The Cherished Solitude

I have always wondered why most of the people get bored of being alone, why is it that they always enjoy in a company. I feel that God has already created a wonderful soul inside each one of us, then why is it that many people take their solitude as a curse. I do not understand why they give in to anybody they find, just for the sake of having a company. I know time seems more like a friend when in a company, but can't the same time seem blissful when you are alone? How can you expect to enjoy in a company when you try to escape your solitude?

Have you ever tried listening to the voice of your heart, which never gets heard when you are already surrounded by voices. It is only when you are alone, that you can hear the beautiful voice of your own heart, the voice that can never be wrong, the voice that will lead you to your answers. That voice waits for you to sit silently and listen to the world inside you. Ever tried being your own friend for sometime? There lies a world beyond you, to be explored, and it waits to be explored only by you and your solitude.

When I am alone, I love to contemplate upon so many things. Often I sit in silence when I feel a little drained out in crowds, without getting much time to listen to the feeble voices inside my mind. I get the answers to numerous questions boggling at the back of my mind. More often than not, the inability to spend quality time with myself makes me feel suffocated unless I get to be with myself at the end of the day. Yes, I have been termed as an anti-social person quite a lot of times, but I don't mind that. How can you expect someone to be contented when they have not fed their minds with that solitude that calls for them?

What can you even do when you are alone? I have been asked so many times. Each one has a world of his/her own-- a world completely unknown to anyone else. I like to visit that world too. It is refreshing to explore a beautiful world with unlimited energy and aspects and it always makes me awed at the surprises I receive from there. I love to sing and I can listen to the most beautiful voice from my heart. I love to read and I enter an unknown world. I love to write and I often pen down some of the soulful pieces of writing that I've ever written. And there is always something new, which keeps me going on my path. I love to travel alone and I see so many aspects which I hadn't noticed till then.                                   

There is so much to be known in this world of mysteries. There lies a story behind every person I meet, behind every place I visit, behind every written word, behind every action around me,behind every little sign of this universe, and I love to explore it in my solitude; so much that sometimes I don't need anybody around me. I enjoy the bliss in the inner world that I explore at my own choice. It needs nobody else. It never requires me to behave socially. I can be myself in that world, and enter or exit as per my convenience, far beyond the materialistic and superficial world, with divine realizations. In short, I can find my magic moments which otherwise might go unnoticed.

So if you haven't given a thought about spending some quality time alone, enter the world of introspection. Try reading a book alone once. Try writing down your thoughts once. Try singing a song once. Try thinking about your dreams or memories once. Try enjoying the breeze or raindrops once being yourself. Try having a cup of coffee once. Try walking on a beautiful moonlit night outside once, or travelling to an unknown place, or probably to a known place as if you are doing that for the first time. You will be surprised to meet a version of yourself you had never known before....Try it all alone to find the beauty of solitude and you will find yourself . You will find your strengths when you feel lost, your individuality when you feel covered up with illusions.

There remains a light with you that shows up when you look for it inside yourself. Never forget that it is the same light which you will find outside too, amidst all the storms you might have to face. That's the beauty of silence and solitude. You might fall in love with your destiny even though it seems to put up new challenges everyday. The shadows which you see around yourself might be a reflection of what you fear inside yourself. You might be able to face them, accept them, or even win over them. Your faith best shows up in solitude. Never is a person stronger than he/she could be after knowing the beauty of solitude.

There is an addictive pleasure in feeling yourself breathe and wonder how much creativity the universe has invested in building everything around you. Believe me, that world of solitude which you often try to escape, out of your fears is actually blissful. Just visit it once and you will fall in love with it. You can even share it with someone who understands this world. You will find a few like you who carry their secret worlds inside them, and once you have found people like you, you will never feel lonely, sharing the same worlds. You know what, even if you don't find them, you won't need to find anybody, they will just cross your path by coincidences, because you will not fear your solitude any more, you will fall in love with it.

"The journey inside myself seems much more interesting than the one I traverse in the world outside. I am one of those who have covered just a millionth part of it, yet I would never like to stop."

The Voyage

She was on a voyage to find something,

A part of herself which was missing,

Not to complete her being along,

But to add to who she was now.

They said she was insane and lost,

To look for something that had gone by,

But she had seen that world sometime,

She believed in the presence of dreams.

