Spice of Life | Life is what we live in stolen moments
As children, we lived not in the hours we spent in the strict environment of school or the slogging hours we spent at home finishing our homework and preparing for a glittering career ahead. No! We lived in those extra few minutes we were allowed to play; we lived in those free lectures when the teacher would be on leave and we were allowed to go to the playground, writes Sonika Sethi
There would never be anything but this. Stolen moments, stolen kisses, a secret oasis, wrote author Melissa de la Cruz.
Deep down we all believe in the fact that the life we live every day is hardly the life we wish to live. The monotonous, banal and systematic existence barely qualifies for a life. Life is what we live in the stolen moments because stolen moments create magic!
As children, we lived not in the hours we spent in the strict environment of school or the slogging hours we spent at home finishing our homework and preparing for a glittering career ahead. No! We lived in those extra few minutes we were allowed to play; we lived in those free lectures when the teacher would be on leave and we were allowed to go to the playground; we lived in those stolen moments when we read our favourite comics stealthily placed inside our textbooks; and we lived in those moments when we pinched an extra treat such as a slice of cake, a gulab jamun or a bite of chocolate without being detected by the extra-vigilant surveillance of our moms.
Youth has moments of glory and its own stash of secrets. We lived in the stolen glances of secret admirers which we tend to reminisce even in our twilight years as we croon along with the mellifluous voice of Mukesh, ‘Kabhi kabhi mere dil me khayal aata hai…’ We also live in the moments of truancy which we spent either in the dim-lit halls of a cinema or loitering in the company of those friends whose friendship was frowned upon by our concerned parents. Sneaking out in the middle of the night or wriggling in, in the wee hours from and into the hostel are perhaps the most memorable moments of a boarder’s life and a much-discussed subject during the reunions. These are the moments that give an adrenaline rush and a palpable vigour to the youth and we all have, undeniably, lived in such moments in one way or another.
Come autumn and life has reached a stage where we invariably find ourselves entangled in the web of personal and professional responsibilities. Life rushes past us at supersonic speed with everyone and everything around us jostling for attention. This is the time we long for some stolen moments to remember ourselves lest we forget to exist. A housewife steals a few moments of her busy day when she packs everyone off to work or school and sits down for a relaxed cup of tea. For a working woman, her day off when no one else has it, is probably the best time to breathe. A man would perhaps steal a few moments when he is able to lay his hands on the remote control and watch his favourite game uninterrupted.
Stolen moments are like oasis where you slip in from time to time to shield yourself from the harsh and discordant reality of the world. These are the moments to live in and to die for. As a diabetic, I am right now looking forward to my stolen moment when I can surreptitiously pull out that last gulab jamun, sitting smugly in the fridge, and gulp it down in one go before I get caught by the monitor of the house!
The writer is an associate professor of English at SD College, Ambala Cantt. She can be reached at sonrok15@gmail.com.
