When I flew…!!!

I was flying without wings…no, it was not a dream. Since watching Inception, I have been particularly inclined to focus on my sub-conscious, thus making it a part of my conscious mind. It has been long since I had registered something significant in my mind (that’s why no posts for a long time), but it’s always my sub-conscious that brings out some thoughts that when thought upon feels so significant.

I had reached Nariman Point one and a half hour before the start of the play, and was waiting for my other friends. There was a slight drizzle with strong winds; and I hate the fact that being in Mumbai, one always need to carry an umbrella (as if it matters, you still get wet!!!). It had been more than a month that I had been feeling Mumbai to be less than ordinary due to its roads, rains and what not. ‘Mumbai’ – people taking shelter under sheds, lowering down the cover at the sides of an auto even at the sight of a droplet, crossing the road hesitantly so as to not have their share of water from a puddle.

But, it seemed so different that day. I was walking on the footpath, trying to hold up my umbrella against the strong winds, when I saw a crowd in front. It seemed they were enjoying the rain….how long it had been since I saw someone enjoying it!! It was just one and a half month but it seemed to be more than a year…in Mumbai, the mind had panicked at the very sound of a water drop falling on the ground. I hurried past the footpath, still struggling against the winds and rain with my ‘umbrella shield’…crossed the road, climbed the steps to stand at the top, where I had seen others enjoying. There lay in front of me, the vast Arabian Sea and the Mumbai sky-line. No one over there was holding an umbrella, or if I may say, had lowered their umbrellas, like me at that very moment, to enjoy that beauty…to feel the strength within. At times, things happen so often or become monotonous that we get too tired and frustrated, and forget to enjoy something that we would have enjoyed the most. We develop a wall around us, a fear for everyday surrounds us, and inhibits us from baring our souls and live the moment.

The striking contrast (between every day and the day) that I noticed for the first time in Mumbai was not just the beauty, but the people’s attitude. May be they were just having fun; but I just stood up, with my chin held high, umbrella lowered down as to challenge the winds. They forced their way against me, but I was no more hiding behind a shield. They brushed against my cheek, slithered through my hair, but the wilder they grew, more satisfied I was at my heart (or mind???).  It seemed as if I was ready to face any challenge…face the sea, face the winds…to fly, jump off the path and fly over the sea. I walked towards an opening, bringing myself closer to the sea. Gradually, my steps became lighter and lighter; and before I could grasp the situation, I was flying…flying without the wings, effortlessly. In front of me, the crows flapped their wings, but I had already taken a lead. It was hard for them to resist against the winds, few even cowered and flew back. They struggled harder and harder, their wings seemed to tear apart, but my moments were swifter. It seemed as if I had tamed the wind, the force of nature. Even the eagle couldn’t match me, the wind has forced it to take shelter behind the branches of a tree. I felt like the Lord of the Sky, entering into an unknown, undiscovered realm.

Something struck me then, I don’t know when…it seemed like a thought. I looked at my watch, I had been flying for more than an hour, and it was time to head back to ground…and turn my head away from that place and back to the same feared world. But, then I knew that if I ever wished to fly, it won’t be tough. I already knew the  place to take-off from. When I turned away, got down to the road, I remembered a song – “Zindagi ka safar, hai ye kaisa safar! Koi samjha nahi, koi jaana nahi…”.

I won’t try harder to link this to the concept of Inception…but, in reality, sometimes your sub-conscious forces through your conscious, trying to make you feel the way you wish. And once you enter that world, you realize what I realized when I flew…!!!

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