Tuesday, March 16, 2010

the silence talks

Its a beautiful night. Three of us are walking back home through the back lanes. There is hardly any traffic, the air is balmy. The boy keeps yapping. Papa is tired, and he is quiet. I am tired of balancing the act.

'You know, Pavan, you have to learn to let others talk sometimes. If you talk continuously, it is called hogging the space.'

'What is hogging?'

'Eating it all up by yourself.'

'How hogging? Everyone can talk.'

'If everyone talks, no-one will listen. See, there is a thing called silence. All of us have a right to it. In fact, it is our only right. And it is the most beautiful, the most vast gift God has given us.'

'Ya?'

'Ya.'

We walk two steps.

Before he can talk, I make the offer. 'You wanna try using it? This right of silence?'

'Ya.'

'Then just listen. Listen to all the different sounds of the night. We will all be very quiet. Later you can tell me which sounds you heard. Ok?'

'Ok'.

We walk silently. Papa's flipflops flip and flop. Pavans sandals tut tut. I am barefoot. But my skirt rustles, ever so softly.

An ambulance hoots in the distance. Pavan's eyes glow with the recognition of the sound. I signal to him to tell me later, a finger on my lips. A bird chirps. Pavan stops to 'hear' the direction, a finger on his smiling lips.

Papa holds my hand. Pavan holds my other hand.

As we turn into our street, the power is cut off. Silence and darkness embrace lovingly and kiss long and slow. They are meeting after such a long long time. In fact, in this country they are meeting for the first time.

9 comments:

Banno said...

Yes, that's true. Probably met for the first time. I am aching to go to a place where I can exercise my right to silence. Glad you had a small glimpse of it.

Manjushree Abhinav said...

keep aching, my dear, you will finally find the space right in your own skin.

Meeta Jain said...

lovely...the poetess strikes again :)

Jean said...

Beautiful!

Becoming your fan (just in case I already wasn't) since I started reading 'A Grasshopper's Pilgrimage'. Awesome.

Love,
Jean

Nirali Shah said...

Uff... 'Silence and darkness embrace lovingly and kiss long and slow.'

Mads said...

I'm reading your book.You have an uncanny style of writing and expressing your views. Different and nice . I wish you all success in your future endeavour.
Regards,
Mads
www.mads4u.com

Indu R Eshwarappa said...

beautifully convincing ;-) love you dear... indu

Riddhi Manna said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Riddhi Manna said...

Upon every stride of my heaving chest, the silence sat like a headstrong landlord. For once, I refused to struggle, I was letting silence to caress me endlessly. It had all the answers to the questions I had never posed, It had all the questions a blank stare or a falling leaf can ever ask. There was no language barrier, there was no explanation needed. The warm salty water breaking like a wild horse down my stone still cheek diluted everything on its way.