Silence is golden

Do you remember the last time when you enjoyed a silent ambience? (I am not talking about the mechanical silence imposed on the air-conditioned rooms of multinational companies. Instead, I refer to the tranquil peaceful atmosphere that can make you nostalgic, poetic and a better human being.)If you are living in a metro and have a hectic job schedule, it will be very difficult to answer my question. Most probably it may be during your last visit to an ayurvedic resort or to your grandma’s house in a remote village that you enjoyed a tranquil, peaceful silence both in your mind and out in the sylvan surroundings.

If you feel that I am exaggerating things, you may please check your daily routine. You wake up to the screaming of the alarm clock in the morning. Then you are into a hullaballoo of cooking, packing and darting to office. All the while you are unconsciously listening to many sounds – the clatter of plates and cups, shriek of bus horns down the road near your apartment, bustle of motor vehicles and vendors, noise at the crowded bus stop and the heated arguments in the jam-packed buses.

When you reach the office, one irritating sound awaits you there – the never ending tak tak sound of keyboards. Even if you are engrossed in your work, you are always aware of another sound in the back of your mind – that of your boss shrieking and shouting at you. Finally, in the evening, braving the hustle and bustle of streets, the calling out of hawkers and the honking motor vehicles, you come back home; but there are sounds to follow even in your sleep.Hence, is there any impropriety, if I say, peaceful silence is conspicuous by its absence in the modern society? Whatever be your comforts of modern life, you are surely missing a few moments of golden peaceful silence in this frenetic pace of life.