It was around 9.30 pm when i returned home...i was all alone..and just as i entered the house..the lights went off.it was a power cut...as i edged my way into the living room..i was intimidated...by the pitch darkness..by the blackness of it all...the sofa suddenly seemed like a strange creature...and the curtain in the darkness had a spooky feel about it...suddenly it seemed full of life....as i moved into the kitchen...i was suddenly faced with the impossible challenge of finding the matchbox... I let my hands wander over the kitchen platform..the cold granite tickling my finger tips...the stove almost laughing at my helplessness....my leg touched something cold....and i felt something brush my feet....i was scared..and froze on the spot...as i let my eyes adjust to the darkness i realised that i had bumped into the rice container...my search continued...for the matchbox..for the giver of light..and at the moment i was forced to think of times before fire was discovered..images of stone age men and women couped in dark caves came to my mind.... and then i was amazed at the ability of the visually impaired to depend on their senses...my search continued even as thoughts muddled my brains...and my sense of touch was overwhelmed...my fingers were doing something they were not used to..i was too dependent on my eyes.... Fifteen minutes passed...i was conscious of the sounds around me..of the children running out to take a whiff of fresh air..of neighbours catching up on lost time....and then suddenly i found it...the matchbox... at that point felt like it was all that i wanted! As i struck the matchstick and the little flame danced..teasing me...i realised i needed a candle..and before long the dance ended...and i was plunged into darkness again....thankfully i had the matchbox...and another ardous search for the candle began....and i wondered yet again who invented candles?who discovered wax...who makes these candles for us....as i lit the candle...i was enchanted by the flame...the orange core...the bluish outline...i remembered my science class vaguely on the properties of flame...and i saw the strange shadows that were thrown on the wall as the flame gyrated... i was in a magical land that lies between light and darkness....and i was lost.... as i saw the candle die a slow death...slowly shrinking in size...i was amazed at the creativity of it all...of the magic behind it all.... i was in the land where senses are heightened,teased and stretched... where shadows become your playmates..and where silence no longer seems eerie...and then the lights were back on...and i was transported back to my land....of light...i heard the children run back into their homes...doors slam....i heard the televisions being turned on...and dinner table conversations coming to a halt....and neighbours getting back into the monotony of their life..perhaps to catch up only during the next power cut........ I was back to real world....where light just takes you back to a routine...where there are no real challenges like the visually impaired have...where there is light but no enlightenment..where there are conversations without warmth..where watching tv together means spending time together.....where life without email, cell phones seems impossible... where cities live in 'light' at the cost of villagers living in darkness for 18 hours...
16 comments:
Simple straight from the heart....!
That's my dear Sis...!
I like the narrative more than anything...! Who has not experienced all this - but then the words transport you into the dark kitchen... and get you to imagine the experience!
Luv every word of this...!
Keep going on the good work
Wowwww... Believe me u should start writing a book.. Its amazing the way u narrated such a simple thing that happen.. If i were to write the same thing in my blog it will be a one line thing "Shit not the power cut again" :D
Very true of how much we are dependent on light, y cant we live on sunlight like people used to for ages.. I know that would mean getting up early, but is it that difficult to live without light ?? I mean when u ask some one five things u cant live wit, i don think any one will say sunlight. We are not knowingly light dependents now :D and i am surprised how blind people manage and how we forget to use all the senses
Love the post.... It is reading stuff like this that makes us realize it is the simple things that we ignore the most.
All those times when you would just sit and talk and be lost in the darkness.... wonderful times :)
It reminded me of a poem I wrote a few years back...
When’s the last time you watched kids on a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain as it tickled the ground?
Have you followed a butterfly’s erratic flight,
stood and gazed at the sun as it faded to night?
Do you rush through each day as if on the fly,
never catch up however you try?
When the day is done do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores running through your head?
When you’re running so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift just thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower.
Hear the music
Before the song is over.
Simply an eye-opener. Cant say more... Dependence on light... yea is... too much... i go with Rakesh... why dont ya start writing ya book... !!!!
Thanks guys :) Your comments mean a lot to me! :)
@Venky anna: As always your words just push me to keep blogging :)
@ Raks and Sumi: Writing a book..hmm..heh :)
@ Adi: Thanks for the comments and the poem. Looking forward to reading more of your poems :) And this one has entered my fav list of poems :)
Hello Priya...I'm a friend of Adi's and just stumbled upon this blog through a facebook link...
I agree with everyone here...I think we've all gone through the experience you've narrated and the simplicity of it is in itself intriguing...
I'm going to follow your blog if you don't mind...
Awesome !!! U really shud write a book !! it'll be a best seller.. [:D]
Hey Rajat!Nice meeting u and thanks for ur comments :)
Hey Krish! hehe best-seller and all huh! Thanks ra :)
Dear Padma Priya,
I must hv sd dis several times. The free flow of ur thoughts is sumthing dat most people wish they cud have.
Nd btw, picking on sumthing so apparently simple as ELECTRIC POWER or the era before it is interesting.
I agree wid Raki dat u shd start seriously thinking abt writing a book. I hv a suggestion. Why dont u post a story on the era b4 mobile phones?
All de best dear friend.
oh my gudness...ur such a brilliant narrator...rakesh was so true...U shud start writing a novel.This thought popped into my head right away wen i was going through it...
U are gifted with a lot of creativity and talent in u..U wil make the best author...I will surely be a major fan of ur buks then and proudly announce everyone that this author is my cousin... :)
Mind Blowing man...
Awesome dear....a very vivid description of the situation...one can almost imagine it happening before them and very calmly from vivid description it moves to introspection. It's strange how day to day things when slightly tampered with can take us on a completely different realm of reality and bring us face to face with facts that have always been there but totally invisible to the eyes that are so used to the day to day phenomenon.
Reminds me of the thoughts I battle with quite a few times. Darkness is peace for me, quite often. Ignorance is darkness and I want to be ignorant of certain things. We've become so worldly that everything is a necessity. Our mind is cluttered with knowledge, divine or not, enshining or not. I need some space- in my mind, heart, and everywhere. Space equals peace, space to become one with the Buddha.
Fantabulous..I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all...
and yes! darkness is only driven out with light, not more darkness.
Hey that was an awesome post!... so very vicarious!... way to go!
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