BEAUTY OF BEING ALIVE

Look at the trees, weirdly shaped. Look at the ants, so vulgarly designed. Look at the elephants, with its weird fifth leg and look at the caterpillar, crawling creepily. Yet, each of them is beautiful because they don’t care what we think about them, about their appearances, of their worth and purpose.

On the canvas of darkness,

I saw myriad dots;

Each dot with a mystery,

Yet together they become a story.

Have you ever looked at the night sky looking for a story? How star Procyon remains hidden below the horizon of the December sky, above which the Orion makes a feeble appearance. How the Orion belt stars faithfully points to Aldebaraan – the alpha star of the constellation Taurus – above which lies the Pleiades star cluster. Isn’t it wonderful to get lost in the zillions of stars only to find a known constellation to the left of Orion and Taurus – Cassiopeia? Venus, the evening star – the sign of Ishtar, the Sumerian Goddess of Love – makes even the Moon appear less beautiful.

Well, this is what awaits the sky gazers of Shillong this month. December is not just a wonderful time for the church goers but also for the star gazers, as clear and cloudless nights make it one of the best months to gaze deep into the cosmos.

There are countless conflicts and problems raging the planet, not to mention about respective personal issues. And despite being surrounded by beauties of life, we often tend to forget them in the midst of deadlines, problems and frustrations. Well, let us then, try to take out one night of our life from the vicious cycle of routine and sameness and see the beauties of life. Let us spend one night in a cabin by the woods, roasting a chicken over the firewood under the starry sky.

The sun has marched towards the horizon, filling the sky with hues of vermillion, saffron and yellow. The last rays, before they fade away, are trying to catch a glimpse of the rolling hills and a river flowing through them. Hundreds of birds roosting on trees are twittering in cacophony. Birds have learned to tweet ages before men invented tweeting. The wooden cabin with a door and a window gives refuge to the wondering souls. A bonfire is lit, spreading the aroma of pine oil from the burning firewood, intoxicating the woods. A sudden mist comes to envelop us, but the next moment, a cold breeze sweeps it away. The moon shines gloriously in the sky, only to be dwarfed by the Venus with her breathtaking beauty. The far away worlds, made up of zillions of stars, look upon us with love. Oh! What a peaceful sight to behold?

The story of mankind,

Is the story of you and me.

The beauty of the cosmos,

Alike for everyone.

Yet, how can I see beauty in it,

And I see not a star?

The warmth of the bonfire let out poetry from our souls through the lips. And each story becomes a poem, and each poem becomes a soul. And each soul takes on the appearance of beauty and each beauty becomes an eternity. And in the eternity of time, we are losing the reality of existence, for every moment is becoming bigger than an eternity and each eternity is becoming a creator of its own existence.

The imperfectness of our words and feelings, and our lives mean little before the imperfectness of the Creation. Look at the trees, weirdly shaped. Look at the ants, so vulgarly designed. Look at the elephants, with its weird fifth leg and look at the caterpillar, crawling creepily. Yet, each of them is beautiful because they don’t care what we think about them, about their appearances, of their worth and purpose. Each has a destiny to fulfil and they don’t doubt the design of the Creation. It is only us, humans, who think about all these rubbish things. Despite assuming ourselves to be super intelligent, we are foolish to judge us and others.

But all these assumptions and judgments can wait, for tonight, we are free like these fireflies surrounding us. For tonight, we will just live, without pondering and wondering about what brings tomorrow. Because tonight, we just want to live this moment – this present instance that encompasses many worlds of eternity.

Agreed that tomorrow morning would bring a beautiful dawn and might also bring another deadline to fulfil and milestone to complete. But tonight, that can wait, because tonight, we will live. Tonight, we will discover the beauty of being alive.

The night is beautiful;

Solitary and lovely.

And I have dreams

In my starry eyes,

Far away into the cosmos.

Sometimes, they drive me to despair,

Sometimes they made me alive.

But, I know, they keep me alive;

For that is the beauty of being alive!