Can We Get Used To This Silence

Photo by Karen Lau on Unsplash

Can we get used to this silence? The empty streets, clear sunsets, the gentle rustle of leaves falling from trees, silhouettes across windows. Birds faraway chirp in tandem with a Hemanth Kumar’s song playing in the neighbourhood. The schools are shut — where are the kids though? Are they stuck to their parent’s phones? I dust bags full of books; I charge my Kindle and watch the day take its own time. Things that mattered a few weeks back, don’t anymore. To say I have fleeting moments of hope and faith is an understatement but it gets me through the day. Some nights I feel hollow and it weighs me down, but I’m partly in charge of this state. There’s not much I can grumble about now, can I?

Can we get used to this silence? The new normal is not everyone’s cup of tea. People have stretched their sleeping hours and yet complain about not getting proper night’s sleep. We get more face time with our friends but now I find it tiring. Oscillating between what they’ve eaten for lunch and who’s tagged me on a new Instagram challenge is plain vanilla. I’m sorry but I can’t keep up. Where’s the heatwave everyone’s talking about? Maybe it won’t kill the virus. Maybe it will. But never have I ever looked forward to the summer. Unless mangoes are involved.

Can we get used to this silence? The dogs in the colony don’t bark much. Obviously, they don’t spot strangers lurking or driving in the dark, anymore. It’s safe to say they’re practicing social distance better than humans. Dogs have always had the ability to sense danger before stupid humans. We are truly at the helm of our own suffering. But let’s talk something else — happy thoughts, happy thoughts. Let me ask the voices in my head to shut up. Numb down for a while.

Can we get used to this silence? The future seems fickle but it’s best to accept misery as a company. For now. Let it sit next to you like a fallen leaf. It fidgets, it bothers. Pick it and tuck it between the pages of a book. I’m not reading a sad book for now. I’m picking something blithe. I don’t want my characters to suffer. With misery for company, I’m not making long-term plans. I want to get through the day. As a friend said, you’re one day away from suffering and you’re one more day healthy. If there’s a perfect book or a movie or a song that could save me….it’s probably my mind.

I’m five again. It’s summertime, the trees have come alive with mangoes. But this time, I’m allowed to binge-eat only after I finish my milk and Milk Bikis.

Tune for the day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwRYh8lBjCI