Hart Island- Thoughts in Lock-down COVID-19
I woke up early in the morning and saw my reflection in the wash room mirror, the signs of getting old were quite visible because of not shaving for few days, just to change my mood I looked at the plant placed next to the mirror, my beloved companion during this lockdown. I was shocked to see the little plant had turned yellow and was lying life less, I lost an important companion during this lock-down, I was sad, I didn’t threw it outside of the pot as I didn’t have to courage to do that.
At night I embraced, took comfort in my another most important companion of my lock-down days, the most important app in my phone, Youtube and there was a video suggestion about a place called HART- Island in New York also known as the Prison of DEADS. It’s a placed where there are mass graves of unclaimed bodies…….What’s the difference between me and those bodies buried in HART Island…I don’t know why I thought like this and tried to divert my wondering mind, but this thought haunted me, teased my like that fly whom you want to get rid of but still sits on your nose.
A few days passed and suddenly in my wash-room I saw my plant pot and was surprised to see so many tiny little plants started to grow, appear from the surface and it looked like a small jungle has appeared since they are having their reflection in the mirror….Suddenly I got an answer to question which was haunting me few days back, that unrest fly got free and found an open window. If death is reality then life is also a reality, even if a flower has blossomed for one day, it has left its mark, it has spread its beauty, its fragrance, its smile. If character is dropped out of story, but without that character story is incomplete, he is one part of this jigsaw puzzle, if a plant which died a few days ago in my pot, has left its off-spring which are full of life, if stones have no obvious meaning but are useful for someone to survive and lit a fire in cold nights.
But Most importantly, self-realization/ self-actualization is very important, who I am? why I am here? What is my real potential? If I won’t recognize my true potential and will not work to polish it, express it, share it with the world, my thoughts, my art, my talent, my potential, my dreams, if I have not expressed them, if I die with my inner music buried in my chest, then it will be a great injustice because each one of us has born with something unique, either, you are good speaker/conversationalist/ you can inspire someone, you are musician/singer, painter, dancer, comedian, anything you love to do, if you’re not working on it to communicate with the world and keeping it to yourself, since you’re busy doing other “important stuff” and its not on your priority list or you’re waiting for that “PERFCET MOMENT”, which didn’t come yet, let me tell you my dears, it will NEVER, ever come ….Billions have died while waiting for that perfect moment to arrive and then they can show their talent, express their true self, whatever their artistic skill are.
Its your responsibly, to work on your potential and reveal it to the world, in rally race, it’s the responsibility of a runner to pass on the baton to the next player, you have to run hard and pass it on to the next player means this world, the generations to come, that baton is your true talent, true potential, singing, writing, speaking, cooking, starting your own business, doing charity, whatever it is…AND if we waiting for the perfect moment, I’m sorry to say we are living in fool’s paradise.
Dear friends, death is reality and no one can escape that, why not be like that flower, who lived even for a day, but has shown its true colors, its fragrance, its smile to the world.
Else the HART Island is not just located in New York, but each and every corner of this world is full of such grave yards, where unknown, unclaimed people are buried with their unknown, unclaimed dreams. Don’t wait for the perfect moment, make each moment perfect.