I live in a city that has a very well established military base for our country’s protection. Coincidentally my house is adjoining the military area. So each morning I hear men practice shooting. The sound is not the typical “dhikshyaun”, or “dhaaein dhaaein” as we have largely heard in Bollywood movies. It is quite deep and may be said that has a baritone associated, if we could equate sounds to those by humans. But it is frequent. The men practice well, because it is their profession.
I also hear sounds from the sky, not everyday though. These are the sounds of helicopters that fly not very far away from the land, as there might be a helipad at close proximity to our residence. This makes the helicopter’s sound much larger. We have gotten accustomed to it now and hardly does it matter to us.
Then there is one sound that comes from the sky, and it is extremely loud and sharp. It is the sound of a fighter jet, or some other similar plane that is extremely fast. The other day while me and Mukesh were stuck in traffic, we saw the jet doing some mind-boggling stunts in air. Maybe that’s the way it has to perform and function, but for me to see such a thing was stunning. The jet rose sharply up in the sky and then took a turn and came dipping towards the ground. As it was up above it again lifted itself, this time with some side elevation, and tilted itself to one side. The traffic we were stuck in enabled us to see this and as it opened, we took our priorities in hand and moved, no more giving attention to the stunts being performed in air. But you can neglect or mostly not see as well these activities, but you cannot escape the sound it produces. It is unlike any other thing.
Why I say this today is that I can stop and see the jets practicing, hear their sounds, to the sounds of gun practice, and yet sleep peacefully, go to my office peacefully, infact get stuck in traffic too in awe while the activity is happening right on the sky above my head. Because I know that I am not in danger. The guns, the helicopters, the jets, they are all being handled by professionals who don’t intend to hurt me with it. But what if someday I was in a place, where the rationale of someone else would have let to me being considered a target of these weapons, even for one moment! Would I still be able to sleep peacefully and go to office, do my daily chores then? No! Absolutely not! I would be as restless as the birds I see, who fly here and there in chaos on hearing these sounds of practice. And unfortunately I would be as restless as those hundreds of little traumatised kids and people are right now in Gaza and few days earlier in Israel. I wonder how can humans support this, and how can we still let the blood drip loose all over the world for days and weeks, when we have witnessed battles, wars, and hatred to have left so many unerasable spots on our history. There is enough food, resources on Earth for all of us to feed on, only that is not enough is the feeling of oneness, without which no amount of resources can fill our belly with contentment anytime ever.
Aali Pant 