Hey…
I hope all of you are doing well…
You’re not gonna believe that I was curled up in my bed,
thinking as the clock stuck 00:00 hours,
I should read something before going to sleep,
(Trying to induce a habit of reading..)
As I picked a book from my collection,
it was either Khalil Gibran’s collection,
or,
it was metamorphosis by Kafka which I bought,
the night before i.e. Sunday night from a roadside book seller…
Before I could even focus my eyes on the words written on the first page of metamorphosis,
It felt blurry,
remembering little,
the character turned into bug,
there was a description,
how he looked at himself,
who he was,
looking at the picture he hung that he cut out of the magazine…
that’s all I could remember,
the first page that to barely,
I thought to myself,
is this the same mind that read pages upon pages during its prime…?
As I put the book in its place,
a wall mounted drawer,
and tried to fall asleep,
but,
I couldn’t,
I was using 3 devices simultaneously before,
my phone checking the messages,
getting updates from a brother who’s fighting an addiction,
and doing a splendid job keeping at it,
Another one,
who just came back from giving a competitive exam,
and has had a long day,
requiring a full day’s sleep to be in working condition again,
another one who opened a new office and is dying from traveling as the commute has added 3 hours which he has to steal from these 24 hours…
My laptop for penning down my thoughts and ideas,
in the WordPress app,
as a few ideas flew by me,
one of which I explored last night,
and wrote a prose in a language commonly spoken here,
about a girl who is held in boundations,
and isn’t welcomed by her maternal home,
in a setting that is absolutely heartbreaking….
My wireless sound bar,
which played one of the favorite playlists that has songs from Panjabi culture,
some Hindi songs and Gazals or a collection of old poetry,
which brought me immense joy,
and every once in a while,
a new song would pop in and I’d have to change it,
and remove it from my playlist…
Surrounded by these things,
I thought of a life before all of this,
these devices,
these apps,
these screens and,
it took me back to a time when we had those buttoned phones and nothing more…
I remember,
getting bored of playing snake game and then going out to play with my friends in the colony we grew up in,
we used to run after each other,
play hide and seek,
hopscotch because we had these sandstone blocks outside our home,
which would make it way easier to prepare and play around,
but,
those memories were blemishing,
maybe I forgot some of it…
We used to wake up early,
watch our grandparents light an incense stick in prayer room,
after then watching them read the newspaper on the rocking chair,
sipping on their piping hot tea,
occasionally taking a bite of biscuit or rusk that was kept right next to their cup and saucer…
I remember rushing to take a bath,
after that hurriedly chomping down breakfast,
it was something light like poha,
or a paratha (Indian flatbread with filling),
something that we all loved,
after that going to school where we used to enjoy our friendship,
meeting those who we liked from the bottom of our hearts,
some crushes,
some whom we adored,
and found cute…
Our parents went to their work,
father returning home late around 8 or 9,
mother returning home early and preparing evening snacks for us kids,
and preparing dinner for the people in the house,
and finally getting back to bed,
late around 11 pm or 23:00 hours…
Occasionally going out to buy sweets like jalebis,
or something,
never missing the night walk,
staring at the starry sky and the moon,
as we used to walk back home,
tiredness kicking in as soon as we reached home,
and falling asleep under,
the rotating fan and occasional cooler blowing cold air which turned into hot after it ran out of water,
and then replacing it with new water after cleaning it to remove the foul smell…
The respect that we held for our elders and the stories that we heard from their own mouth,
that too very keenly,
shaping our beliefs and moral compasses,
without many distractions,
we were able to focus better;
and having a genuine relationship because of face-to-face conversations,
and learning about our culture and heritage from the word of mouth,
rather than having to search google or YouTube just like these…
A time to remember and cherish it was…
Cheers 🥂
Love Waakiye 🤍
we keep on telling ourselves,
as the generation that grew up playing outside,
before the technological advancement that made our lives,
Easier yet more chaos filled…
Remembering,
crying to our parents to play outside,
our eyes feel watery this day too,
But,
seeing the roads empty,
break our heart shattering them into little pieces,
a history of fun gone,
replaced by technology…
That crying before going to school,
and the tiredness that surrounded afterwords,
that sleeping after coming home,
or those time spent,
during exam period,
cramming everything into this little brain of ours…
Then pouring it all into these exam papers,
but,
remembering those times brings nostalgia,
that keeps us from forgetting those good times…
Going out with our parents after they returned home from work,
grabbing ice cream as they talked to each other,
worries about our well-being,
our school life,
and their personal life too,
remembering them talking to each other we used to feel happy,
that we were blessed with such caring and worried parents,
“The Simpler times”
Waakiye 