Hometown Diaries #2: The Void

For all of us, there have been moments when we can’t resist the urge to run away from the mad world that surrounds us. We wish to leave all the competition, all the rush, all the hurry behind and be someplace where those things are not only immaterial, they don’t even exist if you don’t want them to. I am talking of the void.

For those of you who haven’t been to small towns, you would think I might be referring to a rooftop or a vacation, but no I am not. For those of you who have been to small towns or, like me, have grown up in one, you would know exactly what I am talking about. The vast stretches of empty space that exist in the creases of civilisation, untouched and unscathed, often ignored, yet right there minutes away from the hullabaloo we call life nowadays.

Sitting at such a place, everything looks and feels clearer. The air, the sights, even the thoughts in your head seem to be much wider and spanning the entire existence in its potential. Being there, the mind runs uninhibited, through the cosmos to explore the limits of physical and philosophical being, and what lies beyond. Millions of ideas and theories are just waiting out there for you to come and reach out for them. You don’t want to wait, do you?

It makes me sad that these are becoming more and more of a rarity, and lesser of the purity that they once were, because I have experienced the feeling of being in the void. Do you know how it feels? Let me try and put it into words:

You drive for 10 minutes from your house, which is surrounded by houses more or less identical to yours. You drive away from the society that upholds hypocrisy and bureaucracy as its ideals and finds enemies in love and equality. You drive away from the din that has become the background music of your life. When you’re there, you turn off the engine; get out of your vehicle and momentarily, all your senses are in a state of panic. The air you breathe in contains too less a mixture of smells, the sound that falls upon your ear belongs to nature or silence. You look around and you see nothing, because as far as you look, you can see everything, without cars, buildings or people to block your vision. And then you do the most wonderful thing possible that gives you a sense of fulfilment and oneness with the universe.

You look up.

Image source: http://www.windsim.com (because my camera isn’t good enough 😛 )

I cannot express how amazing it is to have a forest less than 5 minutes walking distance from your house. Yes, you heard me right, a forest! (Although a planted one) This Eucalyptus plantation is huge enough to be called a forest and has everything you look for in a forest, which is a whole lot of trees, forest officers, their bungalows and the most amazing after-dark experience you can have with nature, especially due to the fact that the a river project canal, maybe Kangsabati or Subarnarekha, runs right next to it.

The fact that I just got back from there before writing this makes it an even better experience for me to describe it, because the sounds are still ringing in my ears. Yes, the sounds are what I am talking about. Standing in between the canal and the forest, which no light around for as far as you can see and the smell of damp earth after a drizzle filling your lungs, you cannot help but drown in the ironic symphony of the cacophony of all sorts of night and jungle dwellers around you. The defiant croaks of the frogs seem to mould themselves around the must faster, shriller and more persistent call of the crickets, amidst tens, possibly hundreds of other creature calls from all directions. And if you are lucky, you might experience the one sound that silences them all- the long, distant yet much more dominant howl of the moon’s wildlings. It almost feels as if all of them, the frogs, the crickets, the wolves and even the silent snakes are just waiting out there a few steps away from you, waiting for one wrong step towards the invasion of their territory to absorb your existence into their multitudes. It is experiences like these that are humbling to one.

I have put up very few pictures and I can’t say that they depict the void with the highest efficiency. But then, nothing can, except for the experience itself. So if you have even one such place close to you, or accessible in some way, take the time out to go there. And if you don’t, never hesitate to come over. I’ll personally take you there. You’ll find true, fulfilling, tangible peace.