I had the most beautiful experience!
Have you ever looked at a scene of a movie or TV show, or a reel on any social media app, where the woman, with a cup of coffee or tea in her hand, is sitting on her porch, enjoying the quietness around her? Or something close?
Because whenever I used to look at something like this, I’d wish for a moment, just a moment of that calm, where you forget everything. Where you forget how you were wronged by the people you trusted the most. How you were met with humilation because you trusted blindly even though you swore to never do it again. How you let your guard down and learned why you shouldn’t have done that at all. I’d long for that beautiful suburban home surrounded with nothing but mountains, fresh fruits, and flowers. the crisp air filling the lungs as I sit on the balcony or outside my home to take the view in.
But in real life, when you are a city girl, you seldom get these moments. It’s not impossible, if you are privileged enough to get yourself a house in a society that somewhat offers peace, and could be considered a third copy of a beautiful village life. But if you are someone like me, where even at 2am, you’d be hearing the sound of a motorcycle passing from your street, it’s next to impossible.
Yet, today, just for mere seconds. I got to enjoy it. I experienced the moments I have always seen in small-town movies and TV shows. The countless reels on social media that made me crave that moment were finally here. And it was offered to me in such a mundane way, the most mediocre thing one could do. But isn’t that the beauty of life?
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For me, this was the atomic level, the tiniest level where one could have such a blissful experience. It was nothing grand, just hearing the doorbell. Somebody was outside, and that’s not important. What matters is that I had the cup in my hand with my laptop opened in front of me. The walk from my living room to the balcony and then to the door was almost ten to fifteen steps.
I don’t know what it was, but everything around me was brighter; it rained heavily, so the entire space looked fresh as well. The walk was a one-time experience for me. Everything in that moment felt calm and composed. I forgot who I was in that specific moment. Just taking my time to descend and open the door while casually sipping my namkeen chai (a staple in Balti households, Skardu, Baltistan).
While the moment lasted for a few seconds and vanished the moment I was back to my sofa to continue working, I made sure to enjoy it to the fullest. My life is a series of complications one after the other, and hey, this is me not complaining, just stating it, and having that moment gave me a flicker of hope that yes, there might be a future where all of this is my everyday life.
Out of the 14,000,605 possible futures, maybe there is one where I am sitting on the porch with my namkeen chai, looking at the cloudy sky as the trees make their favorite sound because the wind is here….
