#definedgodliness
The night I realised I needed therapy
It was 2 in the night, and I was watching
a reaction video on my phone. It was 2
in the night, so I let my mind go and let
it roam freely wherever it wanted to. It
had been on the leash the entire morning.
It was 2 in the night and I didn’t anticipate
what might happen.
I remember distinctly that I was breathing
fine. I was breathing fine, a moment and
the other I was racing along with my
thoughts. It wasn’t too late, and my body
started racing around my room too. It was
2 in the night, so I decided to not wake
people up. People, what people? I’m alone.
Sometimes I wish to sleep this feeling away,
but if I sleep now, I’ll be caged in my mind
where my sleep demon awaits my arrival,
and I am not ready for that rendezvous.
Hence, I’m awake. Trying to breathe, trying
to sleep, failing at both.
I clearly remember, meeting him, them,
when I briefly closed my eyes. It happens,
not a lot but in the night, when it’s 2, that’s
the only thing that my brain does. When I see
them, I don’t see colors, I don’t hear their
voice, I see them and I see myself through
them.
When I look at myself, through them, I see a
sack of blood and flesh, lying on the bed,
Immobile and frozen. I see a pathetic body
not even trying to fight it, using the 21
seconds rule as an escape to not move. It’s
almost as if she wants to stay in this state
forever.
When I see myself looking at me, I feel
frantic. I hate myself at that moment, but I
can’t, I just can’t move. I know if I stood up
right now, I’ll fight it. I’ll fight with everything,
I’ll run away, and I’ll be gone and if I lay there
all night, without moving, my judgement
would stare me down and leave me in my
misery.
They are getting closer with each thought
that chokes me. I want to break the barrier
and just hide in the bathroom. Why am I
resisting this? They are here, reaching out
to me and there’s nothing more for me to do
than join them and live in this vulnerability.
16. Welcome to my Ted talk
I’ve come to a halt. My body
doesn’t want to move, it is
breathing out air, inhaling and
exhaling but moving, no. It is
done, I am done, my brain, my
body, every nerve in my system is
done. I recently watched this
show called “Feel good” in hopes
to feel good myself, and it hit me
like an epiphany, how comedy
often masks the complexities
of nature, we call it mental health.
So, now that I’ve watched
something that was supposed to
be feel good, and I don’t feel good
after it, I think that the feelings that
are resonated by my mind, my body,
will go unnoticed. I don’t know how
to feel about it and whom to talk
about it. So, now, my body is in this
state of self loathing with an ounce
of anxiety because I wanted to watch
something that’d make me feel good,
but instead I watched something that
made me miserable.
15. Delhi
19 million people, waking up in the morning,
going about their lives, from one corner to
another, jumping on one route and reaching
another. Delhi, you beautiful beautiful city,
I hear you carry, within, a soul so old that
you age with time. Oh Delhi, you beautiful
mistake.
19 million people, 573 sq. mi long city,
so many lives, so many dreams. Delhi, you
infuriating mess. Ask anyone they’ll have a
story to tell, of a time not known to you, a
time not understood by me but a thousand
people willing to stop and listen along with
their daily cup of tea.
Everyone in here experiences this city in a
way that quite differently do align, and they
are definitely unconnected to mine. Mine
starts with a gate, number 7 it seems,
a chamber block with III written on it and a
floor to see what is unseen. Oh Delhi,
you are so full of mysteries.
On the 7th floor fire exit, you can see the
glory of this city in one place. If you look at
the expanse, I swear you can fly. From the
magnificence that is the Raisina Hill, running
along the Parliament and the tricolored
beauty of India gate. Hold on, wait for a
moment. Absorb the lights, the Grandeur
and move one.
The chilly breeze, often takes you with it to
the never ending work in progress that is
Pragati Maidan which literally translates
to “progress grounds” and to the ruins of
the Old fort, which once was the residence
of the huge empire, resonates the losses
and the gains.
The 7th floor fire exit captures the beauty
that is Delhi, but it also takes you on a
journey to the gems lost in time. If you look
around, you’ll see the Jawaharlal Nehru
Stadium, sitting on the high chair, looking
down at the city. If you go a little further,
you’ll find the Lotus temple.
Right there, just there, stop and think. Look
beyond the temple and you’ll find yourself.
You’ll see where you’ve reached and the
place where you started from. Delhi, you are
the reason for my suffering and the reason
for my contentment.
There are 19 million people in this city and
the 7th floor, Chamber block III is my place
of solace.
13. Maria
Like a devout inside the temple and
the lonely outside, I too aimlessly
look for little notes in the books that
I buy. If they could speak, they’d tell
the story of their being. When they
were there without a promise to be
kept perpetually but with one to
alternate consecutively. They whisper
as if calling my name and I swear my
name becomes more powerful, but I
digress. I found a note today, it was
perhaps, addressed to someone I
might never meet or to someone who
barely existed. It read “my dearest, I
want you to have this book in hopes
that you won’t be hoping for me. I leave
you with my love for I don’t want to
live in a world where you aren’t.”It’s
absolutely grotesque how one man’s
loss is another man’s gain. The
whispers came back again, this time
it wasn’t my name that they took, it
was hers, it was Maria’s. As the
whispers grew louder, my powers
weakened. The whispers turned into
voices. I looked in the mirror, trying to
make sense of things until I realized
it wasn’t my reflection staring me down.
My heart jolted 100 beats per minute,
my limbs making sounds never heard
before. A voice, mouthing something
in the background, trying to run away,
I could tell. Weak in my knees, still
standing. With each beat of my heart,
I gained the power once lost and at that
moment, I realized,
I was Maria.
12. Sorceress Supreme
It so happened some years ago,
a story of the past it seems,
the room was wide and huge,
absorbing the echoes of her screams.
Her tale is told in those corridors still,
where she roams, almost as if free,
the ghost of her bolting/shutting doors,
what happened that night, I couldn’t foresee.
Loud banging waking up the dead,
calling them to join her quest,
the dead following her in the night,
In that hostel only dead did rest.
I hear her sometimes still,
in what I believe are dreams,
I swear I saw a light on the ceiling,
of her, sorceress supreme.