bls31
July 9th, 2013, 08:51 AM
100 SILENCE
T
HIS DAY I WAS AT THE RELEASE function of the book ‘Silence the whisper of the Devine’ by Maj Gen Kaushik.
The title set me thinking about the other connotations of Silence; Pregnant Silence-Eloquent Silence- Silence of Doom-Silent that Speaks-
. And made me recall my own profound experiences of Silence
Silence of the Grave-Yard
October 1962.
We were moving away from the lost Battle and the Battle Zone as fast as we could. Nearing the Lumpu dropping zone, some times near nine in the night, with visions of hot meal and a bed to sleep in, a rude shock awaited us: Lumpu was in flames.
The place presented a surrealistic sight. The local villagers were hurrying up and down with sacks of rations and other provisions; I will not use the word looting since the guardians of the stores with no plans of returning had already deserted the place.
Flickering flames silhouetted the figures hurrying up and down in complete silence, totally oblivious of the Chinese. There was total silence, the silence of a cremation ground complete even with the crackling of flames. The ghost like figures silhouetted against the flames gave an eerie feeling and generated its own brand of fear and an intense desire to get away from the place as quickly as possible.
The Silence of the Occult
1971
That night we were lingering late after the dinner in the mess reluctant to retire to our respective bleak abodes. It was extremely cold outside the mess in the winter of early December at that height but with the hissing `Bukhari' radiating heat it was reasonably comfortable inside. We were trying to keep our morale up somehow or other.
Somehow the talk veered towards the supernatural with this another facet of Maj Inder Bhatia’s talents were revealed when he claimed that he could call the dead and speak to them. Hoping to get some clue about the missing stengun , Inder’s offer was promptly accepted., post-haste a white paper was rolled on the card table the Alphabets and the Numerals (0 to 9) were quickly written on the circumference of the circle drawn on the paper a glass tumbler with a minimum of four pairs of fingers pressing lightly on it was placed on the paper.
The pin drop silence the hissing of the patromax making it even more pervading the dead of the night the expectation of experiencing some thing totally alien, all eyes concentrated on the tumbler resulted in goose-pimples and the hair standing on my arms.
Suddenly we got a jolt the tumbler jumped and started moving. With Inder in control and shooting questions the tumbler started jumping from letter to letter and figure to figure with one of us noting down the words and sentences being formed.
The air in the mess was becoming thicker, the place more eerie with heart beating faster and faster. A strange sort of fear pervaded at least in me although it were not my hands on the tumbler still I was part of the scene.
Silence of Nature
Lungthu with the Chinese just a stone throw away with the battle raging down below with its rarefied air, deficient of oxygen, its intense cold, the bleak landscape its mountain sides denuded of the trees by years of illegal falling by the troops positioned there for cooking and heating, all combined to create an atmosphere totally alien to us dwellers of the planes. The sensation was particularly strong and overpowering I at night with the full moon appearing unusually large the stars so near and shining bright in the thin clear air of the night. The stark wilderness bereft of any human or animal being in the near vicinity that late made and the over powering and all pervading Silence made one aware of some supernatural power some where very near.
The Silence of the Departed
She was not there, but lying on the bed, with eternal calm and peace infusing her lovely face now in repose, appeared to be very much there and alive and apparently in deep sleep.
It was a sleep of total exhaustion with the days of misery, suffering and pain now all behind thus bringing to an end all her troubles, trials, tribulations and travails.
I would enter the now Silent bedroom again and again and look at her, lying in repose, hoping for a miracle that she would somehow come back to me, knowing fully well that it was impossible
bls31
T
HIS DAY I WAS AT THE RELEASE function of the book ‘Silence the whisper of the Devine’ by Maj Gen Kaushik.
The title set me thinking about the other connotations of Silence; Pregnant Silence-Eloquent Silence- Silence of Doom-Silent that Speaks-
. And made me recall my own profound experiences of Silence
Silence of the Grave-Yard
October 1962.
We were moving away from the lost Battle and the Battle Zone as fast as we could. Nearing the Lumpu dropping zone, some times near nine in the night, with visions of hot meal and a bed to sleep in, a rude shock awaited us: Lumpu was in flames.
The place presented a surrealistic sight. The local villagers were hurrying up and down with sacks of rations and other provisions; I will not use the word looting since the guardians of the stores with no plans of returning had already deserted the place.
Flickering flames silhouetted the figures hurrying up and down in complete silence, totally oblivious of the Chinese. There was total silence, the silence of a cremation ground complete even with the crackling of flames. The ghost like figures silhouetted against the flames gave an eerie feeling and generated its own brand of fear and an intense desire to get away from the place as quickly as possible.
The Silence of the Occult
1971
That night we were lingering late after the dinner in the mess reluctant to retire to our respective bleak abodes. It was extremely cold outside the mess in the winter of early December at that height but with the hissing `Bukhari' radiating heat it was reasonably comfortable inside. We were trying to keep our morale up somehow or other.
Somehow the talk veered towards the supernatural with this another facet of Maj Inder Bhatia’s talents were revealed when he claimed that he could call the dead and speak to them. Hoping to get some clue about the missing stengun , Inder’s offer was promptly accepted., post-haste a white paper was rolled on the card table the Alphabets and the Numerals (0 to 9) were quickly written on the circumference of the circle drawn on the paper a glass tumbler with a minimum of four pairs of fingers pressing lightly on it was placed on the paper.
The pin drop silence the hissing of the patromax making it even more pervading the dead of the night the expectation of experiencing some thing totally alien, all eyes concentrated on the tumbler resulted in goose-pimples and the hair standing on my arms.
Suddenly we got a jolt the tumbler jumped and started moving. With Inder in control and shooting questions the tumbler started jumping from letter to letter and figure to figure with one of us noting down the words and sentences being formed.
The air in the mess was becoming thicker, the place more eerie with heart beating faster and faster. A strange sort of fear pervaded at least in me although it were not my hands on the tumbler still I was part of the scene.
Silence of Nature
Lungthu with the Chinese just a stone throw away with the battle raging down below with its rarefied air, deficient of oxygen, its intense cold, the bleak landscape its mountain sides denuded of the trees by years of illegal falling by the troops positioned there for cooking and heating, all combined to create an atmosphere totally alien to us dwellers of the planes. The sensation was particularly strong and overpowering I at night with the full moon appearing unusually large the stars so near and shining bright in the thin clear air of the night. The stark wilderness bereft of any human or animal being in the near vicinity that late made and the over powering and all pervading Silence made one aware of some supernatural power some where very near.
The Silence of the Departed
She was not there, but lying on the bed, with eternal calm and peace infusing her lovely face now in repose, appeared to be very much there and alive and apparently in deep sleep.
It was a sleep of total exhaustion with the days of misery, suffering and pain now all behind thus bringing to an end all her troubles, trials, tribulations and travails.
I would enter the now Silent bedroom again and again and look at her, lying in repose, hoping for a miracle that she would somehow come back to me, knowing fully well that it was impossible
bls31