My Mind on a Morning Stroll

A small glimpse at the inside of a wandering mind.

The internet is full of people going on about what the lockdown has given them- A PAUSE to allow all their subconscious talents to brim up to the surface, now that the external distractions and superfluous things are under a constraint.

In a similar way, it suddenly dawned upon me, that writing could be a good outlet for my ever wandering mind. In Psychiatry, we have a term called ‘flight of ideas’: a rapid shifting of thoughts with superficial associative connections, which is what happens to me in certain situations which I consider as mundane.

One day, on a bright sunny morning I was standing in this never-ending line outside the grocery store, maintaining 3–4 feet distance; everyone covered in face masks or stoles/hankies, not speaking a word to each other and minding their own business. (Which, earlier in times, if it would have been the case, the world would have had a tad bit less of already existing numerous and unrequired opinions)

The road strewn with yellow leaves, was looking fresh and rejuvenated from a good night’s sleep; being able to breathe deeply, thanks to the absence of the vehicles crowding every inch of it.

I saw a policeman in a rickshaw passing by in a deliberately slow pace, giving instructions on a huge loudspeaker making the entire aura eerie, like a WAR zone….. my mind wandered off into the latest war movie I had seen: Jojo Rabbit, a beautiful film about the Nazi era, which portrays how, even the toughest times can ALSO bring out the good that people have in them …. reminding me of how one of my closest friends’, Vipul was volunteering to make masks from a 3D acrylic printer belonging to his architect friends; I then made a mental note to call my friend Shamika who’s in New York, studying Architecture; NYC has always been on my bucket list, I thought with a pang in my chest… my mind drifting to the article I had read on Medium about Vanessa Santiago living in a studio rental in NYC, who was released from prison after 22 years to directly step in this world of a pandemic, with absolutely no idea about bank accounts, key cards, supermarket stores, FB, Instagram, and Twitter… Oh and by the way, today at dawn, I saw FIREFLIES, zooming around the street lights!! It’s extremely rare to see them in Pune city.. bringing me back to the line outside the supermarket store…the man in front had moved up ahead and I stepped up quickly before anyone else could point it out to me, urging me to take out my phone finally and start jotting down my thoughts.

You see that’s what I’ve been doing for the past 15 days. Trying to be more mindful, putting a restraint on my mind who has had the ability to fly on Harry’s Firebolt straight to the top of Hogwarts castle. Or at least give it a proper direction by putting my thoughts on my phone/laptop.. like how Dumbledore siphoned his thoughts in his Pensieve, helping him structure and organize his mind.

Once similarly I was lost in my own world in the vegetable market, and I had swapped 1 kg of peas by mistake by 1 kg of ladyfinger, doubling the quantity of already bought ladyfinger lying in my vegetable bag!

Another time, I rewashed an entire lot of washed and blow-dried clothes in the washing machine, my mind taking a trip to some faraway land.

As soon as a thought knocks on the door of my mind, my mind tends to re-assess, re-think and re-examine it from all angles, thoroughly, making even the CIA seem less intimidating in its interrogations.

So finally I decided to de-clutter my mind. Instead of flying aimlessly, from one stop to another, if I gave it a proper route, maneuvered it, it’s journey would be much more memorable and also would ease the life of others around it.

Even though I’m still an amateur, putting out my thoughts, opinions, feelings in the form of stories, articles, creative nonfiction pieces, came in naturally to me, (though the confidence to put them out didn’t) owing to my literary interests since I was a kid. A big shout-out to Ruta, for introducing me to Medium, an amazing literary platform.

I have practically grown up with all the innumerable series of Enid Blyton, Harry Potter (the apple of the eye of every bookworm) Agatha Christie, Jeffrey Archer, Dan Brown, Khaled Hosseini, the classics of Jane Austen (Mr. Darcy being an absolute favorite character till date)to name a few, giving me the ability to THINK — which can be both, a curse (for overthinkers like me) and a boon- helping me shape my belief systems, thoughts, and giving me the ability to voice and question a few rigid, questionable things which are not questioned by many or are followed blindly.

And now coming back from the slight detour, I think I should concentrate on the task in hand i.e grocery shopping without seeming like some woolly-headed weirdo in La-La land.