LOCKDOWN DIARIES

TRAPPED OR FREE - A PERSPECTIVE

We hear of this new virus called COVID 19

I did not take it much too seriously,

Until COVID hit our very own city…

That fearful day in March!

With the announcement of a ‘country wide lockdown’.

A flash of my childhood days;

It took me back to the times before an exam,

I would pray for Bharat bandh just before the paper,

With a little side prayer that no one should be hurt.

The whims and wishes of a child 😊

Suna tha, ‘Bhagwan ke ghar mein der hai andher nahi’

So, is my prayer finally being answered?

My mind wondered, 'How do I make the most of this situation?'

Given that my childhood wish is bestowed upon me…

I saw freedom in being stuck at home;

A salute to the time-space concept!

Being in one place for days or months together,

Expands time in spite of having a truck load of work.

I ask myself,

If I have no freedom of movement,

If I have no freedom of travel,

If I am trapped in one place…

What do I really have the freedom for?

If I still want to experience travel, movement, freedom… How can I give those wings?

A bombardment of questions

A sense of surrender

A change in perspective

The universe turns up with an answer!

It all seems like a blessing in hindsight…

I have the freedom to travel across time…

It gave me a moment to pause;

To travel across the past, present & future…

It gave me the opportunity to reflect;

To be... to know what I WANT to be…

I have the freedom to travel across dimensions!

It gave me the freedom of movement like never before,

Movement in another space…

A space beyond the physical one... The one we think is the only reality we know 😊

I have the freedom to travel inward,

A place I had had little time to visit.

To be still and go deep within…

To see things, I have never seen before…

To explore, to discover, to learn;

Isn't that the true purpose of travel anyway?

I have the freedom to travel beyond the conscious,

To the unconscious through the power of meditation.

Encountering the surreal,

Feeling the subconscious with hidden thoughts and feelings,

Bringing in awareness, Seeing the unseen;

It's been a year since the lockdown has lifted,

I am now free to move, free to travel,

And I wonder

What is freedom after all?

Is it the one I have today or the one I experienced being trapped within four walls?

I take a moment to pause just now,

Feel the rush of gratitude through my veins!

What if not for the lockdown,

I wouldn't have known the true meaning of freedom at all 😊

PS: The green landscape is where I am currently at, enjoying the travel while I can and at the same time realizing that the true freedom of movement lies within!