Little Things

When I was pretty young there was this series of self-help/spiritual article series that came out in a tamil weekly magazine called “Athanaikum Aasaipadu”. I never read it. Never had the interest to read it also. But those words stuck with me for some reason. It roughly translates to ‘Desire of Everything’ and frankly the tamizh version sounds much nicer. Wanting something and being disappointed over not getting it has become such a norm in our lives that we don’t even pause and think about the stuff we do get in the process. I am not saying be happy with what you got, but give it a thought.

In every failed process/plan you do gain something else. Maybe at a later point of time it would make sense as to why that thing did not work out, maybe…I have seen more than enough failures in life to never want to desire for anything. It almost went to the level of not wanting to live. My own mind was haunting me with memories I wanted to forget. My brain worked in the most mysterious of ways by keeping a lot of graphic details intact but forgetting that one calculus formula I badly needed for a 20 mark question. A lot of those details are not really fun and I have worked hard to rewrite over them like you do with a video cassette. I created new memories just so I could get over the old ones.
But majorly I started focusing on the small details in life. I began looking forward to the tiny moments that make me smile or make anyone smile. Like buying cotton candy and eating it at an agonisingly slow pace. Like ordering that one particular lasagna from a posh restaurant and eating it while you play your favorite friends episode on Netflix. Like having tea with your friend at a small tea shop. Like reading that one particular monologue by your favorite character in a novel. Like looking at the sunset/sunrise. Like listening to the 1 min instrumental songs put out by an artist. Like asking your friend to do this comical mimicry and laughing at it. Like sitting next to your sleeping pet and just look at them breathe so peacefully. Like sitting on top of the water tank and sing in the most tone deaf way possible. Like feel that wisp of wind on your face the moment you open your window. Like lying down to see the stars without straining your neck much.

I could go on with this list. Just today I shared another instrumental rendition of a certain song to a friend. He couldn’t believe that I remembered something he had mentioned so long ago and I think I made him just a bit happy. It is the small things that matter and make a difference at the end of the day. Something as small as you remembering someone’s favorite song. Even now I am listening to this Flautist play all beautiful songs as I write this. I totally look forward to this guy’s weekly Instagram live session. What this artist does not know is that he is making one tone deaf person sing along to his tunes for one whole hour every week. For someone who is shy to sing out loud this is such a joyful thing to do. It probably is a small thing for anybody. But for me it makes a greatest of differences. If you ever read this, Thank you for giving me this glee hour! I know this is such a tough time for all of us. All I ask from all of you is to look at the small joys that surrounds you like the dust particles that float around and are visible under that one streak of sunlight through the curtains. Dust may not be as enjoyable but let us experience the charms we can recognize.

Ending with one of my favorite piece by Na.Muthukumar…