Small Pleasures in Life

Everyday I think, and the thought keeps rotating. Which is that moment in life, which gave me extreme happiness? I wonder at his thought, and sometimes I do become completely jealous of those people whose everyday seems, as if something has surely happened to make them happy about their life. I must say that I completely love the life I am living these days. I may belong to those common folks, whose most days are without something that makes them extremely happy, but few things that gave me extreme happiness in last few days were completely different from each other. Somewhere it involved people, lots of them around me, sometimes changing lights, colours and infinity of views and sometimes in the form of old buildings, with secretive basements, mysterious history and links to my past. 

Round and round they kept spinning. Dazzling clothes, glittering jewels, bare foot,  around a sharp featured idol, adorned with hundreds of earthen lamps. It was almost meditative, with similar eight steps but every time it seemed something new, and nothing was melancholy about it. I stood aside, saw them dancing all nine nights of the festivity, nine nights of lighting and joyous crowd. I became almost like a zen monk, who observes a garden made of sand and stones, observing it from all angles, understanding the hidden beauty in it. The sound of music was sharp, beats crisp. First it tore my ears, then went straight into my heart. Its words consisted feelings in the praise of the goddess, wait for the beloved and invitation to come and spin with the beat. It kept inviting me, the voices, the beats and the dazzle. I stayed and drank the scene patiently, but this thirst was never quenched. For the last three years, these nine nights, have become the nights to look for. Nights which pour many flavours, colours and conversations, whose effect seems to be everlasting. 

Days passed by looking for another such moment, but this time it came silently and at a completely unexpected time. There I was, on the way to the Noida city centre, in the super-hyped delhi metro, trying to avoid mundane announcements that happened in every few minutes. It was 10:00 p.m. in the night and a long way to go. Sitting almost alone in the coach, I looked outside the window. A song flickered in my mind, and luckily the music player was near by. The tune did a magical effect, I was taken into a sudden trance. The words in the praise of the god, “Jab kahin pe kuch kahi bhi nahi thaa, wohi thaa wohi thaa”. I wondered whether there was a close connection of this sentence with an old Vedic hymn saying that "Nothing existed before the universe, neither truth nor lie, neither space nor sky, the one who was hidden across, the one who created all". I was silent, looking at the changing imagery out of the window. Reminiscing and reflecting over a collage of lights converging and moving out. An imagery of the infinite world around me, bundled up with slow vibrating movement of the train, an ode to the creator. The station came, but I didn't want to de-board, just wanted it to continue forever. Just, right at that moment I found happiness, in extreme peace and calmness. 

The past calls you, through various ways, it wants to tell you all the stories which are of your own but are forgotten while living the present and running for the future. Those gates of the mighty Gwalior fort actually seemed like saying, O Child!, you were here before. The building had so much familiar, but I felt like a king exploring his own assets, and wondering over his own efforts. I remembered those small pieces of sketches, which I had drawn as a child. Random lines of chalk on the floor, an immense canvas which was endless and just enough to cover the grandness of a huge fort. Sketches of front minarets, drawn and redrawn till perfection of proportions was achieved. I was alone, surrounded by people and the past was like a storyteller luring me to go further back, raise all the curtains, and get lost. Sometimes it is fun losing yourself, and I stood there, lost in the beauty of those beautiful green and blue minarets, remembering times gone long back. A sudden voice startled me, a tourist who wondered whether I was some kind of a historian. There was a strand of conversation, and I told him proudly, “You know! This building turned me into an Architect!!”. He smiled and said, “Yes, It seems to be a very blessed place”.

The night started falling, and a long waiting time till the “Light and Sound show” was filled up with few cups of coffee and sounds of chit chat in a small cafe outside. Then, it started with all its grandeur, taking me back into the past. A potion of stories fumigated the air, lights followed suit with the deep background narration. It was a unique performance, which demanded intense imagination. I imagined, queens behind the stone carved jhrokhas, kings fighting the wars and dancers in the courtyard. I gulped everything I saw, and so did my camera. The palace which was left abandoned and lifeless, relived a life, and I relived the past. Again, right at that moment I lived extreme happiness with tears in my eyes. A fresh canvas appeared, and all my doubts melted away. I think I have found the keys to happiness, something that will  stay with me forever, my love of literature, music and architecture. Whenever I will be lost, these three things have power to give me peace and happiness. 

"Man Mandir Palace: Light and Sound Show  (Photograph: Abhijit Datey)"