The Sound of Silence.
Music makes the world go round. Sound brings life to your day. Noise keeps entering your ears and you hear. You hear everything. From the pluck of a guitar string to the voice of a loved one or even for that matter, a harsh noise of an irritating honk. This is a noisy world. It is filled with rhythm and voices and sounds and melodies. Everything in this world has a sound. Everything does. The most intriguing sound of them all is the Sound of Silence. No sound is the best sound of all.
He had heard silence and claimed that it was a beautiful sound. He said it was pure, serene and it made him think. Every night he went out into his balcony looked straight at those glistening stars and he listened. He listened to the sound of the stars. He said, that the stars, they emit the sound of silence and he listened intently. Every night. He tucked his elbows close to his stomach, palms facing upwards, closed his eyes and while listening he muttered four words. Just four. Saying them aloud was understandable, I could have guessed that he was praying but he was different from what I had seen up till now. He muttered to himself. I was pretty certain that he was crazy. I mean, imagine for yourself... Watching a man, standing in the dark with just the moonlight passing a faint beam over his face, looking towards the heavens, eyes closed, muttering no more than four words and them coming over to you and telling you that he hears the stars. Was he insane or was he an alien or what in the world was he? I was curios, to say the least. There was some reason behind all this.
I followed him into our room just like I had been doing for the past three months. We went over our assignments, submissions and lectures for the next day just like we had been doing for the past three months and wished each other a rather formal goodnight and went to sleep(you might have guessed by now) just like the past three months. I couldn't sleep that night. This whole thing was too intriguing for me. This guy was either a very wise one or an extremely strange one but somehow I knew that whatever he was, he was the most peaceful human being I had met in my existence up until now. I was sure that I was going to learn something from this body consisting of two hundred and six bones which not any other body containing two hundred and six bones can teach me. I looked at his peaceful face for one last time before closing my own eyes and falling into a sound sleep.
This morning was different. Different than the ones I had been waking up in, for the last three months. It was decided. I was going to confront him tonight and get this burning curiosity out of me. This day passed slowly or it seemed so, college seemed dull, the food seemed bland, every sound seemed harsh today. I still remember vividly thinking in my head for the night to come over so that I could see the stars and get away from this harshness and finally experience the sound of silence that my friend, so excitedly claimed was the best sound in the universe. It was dusk and soon enough night dawned upon us. (oh! the irony!) I was following every move of his just like a hungry dog watches a piece of meat being waved in front of him. In earnest, with hope. It was just before bedtime and my eyes lightened up watching him leave the room and get into that sad excuse for a balcony for once. It was the same routine. He tucked his elbows inside, palms facing upwards, closed his eyes, looked at the stars and muttered four words. Then, he did something that I had never seen him do after his routine. He smiled.
Still smiling, he looked at me from the balcony and said, "Strength. Faith. Love. God." He walked towards my puzzled face whilst smiling, sat beside me and what followed was something I will never forget. He looked straight into my eyes, his gaze fixed like a hawk. "Strength", he said, " is something my father taught me... Every night, he used to come to have a chat with me before bedtime. We used to recap the happenings of the day and then before he left my side he picked me up with ease and gently kept me on my bed. I always believed that my father was strong. I never said anything and neither did he but we both felt the Strength." He took a pause and got up, turned his back towards me, took a deep breath and sat back down facing me. I could see the effort he was making to hold back his tears. He continued, " Faith, was something my mother taught me. After my dad was asleep, she came to my room. Thinking that I was asleep, she used to look at me for some time and then used to set an alarm clock by my side so that I could wake up the next morning. None of us knew what the night would bring but every night she used to set the alarm clock, believing that the morning will come and I would be able to open my eyes and see the morning. She never said anything and neither did I but we both felt the Faith." I could only manage a feeble smile at this point. The intensity with which he was talking was mesmerising but yet there was something paining inside him. I didn't say a word and let him be on his way with his story. He sighed and managed a slight chuckle before he continued. "Love.. Hah! This is something which cannot be taught but also something which I always felt when I was with her. Her smile warmed me from within and when she held my hand, I was in a safe place away from all the noise surrounding us. Every night before she kissed me goodbye she took my hand in hers and as I was about to say those three magical words she purse her lips and said 'shhh' and then kissed me goodbye. In the cold night, she didn't say anything and neither did I but I knew that this was Love."
He couldn't stop that little teardrop rolling down his cheek. It rolled down until it hit his lips which were turned up. All he had to tell me now was about the God part of his 'four-worded-prayer'. He said, "None of them are alive now." His hands shaking while he said that. "Someone told me that God resides in the heavens and the stars are the people who he took away from the earth so that he can keep such wonderful people for himself. I know what you were wondering and this is my story. So, every night, I go out and I try and listen to the stars. They never say anything and neither do I and this is how I listen to the Sound of Silence." I was amazed, moved and happy... all at the same time. I honestly didn't know what to feel.
