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Tuesday 14 July 2015

Inner peace

The first monsoon rains had just lashed the city and had left back a pleasant environment to cherish. It had been a long while that the rain gods had to answer the scorching heat and I am grateful that they finally did so and that too in such a beautiful manner. Perched on the branch of the Ashoka tree- which has been my home since the beginning- I soaked those peaceful surroundings, and I could soon realize that they had produced a soft smile on my face along with a composing effect that seemed to empty my  mind with literally everything.


And I truly love this state of my body when it is partially wet and almost all the water is about to dry up from my feathers, it feels refreshing and clean. There is a sense of lightness which I experience throughout this state, as if all of my ‘excess’ load is shedding off me. To increase the thrill of it I flutter my wings at the rate of knots and in the wildest possible manner, and while doing so I get cognizant about the relevance of being with self, about being teleported into the world of philosophy and inner-peace, as if it’s a whole new universe left to be explored. My insides are calmed and I am kissed all over by an inexplicable rush relaxing me down to an ideal state.

But that day, while I was lost in this enchanted leisure activity something caught my eye immediately. I can bet that my eyes wouldn’t have been that wide open as they were then; for a few moments I couldn’t comprehend what was being flashed upon my retina, and soon I flew from the branch and up I was floating in mid-air trying to sink in what lay in front of me. It took some time to synchronize my wings together as I was left in a baffled state for I was witnessing something like never before. Someone looking up would surely have been distracted by my haphazard movements of which I was gradually gaining control. But that moment all these thoughts were all bygones and it seemed that I had just found the purpose of my life, which was calling me in sheer desperation!

I took my flight too higher altitudes, as I wanted to reach for that solitary white cloud which was stuck beautifully in between that grey cloud army. The left side of the army was splashed with reddish hue and the other side had a glittering silver lining on its periphery. But wait, how can I ever forget the golden lining over that white ball of cotton; I wanted to get there, I wanted to zip past that golden line and I wanted to sleep in the arms of that gigantic army of clouds (though I found that army a bit ominous).

I was racing above with sparkles of ecstasy as I had believed I had found the path to heaven and there was nothing left to go back to that Ashoka for this sight was much more captivating to me. With each inch I was getting closer to it that reddish hue started to blend with orange I could see that it was about to engulf MY white cloud, (oh I wanted to be a part of this unusual natural phenomenon) but ironically, my eyes were bursting with joy, my smile was stretching above its limit, my body was filled with severe adrenaline rush for I had never been so desperate for anything and this seemed to be worth it. But my speed-of-light like journey was disturbed by the sight of a gigantic bird, but no I realized that it was a man-made bird programmed to its destination. I wonder how boring it would be for it to monotonously fly on that same path back and forth, though it traveled at a much faster speed than mine but I was not envious of it because it couldn’t do one thing which I could and that was being free to fly anywhere!

My crazy-fickle nature came to play as I tried to be a part of a self-adventure when I literally went after to catch that aircraft in spite of knowing that it was out of bounds for me. The thrill of such a chase where we know that the results are unfavorable makes you test your limits and will-power, I thought so. After intense fluttering of my wings and expulsion of kilo joules of energy, I could sense some pain in my wing muscles as I had given my heart out to get anywhere near to that metal-bird but just at the moment I thought I had given too much it paced far away into the rain carrying clouds which were hundreds of kilometers away from me. Tired and kind of wasted, I relaxed myself and suspended my body in mid-air; closing my eyes I started to regain my system for the return journey. It took a few minutes for re-fueling myself and I guess during this I must have easily traversed at least one or two kilometers, unknowingly.


As I found some strength coming back in me I once again looked at that mammoth army floating high above in the sky but this time that singular cloud was nowhere to be seen and it disheartened me for I was quite keen to get there had my over-excited mind not wandered me away elsewhere. I searched for it but I guess it might have been crumbled by the dark (grey) forces of the army and this was proved by the fact that now the entire mass of those dark grey clouds had bathed in red. I felt sorry for the solitary one and sadly gazed at the magnificent red army, which shined with golden at its borders.

As I turned back to go home I got acquainted to a beauty which complemented the one I had just seen! All shades of light blue submerged with turquoise and aqua were spread infinitely all over the sky which I was always taught to be blue in color but, all my knowledge failed in front of this mind-numbing gorgeousness. I had gone mad, my mind had started to malfunction and I was unable to interpret the reasons for such an unbelievable spectacle. Science seemed to have been defeated finally and my belief in a universal power grew by leaps and bounds as I was left gasping for my senses in this awesomeness.

I was in the exact center of the line which divided the immeasurable sky into these two groups of magical colors, colors which were beautiful than ever. My notorious and excited nature seemed to have been overpowered by what I was witnessing; I felt I had matured; I repeatedly looked around the heavenly exhibition and consequently, I could feel my vocabulary being wiped off. I didn’t want to go back, I had decided, as I knew I had been enlightened in the best possible manner. I knew I had finally achieved my inner peace.


The next thing I could remember is awakening to a pleasant sunshine which I could quite clearly see from my nest on the Ashoka.