In the Moment!

The other day just before sunrise, I was standing by the windowpane and it was almost dark outside with a hint of sunlight starting to crawl in, the sky was dark blue with a stroke of little yellow and orange colour patches, the birds were all up and probably greeting each other with their chirping and I felt I was 'in the moment', as after so many days I observed and heard the nature so closely. Since then I am trying to figure out when exactly I am in the moment, completely aware and present in the moment and I could recall a couple of instances, see if it sits right with you, and if it does not then do find your ways of being in the moment as there is a lot of peace there, all the chaos in the mind just takes the backseat and you take the driving seat of your senses and they give you an experience like never before.

 

The place where I have been ‘in the moment’ without a choice is when I have boarded a train on the harbour line from Kurla. After leaving a couple of trains and hoping that the next would be less crowded, and finally giving up on the hope and somehow getting into the extremely crowded local train, where I am hardly able to stand properly, yet trying to balance me, my bag that I am carrying in the front side while keeping one of my hand on the chains of the bag so that no one can tamper that, and other hand holding the hanging strap to be stable in that crowd. I think that is when I am in the moment, as I can feel my breath and the breath of those around me, I can smell the sweat, I can hear the buzzing sound of the fan whose airflow is always misdirected, I can hear the crowd chatter, talk, discuss, gossip, listen to songs aloud or plug in the earphones, and I feel I am in the moment, just there! Well when I plug in the earphone and play my favourite song, I feel even then with my kind of background music to the same situation makes it a little more bearable and still feels in the moment, just without the natural sounds!

 

Next in line is when I am reading a book, books that take me to countries I can never visit, to markets that do not exist anymore, to monuments that are now destroyed and a lot more. Books have the ability to take you somewhere and leave you there as a spectator of its characters. When I read Khaled Hosseini I am in Afghanistan with his characters, when I read Chetan Bhagat's Revolution 2020 I am in Varanasi, and with Arundhati Roy's 'The God of Small Things' I am in Kerala. They have taken me to so many places with their stories where I completely felt I was in the moment!

 

And now what I am going to mention is something most of you would have done, or at least been to that place, or read about it in my blog that is, 'And there are miles to go before I sleep'. Where a friend of mine suggested that we take a break from walking alongside the marine drive and sit down for a while with eyes closed and just listen to the sound of sea playing the most soothing tune all along, it's just that we are too preoccupied with thoughts and the noise of cars in the background that we almost overlook its performance, but as soon as you sit and close your eyes you actually are in the concert of the sea, you are in the moment!

 

So once you start thinking about such instances you find so many of them coming your way, all they need is your attention and acknowledgement. When you think of something and a beautiful smile comes to your face or when you feel bad about something and a tear falls from your eyes you are pretty much in the moment. Well we all have different ways of being in the moment, and I would like to know yours too, so do let me know your specific 'in the moment' in the comment section below the blog.

 

Happy Reading,

-सिddhi Bhosale.