India is at its loudest during election time. No one seems to want to keep quiet, and everyone wants to have the last word. So there is a verbal barrage, with discretion and decency often thrown to the winds. Scandals and secrets galore do the rounds, making you wonder where they were hiding for so long.
Unfazed, our netas tackle their grey shades with wit, sarcasm and a volley of expletives. The electronic media play it all to the hilt, leaving no choice for the masses but to listen to the constant cacophony.
As a common person it surprises me how all these leaders can actually get away with all the slander. Understandably, all are caught in the vortex of words and more words. Do we have a choice?
What if we consciously remain simply silent for a few hours every day? The noise within us would recede; our ears would keenly take in the rhythm of the noises naturally offered to us. The rustle of the curtains, the wail of a baby, delightful shrieks of children at play, the whistle of the pressure cooker, a gate opening far away, a car reversing, a mother calling out to her child, a door bell ringing, a door creaking, and so much more.
Silence is golden and speech is silver — this is what we learnt at school. Man is desperate to be forever in the company of people who talk, seeking in the din a sense of unexplained peace. Edgar Allan Poe, in his poem Silence , expressed the two faces of silence. These are “body and soul” and “sea and shore”.
“When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past.” was how Shakespeare reflected in his Sonnet 30 .
To remain silent requires will power and it will be a sort of mental exercise. Like walking, this can be practised daily. The best part of it is that you don’t need to even step out of your house.
As you strengthen your mind you’ll be surprised at how things around you change for the better. The clutter of thoughts waiting to be articulated, stops right in your brain.
In silence you streamline your thoughts, filtering out the unwanted and only expressing what is necessary.
The result then would be obviously sensible, welcome, and soothing. Pause and think for a moment about the profound voice of the infinite urging us to seek solace in silence divine.
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