up, all I can see is the bare ceiling...or better, the blue of the sky!
It is as if...an entire edifice of power and pelf and pomp was totally built-up, more imagination and less a necessity. That edifice has come crashing down. Three weeks of home quarantine has burst the bubble. It is a humbling experience, but a necessary one.
The irony is, now, we have leisure, but miss the madding crowds. It is as if, we asked for leisure, but not so much of it that we should swim in it! We forever miss the missing! It is like the parable where the fisherwoman cannot sleep without the fishing-basket beside her. So too, we have got used to the smells and sounds of our urban rat-hole. There is no remedy for this madness. "Akele mein mela, mele mein akela"..."to find joy of a fun-fair in oneself, in one's quarantined life....and likewise, in the commotion of the fun-fair, to find that inner-leisure"- this is the only message relevant for all times. Storms may rage one day, another day, the silence may be deafening, through all that, we hold on to that inner fulcrum.
Our spiritual tradition has several pithy aphorisms. These are like the Japanese Haiku- just a little suggestion, which conveys more than volumes of verbiage. One of them is "summa iru" in Tamil- "just be". In these quarantined times, we understand the import of this aphorism, the joy of doing nothing, the joy of stillness, the joy of simply being.
The Corona days will end. Decades later, with the grandchildren at our knees, it will be a favorite conversation piece. "You mean to say...for a slightly complicated case of cold and cough, you had to close the whole world for a few months? What age were you in grandpa? Stone-Age? And what did the whole world do for two months sitting at home?" Gazing into those innocent eyes filled with absolute wonder, we will answer, "Nothing! We did nothing! We just were!"
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