Boxing in a Carnatic concert

9:30PM, outside some tea shop in Chennai. The long trip back to college was 4 days away. 4 days left with all the friends from childhood around (owing to Covid-19 protocols). I couldn’t help but start the night feeling a bit emotional. There is something about the friends you’ve grown up with — they know you and you know them, from what job they want to their embarrassing secrets; you know it all and it feels like a safe zone. As the night went on, we moved to a terrace, set up the grill, and got to having fun — making fun of each other and remembering fuck-ups from the past. And yet I kept getting diverted, wondering why I was a bit emotional. It was a Friday night. Friday nights with friends were the solution; what not with discussions on the royal challenges we faced and the monk-like wisdom these moments taught us like Teachers.

That night I believed time travel was possible, not scientifically; but all you need is a bunch of friends to remind you about that dumb kid you were. Laughing so hard that the cheeks hurt, mind at peace; a sage-like breeze to comfort the gathering. And soon it would descend into silence for a while; the last few nights of cool breeze before the summer blew past just tingling the skin ever so slightly.

I closed my eyes and let myself slip to the other land, trying to explore depths of my emotions (Its 4.A.M. at this point and the curiosity peaked).

Why was there a comfort here that I felt nowhere else?

A brief silence, with just the sound of the breeze and a couple of murmurs in the distance. And then, another voice cleared up.

As we’ve grown, we’ve all been hurt, and have learned to empathize with others. So we try to seek and understand their perspective, and accumulate these experiences through life, which shapes how we interact with people, doesn’t it?

What? Was I thinking right? I took another deep drag-in to relax.

Voice 1: It feels like life is like that river poem. You know that one, right? “Men may come and men may go but I go on forever” — that one?

Voice 2: What does that have to do with this whole emotional thing or feeling comfortable with friends stuff?

Voice 1: When a river flows, it flows through a bed of rocks and layers of silt and as it does, the river takes away some minerals with it forever from the rocks while the rocks are forever in touch with the water from the river.

Voice 2: So?

Voice 1: The give and take leaves both parties with something that makes them comfortable in the relationship. So is friendship. The more time you know someone, the more comfortable you are in being yourself in front of them. You don’t feel the pressure to be a certain way or behave to a certain code; it becomes a safe spot.

Voice 2: Explain it like I’m 8 years old?

Takes one more drag.

Voice 1: See macha it’s like this. When you know someone new, say at work, you have to maintain a certain decorum and that makes you rigid and careful about how you interact — like being a singer in a concert or an athlete in Olympics. That’s who you should be, that’s how the social code dictates you to be as well. Whereas here, you can be a boxer in a Carnatic concert, boxing to the rhythm of some Carnatic song. You’d look foolish alright. They probably would have a hearty laugh and save it for the future, for sure. But all the while empathizing and holding you up.

Voice 2: Hmmm.

5.20AM Saturday Morning. “Dei, wake up! It’s time to leave, let’s bounce”. I clamber up to leave, still smiling from left to right, the voices fade away. The bike ride back home’s barely 15 minutes. The perfect dew in the air as we drive past shops opening up. I reached home and crashed right on the bed. A Carnatic concert running on the TV in full flow and probably full volume. I clicked continue on the film I was previously watching in my room, and a boxing montage resumed.

I couldn’t help but laugh overhearing the Carnatic concert in the background while watching Kabilan’s training montage to the tune of Neeye Oli.

3 more days to go. A few more months before moving to a new city for a new job. They may not be Carnatic concerts nor will I be an athlete in an Olympic village. But what is life but finding those little groups, those concerts where you don’t have to dance to the tune but can box with zero judgement.

Concerts may come and concerts may go, but may you find your concerts to box in forever, and hopefully learn to be an athlete in an Olympics village when needed to.