Making the Ordinary Extraordinary

Yesterday evening I went to the beach and took a very long walk. Though there were people with me and around me, I was alone. The thing is, I did not feel alone at all. I don’t remember what I was thinking or what I did. All I can tell you is that I saw everything.

I watched the sand slip away with the waves, I felt it pull away from beneath my feet. I saw the discarded shells on the sand, and I decided that from far away it looked like fallen stars. I watched the crows pick up scraps and twigs from the shore. A gang of boys playing football. The trees were swaying in the breeze, waltzing to the rhythm unheard by my ears. I saw the golden sunset and its reflection in the water, the cluster of stranded rocks and the birds flying over it. There was a flag flying over the spiked edges of the tallest rock. There was nobody walking ahead of me nor was there anybody to follow me, no one to urge me to walk faster or to ask me to stop walking. There was nobody to wait for me or to come back to. Just me. And I still repeat, I was not lonely.

The evening was an ordinary one, nothing spectaular where you stop and catch your breath. This might be how every day ends in this part of the world. But for me, it was different. It took my mind away from my upcoming exam and how iresponsible I am being towards it. I forgot about the throbbing ache in my right arm that was bothering me since two days. I forgot that I’ll have to be salary less for another few months before I start searching for a new job. I forgot about the million tiny worries which I blow up into big disasters with my overthinking.

I was just there, in that moment.

Not in the past lamenting over lost oppotunities or wrong decisions, nor in the future giving big big speeches, imagining righting the wrong, writing history.

Today, we cannot go to a place or meet someone or even eat something that looks nice without taking photographs. I am also afflicted with the same disease. Though they are as ordinary as it can get because they were snapped using my mobile. Here are some the good ones from yesterday. (I might have cheated with effects on a couple of the images.)