On the luxury of silence...

One of the things that has become scarce or rather impossible to get apart from a lot of good things is silence. And by silence, I mean, absolute silence. One in which even a pin falling or your own breathing could be heard clearly. And sadly, we don’t even notice the lack of it like we do in case of an electricity black out and complete darkness.

Everywhere we go, there’s noise. There’s the cars and other vehicles passing by, honking  incessantly and quite unnecessarily, the loud speakers from the street, people quarrelling, dogs barking, the radio or mp3 player playing good but at times unwanted songs, and how can I forget the absurd amount of time we spend talking on our mobile phones.

Even the nights are not spared of their share of noise. And then we spend extra money buying silence. Every other new residential scheme advertises “a haven of peace and tranquil”, “a place where the only sounds are those of the flowing river and the cuckoo singing”, etc. 

Yes. We need silence. To spend a moment in introspection. To let the mind drift into thoughtlessness for a moment. To just give a moments complete rest to our senses. To just calm down and hear ourselves breathing. I mean, we can close our eyes but we can’t close our ears, can we? And I’m just glad to get my much required dose of it on my treks.

Silence today is a luxury, only a few can afford and which all of us could do with a little more than what we’re getting these days. Silence is healing. No wonder the girl on the poster in our doctors’ waiting room says “Sshhhh……”