He proceeded to his bed wiping off those tears and I did the same. We went over the assignments, submissions and lectures for the next day. Then, we looked at each other and smiled and just gave a nod of the neck. He didn't say anything and neither did I but both of us knew that it was going to be a good night.
He had heard silence and claimed that it was a beautiful sound. He said it was pure, serene and it made him think. Every night he went out into his balcony looked straight at those glistening stars and he listened. He listened to the sound of the stars. He said, that the stars, they emit the sound of silence and he listened intently. Every night. He tucked his elbows close to his stomach, palms facing upwards, closed his eyes and while listening he muttered four words. Just four. Saying them aloud was understandable, I could have guessed that he was praying but he was different from what I had seen up till now. He muttered to himself. I was pretty certain that he was crazy. I mean, imagine for yourself... Watching a man, standing in the dark with just the moonlight passing a faint beam over his face, looking towards the heavens, eyes closed, muttering no more than four words and them coming over to you and telling you that he hears the stars. Was he insane or was he an alien or what in the world was he? I was curios, to say the least. There was some reason behind all this.I followed him into our room just like I had been doing for the past three months. We went over our assignments, submissions and lectures for the next day just like we had been doing for the past three months and wished each other a rather formal goodnight and went to sleep(you might have guessed by now) just like the past three months. I couldn't sleep that night. This whole thing was too intriguing for me. This guy was either a very wise one or an extremely strange one but somehow I knew that whatever he was, he was the most peaceful human being I had met in my existence up until now. I was sure that I was going to learn something from this body consisting of two hundred and six bones which not any other body containing two hundred and six bones can teach me. I looked at his peaceful face for one last time before closing my own eyes and falling into a sound sleep.
This morning was different. Different than the ones I had been waking up in, for the last three months. It was decided. I was going to confront him tonight and get this burning curiosity out of me. This day passed slowly or it seemed so, college seemed dull, the food seemed bland, every sound seemed harsh today. I still remember vividly thinking in my head for the night to come over so that I could see the stars and get away from this harshness and finally experience the sound of silence that my friend, so excitedly claimed was the best sound in the universe. It was dusk and soon enough night dawned upon us. (oh! the irony!) I was following every move of his just like a hungry dog watches a piece of meat being waved in front of him. In earnest, with hope. It was just before bedtime and my eyes lightened up watching him leave the room and get into that sad excuse for a balcony for once. It was the same routine. He tucked his elbows inside, palms facing upwards, closed his eyes, looked at the stars and muttered four words. Then, he did something that I had never seen him do after his routine. He smiled.
Still smiling, he looked at me from the balcony and said, "Strength. Faith. Love. God." He walked towards my puzzled face whilst smiling, sat beside me and what followed was something I will never forget. He looked straight into my eyes, his gaze fixed like a hawk. "Strength", he said, " is something my father taught me... Every night, he used to come to have a chat with me before bedtime. We used to recap the happenings of the day and then before he left my side he picked me up with ease and gently kept me on my bed. I always believed that my father was strong. I never said anything and neither did he but we both felt the Strength." He took a pause and got up, turned his back towards me, took a deep breath and sat back down facing me. I could see the effort he was making to hold back his tears. He continued, " Faith, was something my mother taught me. After my dad was asleep, she came to my room. Thinking that I was asleep, she used to look at me for some time and then used to set an alarm clock by my side so that I could wake up the next morning. None of us knew what the night would bring but every night she used to set the alarm clock, believing that the morning will come and I would be able to open my eyes and see the morning. She never said anything and neither did I but we both felt the Faith." I could only manage a feeble smile at this point. The intensity with which he was talking was mesmerising but yet there was something paining inside him. I didn't say a word and let him be on his way with his story. He sighed and managed a slight chuckle before he continued. "Love.. Hah! This is something which cannot be taught but also something which I always felt when I was with her. Her smile warmed me from within and when she held my hand, I was in a safe place away from all the noise surrounding us. Every night before she kissed me goodbye she took my hand in hers and as I was about to say those three magical words she purse her lips and said 'shhh' and then kissed me goodbye. In the cold night, she didn't say anything and neither did I but I knew that this was Love."
He couldn't stop that little teardrop rolling down his cheek. It rolled down until it hit his lips which were turned up. All he had to tell me now was about the God part of his 'four-worded-prayer'. He said, "None of them are alive now." His hands shaking while he said that. "Someone told me that God resides in the heavens and the stars are the people who he took away from the earth so that he can keep such wonderful people for himself. I know what you were wondering and this is my story. So, every night, I go out and I try and listen to the stars. They never say anything and neither do I and this is how I listen to the Sound of Silence." I was amazed, moved and happy... all at the same time. I honestly didn't know what to feel.
He proceeded to his bed wiping off those tears and I did the same. We went over the assignments, submissions and lectures for the next day. Then, we looked at each other and smiled and just gave a nod of the neck. He didn't say anything and neither did I but both of us knew that it was going to be a good night.
Awesome!
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