Have you ever felt that you want to do something, but you can’t because you are stuck up elsewhere doing something else. I have had such feelings many times! Recently I heard my soul talking to herself that she’s trapped! My soul has always been telling my body that she is here to do something more. My body’s present lifestyle is not quite enriching my soul. My soul feels there is more to life than just being a mom (though it is the most beautiful experience), and she has interests other than trying out all the recipes in the whole world.
My body in spite of all her limitations and ailments prefers to give full attention to daily, repetitive, household chores. She wants to get up at 6 a.m. so that she can start these activities as early as possible. My soul hates that and she keeps begging my body to let her sleep until 8 a.m. (at least on Sundays!)
My soul likes to have a hot cup of tea with ginger and cardamom as soon as she gets up in the morning, and spend some time with newspapers and social media. But my body prefers to drink the tea standing in front of the gas stove itself and rush off to the bathroom for a quick shower.
My body then wants to clean the Pooja room, light the lamp and talk to the gods there (both morning and evening). My soul has told my body a number of times that God is within her, so she can look into herself and say what she wants.
My body rushes to the kitchen from the Pooja room for preparing breakfast. My soul waits patiently, thinking she can have a relaxed breakfast once the preparation is over. After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so what is wrong in making it special!
My body, immediately after cooking breakfast, starts the preparations for lunch – cutting vegetables, grating coconut, and so on! My soul has to wait, cursing her fate for being born in a body on Indian soil, especially in Kerala. Not that my soul does not enjoy the beauty of God’s Own Country, but she doesn’t like to waste time on the elaborate, vegetarian, Kerala cooking style (but without onion and garlic) that my body is addicted to. My soul knows that the other ‘bodies’ at home are not particular about the kind of cuisine; it’s only my body that craves for the Kerala-style, red, parboiled rice with at least three side dishes and gravies – what a waste of time!
My body always boasts that she can make the best Aviyal and Pulisseri in the whole Universe, and better than anyone else in the family. 😉 But my soul is unable to understand why a body from the land of Adi Sankara, currently living on the soil where J Krishnamurti once lived, and, above all, born in the same country where Buddha was born, is feeling so proud of something trivial like preparing ‘some’ dishes!
My soul also cannot understand why the body gets a panic attack and feels sad because the stock of curry leaves is over in the fridge. She feels jealous that my body cannot bear the pain of ‘missing’ the curry leaves!
My body is always talking to the other ‘bodies’ at home and often to remote bodies over the phone. My soul is unhappy that, though she stays so close to the body, the body never talks to her. My soul really hates these ‘extra-curricular’ activities of the body. My soul is always in a state of disappointment because she is not getting quality time with my body. My body and soul are supposedly together, but poles apart. I think my soul feels trapped in my body, and only death can separate them!
So, in her next birth, my soul wants to get a body that is not addicted to Kerala food and not talkative but located in a place that looks similar to Kerala (maybe somewhere in Europe), so she won’t miss the beauty of the Kerala scenery. She prefers a female body as only then can she enjoy the joy of motherhood. (And later, the empty nest!)
Last Scene: When the funeral day came, the visitors said ‘Rest in Peace’ to the body and prayed for the ‘departed’ soul! Till then, everything and everyone was for the body, but now all the prayers go only to the DEPARTED soul. What an irony! That was when the soul felt a pang of pity for the body.
Moral of the story: Slow down a bit. Take a deep breath and enjoy every moment of your life. Talk to your soul once in a while at least!
Happy empty nesting to all my fellow bodies! 🙂
Just two sides of a multifaceted phenomenon known as a human being!
wowwww…. common feeling of all women.
Gayatriiii Thank you 🙂
Definitely this resonates with almost all Indian women’s souls !!very well expressed. Whoever with a bit of imagination can picturise u very vividly as the intensity of the war between ur body and soul is explained sooooo well.
Waiting for ur next blog mini.
🙂 Thank you, Deepa!
Lovely Mineetha!
Thank you Thanuja!
This is exactly my feeling too, maybe that of an average Indian mother… well expressed Mineetha
Thank you Anita 🙂