Sounds of Silence

It’s strange how one finds comfort in the sounds that he grows up with. To explain what I mean, I shall tell you about what I went through precisely an hour ago.

I read a story from ‘Collection of short stories’ by Roald Dahl. The story was titled PIG. The story freaked me completely. It gave me goosebumps. It’s the kind of story after which you can’t read any further; you just keep the book down, stare at the wall in front of you like a zombie, and just say – ‘WTF!!’

Well, anyway, after I slightly got to my senses, I wanted to talk to someone. But sadly my roommate was asleep and I did not want to call someone in the middle of the night.
I was lying on my bed, which is near the window, I pull the curtain and a nice cool wind comes gushing through it. Now I decide that I have to take a walk. One has to walk when the weather is good.

So, I go outside, around 1AM in the morning, to the concrete road right in front of our apartment. I stand there for a minute. The florescent yellow lamps gave the street a very eerie look at this hour. I could hear someone playing the radio in a very low volume nearby. There were dogs running around, they were not barking or howling-just running, so you could hear the sound of their feet against the ground. In the background a breeze kept blowing .You could hear the rustling of the branches of the coconut trees near our place.

I, then, keep walking towards the chaiwala who sells chai till 2AM. The road leading there was peacefully silent. I could see the main old airport road in the distance. I rush down there, take the tea and sit on the footpath. My mind was still not calm.

I took one sip of chai and then started looking at the road. Cars were coming and going past me at a great speed. The only sound you could hear was that of the rubber of the tires rubbing against the road. I paid the guy and started walking back towards our apartment. The sound of the cars and bikes kept diminishing as I walked away from it. Then I reached a place where the sound reached a certain level. It felt familiar. The place where I stopped also had these flowers planted which were very fragrant; sadly I don’t know the name of it. As I stood there listening to the diminished sound of the cars/bikes along with that of the breeze blowing and the other sounds in the background, I just found some kind of right balance in these sounds, I was calmed.

I walked back to my place wondering what calmed me suddenly. Then in my mind I was teleported too my place in Pune. A very beautiful one it is, away from the hustle-bustle of the city. I remembered myself sitting on our swing sometime around midnight during that horrid JEE preparations. I remember asking myself why the fuck am I studying for this exam and then when will it get over. Then I remember me drinking coffee and sitting peacefully in my garden. Similar sounds were there in the background. I do not pay attention to them.

Subconsciously the sound grew on me. God knows how many nights I might have spent sitting in my garden at night? I lived there for close to 20 years. The sound did surely have some effect on me.
Since this incident I have been trying to recollect sounds that I grew up on and that go on around me. It is quite fascinating if you ask me. Everyone has a history of sound around them. Most of us are also privileged enough to hear. So all we got to do is concentrate and listen.

Anyway, hope you find peace in your sounds of silence.

Get Real

The water balloons and snowballs are stacked by the Buckeye tree,
The snowman has stopped giving the evil look to me.
All the tiger’s, space-travelers, superheroes and my usual company,
Decided one fine day, that its time I set them free.
The reality sucks but they say it’s true,
Reality was imaginary with you.
Susie where are you?


P.S: My first attempt at a poem. Have mercy. :)