Graphics: S. Heramb

“An article on how we have forgotten the much needed spaces in our lives.”

‘I need my personal space! Please leave me alone.’ Seems familiar? No, this isn’t about celebrities. It’s about you and me.

When technology seems to be connecting people across the borders, shouldn’t we be happy to be together all the time, although virtually?
At times, why does the need to be solitary arise? With residential spaces being measured in all kinds of new fancy terms, how can one measure the intangible space that we feel we need? And primarily, is it possibly to find this space in this ‘I-am-online’ age?

Think of subscribing to newsletters, all kind of crazy updates and everything which perfectly can make a digital overdose! Shouldn’t we consume only so much as we can digest?

A true work of art has a balance of negative and positive spaces. Our life isn’t much different only if we consider it to be so. Over the ages, one of the words around which edifices of words have been built is silence or the void. What a contrast! Isn’t it the silence between the spoken words that really communicates? The words merely act as contours of the conversation. Imagine a lot of indistinct sounds thrown at you in frenzy by a musician. Would it still be the music which soothes and takes you on a tour of the abstract? And would that creature be called a musician?
Can one truly understand the power of speech, without knowing silence to its core? Late Kumar Gandharva, an Indian Classical vocalist, who was truly humble and genius at once, was once asked the source of his immense creation. He replied that when it (a creation) has to arrive, it does on its own; you don’t have to fetch it. Could there be a more apt answer for those wondering about the source of ingenuity?
Today, we hold brainstorming sessions for churning out-of-the-box ideas. Can’t a problem be solved by merely observing it solitarily? Can a glass full of water, hold any more? When one can understand these lucid metaphors, why do we forget the spaces in our lives?

The point to be driven home is that what began with a breath will end with one. This space between these two – what we term as our life – is not to be forgotten. In this case, the journey matters more than reaching the destination, doesn’t it?