Twilight routine for a happy life

Twilight is a special time of the day for me. Daytime in India is extremely hot almost all year round. As the sun gets ready to hide behind the earth, hot stillness makes room for cool breeze.

As a kid, I used to play cricket every day. As the sun sets and the ball gets difficult to find in the bushes, we would end the last game of the day with bad-light-appeal and make way home with muddy knees, sweaty foreheads and brain drenched in dopamine.

As I entered the house, I would be welcomed by the aroma of the pot of boiling rice and oil-rich spicy vegetable of the day. Father would have returned home from work and busy sipping tea in his favourite white kurta-pajama. I would run to the kitchen to find a snack and would just as quickly be driven away by my yelling mother to first go wash up. On my way to the bathroom, the sight of the tiny flame of pooja-ghar diya would subconsciously remind me of the not so tiny forces at work that make this world go. Anticipation of tasty dinner, after dinner walk, watching Doordarshan from 9pm to 10pm and just hanging together as a family made this a very happy time of the day.

These childhood memories are now several decades old. Now, on most evenings, as the sun sets, I am busy making calls to the other end of the world, which is welcoming the same sun. I still get the evening cup of tea, but it usually proves insufficient to mend my tired soul.

Today, my son was out playing with his friends and my wife and I spent our evening doing nothing. This is something we do rarely these days. As I saw the sun setting, I have made a new resolution today. While my days and nights will continue to be long and tiring for the foreseeable future, I have resolved to steal these special two hours of the day away from inconsequentiality and give it to nothingness.