The Beauty of Darkness

The time was about five in the evening when the only sound to be heard in my house was that of the birds chirping and retreating into their nests after a long tiring day. We all had also retreated, dad slumped into the computer, mom got busy with miscellaneous works and I had entered my den and closed the door behind. I hooked myself up with the books I had before me. This had become some kind of a routine so it was nothing new...the silence felt normal. Being in class twelve was indeed a big deal, which drained all the free times from me, never had I ever been so busy in my whole school life. The schedule was hectic which spared none of the Sundays but this nature of staying busy all the time was quite addictive too. Even a half hour of free time felt like an eternity and took nearly the same time to finish too. If an unscheduled holiday came by- then my god it felt like an infinitely idle day. You get adapted very fast with everything around that we don't even realize how things have changed and above all how we changed. 

Oopps so where was I, uhm.. me with the books right...so let me tell you the whole story. I started with Biology and looked thoroughly at the text. 'This would surely be of more than a kilogram.' I commented on the book I was about to read. I picked it up and started reading the chapter about 'evolution', soon my eyelids started feeling heavy. Just then poof went the electricity. I heard beeps from the UPS of the computer dad was using. The silence in the adjacent rooms got replaced by people's talks, though it merely touched the topics of finding a candle or a torch. Power cuts seldom take place in our town so quite obviously we weren't ready to tackle one. I opened my room and stepped outside.

"Do you know where the candles are?" my mom asked me hearing my door being opened. Yeh lo! I also got involved in the candle-conversation.

“No I didn't see them.” I said giving her a bother less answer as if the darkness didn't affect me at all. All three of us tried searching for the candles in the eerie darkness, only to find none. Soon we all gave up the meaningless quest. I peeped out through the window to check out on the other houses, not even a faintest light was to be seen and the whole town was in utter darkness, and most probably the people might have been cursing the power corporation for this irresponsible mishap. The same was going on in my house also. As time passed we gave up even the thought of putting on the fans tonight. 

"Hey you know what happened in our school today? It was so much fun........" I trailed off as I narrated a funny incident of my school to my folks. Now that there were no more gadgets to seek refuge into, both of them were listening to me with rapt attention. “Haha ha...” They let out a loud laugh once I was done. I also laughed along. Now it was their turn. Both of them also narrated many events that happened in their workplace, some of them even a week old but new as ever for me. The talk went on and on and shifted from one topic to another, the topics ranged from my funny friends to a complicated subject of their work. Occasionally we took time in between the conversation to say something like- 'How long will we be left in this darkness?'

It was at that time that I realised somewhere within me an urge to stay in this darkness for a bit more longer. I wanted the UPS to continue its beep. It was fun you know- to open your heart once in a while and have a family laughter. To me the darkness no longer mattered as I was enjoying my fill in the conversation that we were having. But I guess someone prayed harder that me that the darkness got replaced by the intermittent flickering of the tube lights in the room. I squinted my eyes and took a while to adapt with the light and so did my mom and dad. 

"Hey I've got to complete an important document" my dad said as he rushed to his computer.Mom went back to the kitchen to continue preparing the dinner and I entered my room and sighed at the long chapter of evolution I had to complete.

But before I got on to reading it I just thought for a while of what had just occurred to me. A simple power cut had given me ample time to spend with my family, laughing, teasing and having fun- though is was all in pitch darkness. What Robin Sharma says is very true- the more we get attached to the gadgets around the more we detach ourselves from the relationships we are a part of- these are not the exact lines but this is what I understood from the line he had stated. 

Had there been no power cut, the silence would still have prevailed in the rooms inhabited by us but still so empty. Have we really surrendered our good times with the family to the electronic life-less gadgets or do we still have a hope to keep relations as fresh as ever amidst our busy lives? For a moment I wished to have the very old times when people had time for each other and spent life as one. Now even the having-dinner-together concepts might have become 'a once in a blue moon phenomenon' for many busy households. I don't wish for frequent power cuts as mosquito bites aren't very pleasurable, but I just wish all the people could borrow a little time from their busy lives to just focus and enhance the relations around them. Even a sincere smile works miracles.

It is nothing impossible if we just have the will to do it and I swear it gives immeasurable happiness compared to what you get surfing the net or hooking yourself up with the other gadgets that seem to surround us from all the corners.

So take a breath, borrow some time and add that garam masala to your busy lives to make living much more of a fun thing to do.