As prayers get answered, this is the right time to pray
I was born and brought up in Delhi, India. For those who don’t know, it is reputed to be one of the most polluted capital cities in the world. All my life I have seen concrete buildings and the expansive green lawns of India Gate, a war memorial. I have breathed in and breathed out the peace of being at home. Delhi is home for me. Not perfect, yet mine.
Yet a part of me felt I was missing out on the experience of shifting to a new city, staying in a small, cozy flat, and figuring out life all by myself. Secretly I have wished to be in a new city to experience its nightlife, make new friends, bargain unsuccessfully in a new language —all things you do when you are a newcomer in a city.
It never happened for 26 years of my life.
When the restrictions of COVID wave 1 lifted in India, I came to a slow city in the South of India for a month to live with my relatives. Now I have been here for 7 months for various reasons that kept presenting themselves.
Somehow, I think, my prayers have been answered — I am in a new city. But not in the way I would have liked; I would have liked to roam around, make frantic calls to have the plumber over to fix the pluming, have Friends watch parties in my apartments with my new friends from the city. Now, I am residing here, not exactly living in and experiencing the city and getting to know the people that come with it.
But, this is not a sad story. Unless I got some perspective.
After seeing concrete buildings for years, now I wake up to clouds floating over hills and sun playing peek-a-boo by hiding behind huge, white clouds on the canvas of blue sky. These hills surround the place I am in from all four sides and are always sleeping. The slow city tries to wake up and do its daily chores considering the floating clouds as an inspiration.
I wanted nightlife. I got early mornings. I’m not complaining.
All that I can say, prayers do get answered, may be late or in a different form. But they do. We just need to be open to receive it.
Now during the global pandemic, we need prayers more than ever, along with actions, of course. As prayers get answered somehow, it is time we put out some positive ones for us, nature, & everything.
Stay safe, stay healthy.
