Sound of Silence

 "The quieter you become the more you are able to hear."  - Rumi

                                                                  

The honking of the autowallahs, followed with a siren and the cacophony of sounds that would probably had given Mozart or Beethoven a headache. This is how the people in the city of Mumbai is greeted.

How does it feel when the first sounds of the day are the notifications on your phone that does not seem to stop? It’s almost that your body is programmed to first check your messages as though that becomes the deciding factor of what your day will look like.  And, while that is not enough to barge your ears you will hear the blaring music of a typical Bollywood mix playing in the nearby locality as though it’s a ritual.

By the time you reach the station you are half famished as you find yourself semi- skating through the stairs and find yourself stuffed into a compartment. If you have found a place to sit man its your lucky day if not does not matter, the entertainment is about to begin. No matter how hard you plug in your earphones the sounds of the vendors will always catch your attention. Post which you will start getting calls from your clients so frantically as though it’s going to be the end of the world… Especially for those in the advertising/media industry and excuse my being biased.

For a musician one must be in an advertising agency or call centre. Just close your eyes and one can listen to the continuous ringing of cell phones. Most interestingly these come with some impeccable ringtones that will make Goddess Saraswati put an ear bud and for you well just record all these sounds… And their you have just made a new song! If that was not enough for you, please join a conference meeting. It's more of squabble followed even more of sugar injected in your body with cups of tea/coffee and at the end of the day the problem is always a mystery that remains unsolved!

We are now in a situation of a complete lockdown and we are cribbing about the problems we are facing. But did you realize that this situation has become a boon to us. Now the first sounds of the morning that you hear is the whiff of cool air.

The sound that you had completely deleted from your mind is the first wish of the day…. GOOD MORNING and GRATITUDE to the Almighty that you are alive. 

You can now feel free when you step out in your balcony because there are no cars, autos or buses, no blaring cacophony of songs. All that is there is the open sky with birds chirping, the thoughtless mind, the smell of pure air, the touch of surroundings and the only sound you can hear is the  Sound of Silence.