Being Alone

I am at home since last few days. I have caught chicken pox and the only treatment for that, I have learnt in these days, is to stay at home and have ample rest. That means that for the last one week, I was completely free.

In normal circumstances, I would have taken this as an opportunity to write. But I did not. I had no ideas in my mind and I don’t know why, I just did not feel like writing. Sitting with my laptop and punching keys looked a boring and tedious task. But still, I sat down to write this post. And the blog will be updated after around one and a half months of inactivity.

When I sat down to write this post, I was not sure what will be the topic of the post? I had a vague idea but was not getting the crux for some reason. This becomes so irritating sometimes. You are so near but yet it feels far away. But still, I started writing and the adulterated product is what you are reading right now.

While writing this, I was constantly thinking- Why I am not getting ideas to write? What was I doing earlier that I am not doing right now? And then I realized that this was not about doing; it was about getting time for me. 10 hours of office schedule and then ranting with friends had left me with no time for myself and this was something that was missing these days in my life.

I am not a boring person and it’s not about being an introvert. I like to be with friends and spend time with them. But I have always had a belief that being alone for some time every day is also very important. With too many people around you, there are too many obligations to be fulfilled which takes lot of time from you which was meant for you and between these obligations, you never get time for your hobbies, your favorite TV show, a much awaited football match and that gripping novel.

I realized the happiness and feeling of independence in solitude in a better sense couple of years ago when I was posted in Delhi. There, I was living alone and days always used to be fun. I used to return home from office by 7pm, switch on TV, go through newspaper and have dinner. It was always me, no body to entertain and nobody to listen to. On alternate weekends, friends used to visit me and that was the time I used to get ‘social’. And it was then when I developed the habit of writing. Being alone leaves us with so much time for ourselves that you might find the hidden artist with you.

Quoting one of the awesome dialogues from Vidya Balan starrer ‘The Dirty Picture’,

Zindagi jab maayus hoti hai

Tabhi mehsus hoti hai

This movie had many other relevant dialogues but coming back to this, it is so much relevant in our daily life. We feel things when we are alone. Being alone allows us to ponder on things, on events happening around us about which we would have never thought had we been occupied with family and friends. The solitude takes our mind to neglected, overlooked facts and truths of life which were always there in front of us; we simply ignored them because we were too busy.

At the end, I won’t say I am encouraging loneliness. That is an entirely different thing. But yes, finding an hour from the 24 hours should be your one of the priorities.