She visited places where she had lived,

And witnessed herself living there again,

She met people who had once known her,

And found herself in the reminiscences.

She wandered her dreams again,

And found her traces in those worlds,

She explored her beliefs in solitude,

And came across the warrior she was.

"To find that which is lost,

One needs to be what was lost",

She remembered someone had told her,

And off she ventured into the past.

**********************************

There was a city long ago,

She was a little girl lost in the city,

None came to find her ever,

All who saw her looked at her in pity.

She had an agony that none could hear,

Devoid of strength, joy and love,

She wondered what she could do,

Scared, she prayed and looked above.

None believed that anything could happen until,

As if from nowhere appeared someone,

Who believed that she was a miracle,

He took her along as his own one.

He brought joys, lessons, insights,

And reminded her that she was a warrior,

"You don't lose until you give up",

And she knew their worlds were similar.

She called the angel her 'Captain',

And the ship went to universes afar,

They won battles of despair and light,

Sharing a bond that was unbreakable.

He built a kingdom for the little one,

Where she learned of her history,

But none could understand her strength,

To her and everyone else, he was a mystery.

Often she wondered why only she saw him,

But never could she ask him who he was,

Until one day she found out a truth,

He was a fugitive from the land of enemies.

Unable to think of anything else,

She murmured,"How can I trust you?"

The angel, dilapidated, blessed her,

And decided to walk away.

She wondered why he used to preach,

"One day I will have to leave",

But she had wanted him to stay,

And know why he was a mystery.

Days and nights passed by for her,

She could not find the magic she possessed,

Nor could she find him and his mystery,

She missed the angel who had blessed her.

And off she went on a voyage,

To find the missing part of magic,

That was symbolic of him she knew,

Present in another parallel universe.

*********************************

The voyage reminded her of who she was,

And there she remembered how to find,

All that had went missing including him,

Somewhere in another universe.

She churned the hidden battles,

And won over her enemies,

Until she reached her destination,

And there he was in that universe, to applaud.

"Where have you been Captain?

I missed you a lot", she said, bereft.

"I waited for you to win yourself and you did,

As for me, I had never really left."

The little girl set off with him on the voyage,

And she remained a warrior none could forget,

But only she knew how blessed she had been,

To live an unbreakable bond with an angel who never left.

                                       

Parallel Waves

                              


Dusk and dawn never changes, making us believe that time remains the same, until we look at ourselves. I look at the waves. It seems like just another day from the old times. I look at you. You have changed on the outside, but you still seem familiar to me. Yet, you have changed. Your eyes still reflect numerous thoughts of your mind, with the charismatic ocean of secrets that I had always wanted to explore. I still want to. Your hair, a little grey in colour now, still make you look graceful to me. Your smile, over these years, has remained mystic. I wonder how many more fell for the magic it showed.

The way you look at me hasn't changed a bit-- as if trying to read my mind each minute quietly with your constant gaze along with lots of questions. You look at me. I seem familiar to you as well-- the same series of multiple expressions that you wanted to understand, or may be still want to. My hair, grey too, still hide a part of my face, that portrays various shades of colours in your presence. My hesitant eyes compensate for the words that have always travelled till my lips and vanished. My hands still brush away the sweat from the intertwined fingers, making my heartbeats growing faster with nervousness each second.

We spend a forever in that silence---the usual silence or perhaps the silence of awkwardness, to face each other again, after so many years. We think of saying that we missed each other, no matter, in which way. We think of talking about all those dreams and wishes, that remain preserved inside. We think of sharing our worlds over these years. We think of discussing all those questions, answers, misunderstandings which remain at the back of our minds. We think of exploring those worlds once again. Yet, we smile as  our minds travel through the memory lane.

You ask me,"So, you're a writer now?"

"Kind of."

We say nothing more, though we want to.

You think about all that shouldn't have been, I think of all that could have been. I wonder if it could still be. You wonder if it should be.

We remain like the drops in those parallel waves--the same drops we once wrote about, which never meet, no matter how many times, they are superimposed. No amount of interference could separate or join them, the drops, the waves-- parallel, afar, yet inseparable. Nothing has changed over these years on the inside,neither you and me, nor the echoes of those days and secrets, just like the dusk and dawn here.

~Excerpt from an incomplete story, someday