SHOR BAHUT HO CHUKA , AB KHAAMOSHI KO BOLNE DO

I sometimes wish I was my Uncle, Dr. Salim Ali, the world renowned ornithologist who knew birds better than he knew human beings - ALI PETER JOHN

I needed him today when I was trying to understand the behaviour pattern of the birds outside my window.

Till the lockdown was not a reality, they used to come at six in the morning and fly all around my house chirping and singing and I would make attempts to understand what they were saying or whether they were happy or sad.

They used to be there till the city of mumbai woke up with all its sound and fury and then they would fly away making it very clear that they didn't like the sounds made by human beings and their many gadgets.

And now during this long lockdown, they come to my window a little before six and then they don't leave almost for the whole day, when in the time before the lockdown they used to be out the whole day and comeback to my window only at night.

I knew this change had come over them because of the SHOR SHARABA . I can now hear them talking to each other and even making their own comments about the way we have been reduced to hopeless creatures just because of a nasty virus.

My father, Haroon Ali who was not a very devout muslim used to get wild when the mullas in their masjids used to scream their prayers five times in a day and he used to say ," Will allah not listen to their prayers if they don't make so much of noise?"

And as a strange coincidence, my guru K Abbas also echoed the same feeling almost 50 years later.

We were coming back from the funeral of his friend Inder Raj Anand , the highest paid and enlightened writer of hindi films.

We reached near a masjid when the mullas' voice went right upto the sky and Abbas sahab looked at me and asked," aaj kal yeh allah behra ho gaya hai kya ?"

I have been facing this problem with noise all my life and sometimes I curse the noise around me and ask god if he could make me deaf at least till the noises are dead. I knew it was a difficult prayer for god to answer, but I have still not stop praying for all senseless noise to end...

Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar had just returned after completing her six year term in the Rajya Sabha ,when I asked her why she never spoke in Parliament and she in her sweet and soft voice said," main vahaan kya bolti, wahaan toh itna shor hota hai?" Silence was one of her ways of praying too...

Dilip Kumar was one of the greatest speakers I have ever heard but he never raised volume of his voice and could make a better impact.

He also couldn't stand loud music and whenever there was too much of noise, he used to put both his hands on his ears even if he was in public.

And when music became very loud he had his own way of silencing the music. He stood up and whistled with two of his fingers in his mouth and the noisemakers got the message and there was no noise after that.

The well known painter MF Hussain had the unique record of never making a speech anywhere, not even in the Rajya Sabha.

I once asked him what he did in the Rajya Sabha and asked him why he couldn't speak about the problems of artists and he said," Bola toh wahaan jaata hai jahaan koi sun ne waala ho.

Main toh Rajya Sabha ke sabse peeche ki kursi par baith ke netaaon ke sketches banaata tha".

Dharmendra have been living with all kinds of noise in all his years in the industry, but ever since the lockdown he has moved out of mumbai and shifted to his farmhouse in lonavala where he writes very good poetry in urdu and told me that he now communicates with all the plants , the trees, the river and even the animals on his farm and he says it is a very peaceful experience for him.

His last words when I spoke to him last week were," Meri khaamoshi ko badmizaaji mat samajhna mere doston, aaj kal main chup chaap rehta hoon".

He may come out with a book of his poems written during his stay at his farmhouse, but he says," Khaamoshi se achi kavita koi nahin".

And now I have just come to know how Anu Aggarwal who once known as Aashiqui girl and whose life completely changed after a drastic accident and who has taken to yoga and spirituality seriously said," It is very essential to keep silent for sometime during the day.

There is too much of words and more words which don't mean anything. Sometimes silence can be enriching for both the body and the mind and it can also be a great healer".

I was talking to my childhood friend Jesudas after our childhood end I wanted to say so many things to him and his wife told me that he too was excited and wanted to exchange stories of our childhood, but HE HAD GONE DEAF and his wife told me I could tell her what I wanted to tell him and she would convey the message to him.

I cried that night because we were considered to be the most talkative when were in school and college.

That evening I was confused. I didn't know that whether sound was more important or making the tongue wag more important. I came to the conclusion that a balance of both could be good for the whole world.

EK FILM BANI THI , MANOJ KUMAR KI 'SHOR'. WOH FILM KOI BHI INSAAN EK BAAR DEKHE TOH USSE PATA CHALEGA KI AWAAZ KI KITNI AHMIYAT HAI. AUR USS FILM MEIN YEH BHI DEKHA JAA SAKTA HAI SHOR JO AAJKAL KI SABSE BADI BIMAARI HAI WOH INSAAN KO AUR QUDRAT KO KITNI HAANI PAHUNCHA SAKTI HAI. TOH AGLI BAAR JAB AAP SHOR MACHAAOGE, THODA SA KHAAMOSHI KO BHI BOLNE DIJIYE.