Across the Universe

The sun was in the sky, the traffic was loud, the buses threw dust in the air, and the road was just a point of movement, not a point of rest, and not a point of home. It was a normal noisy thursday afternoon.

She wondered why she was feeling like this; this uncanny feeling of annoyance she always felt at the sight of traffic and vehicles. It was a feeling she associated with modernity and all it's evils, under the mask of convenience and simplicity. She could never throw off this feeling, and look at a road, and at development, with pride or peace.

They were standing at a T-junction. The traffic headed towards towards them, and then turned away, as if in defeat, annoyance, and submission. The sound of the croaking of the auto rickshaws seemed to signify that it could not go any faster, and even if it could, it would refuse to do so. The cars were moving with an efficiency far below their level, as if, if not for the road, they would go so much more faster, and be so much more happier. Every vehicle on the road was blaming the one standing next to it for its' presence there, and the vehicles looked on, caught between apology and demand, looking harrassed and impatient.

Suddenly, the wind began to howl. The sun was shining enough to give light and clarity, but not warmth. The trees had seemed to come alive, and overtake existence at that moment. Papers, dust and garbage was flying in the air around them, and the sun gleamed. An ordinary moment of waiting, had transformed into a moment of observation, and realisation. The wind seemed to have cleared her senses. She felt as if she was standing across the universe, as witness to the processes of the world, in silent acknowledgement, and awareness of its' vastness, and powerlessness. Her mind was divided in two. One was asking her, "Is this it? Is this all man can do?" The other side of her was appreciating the wonder of the human mind, "There is so much we can create, and so much we can be part of, and so much we can do with the world around us." She didn't know which emotion she must feel, and she backed away, not wishing to surrender to any frame of understanding. She would only be observer, she thought.

And the silence between them transformed into that observation, as they stood there, witness to the world, watching, breathing, being.