Be present. Has anyone advised you so? It might come as a variant. Be in the moment. Take a deep breath and bring awareness to your surroundings. All of these convey the same message. But have you noticed how hard it is to be present? No matter how hard you try, you will never be able to fully experience the present moment. Your brain is always drifting into unrelated thoughts. If your mind was Philippe Petit walking between the Twin Towers on a high-wire, then you would have never completed the walk but would have fallen off multiple times. Do you realize this chatter stops you from noticing what is around you? For me, this awareness came from through a type of dosa from Davangere. It is called Davangere Benne Dosa.
Davangere is a city in Karnataka, not far away from Bengaluru. Although I have never visited Davangere, I knew this place because of the various educational institutions in this city namely engineering colleges and medical colleges. So when I came to know my Uber driver was from this city, I was eager to publicize my little knowledge. It was then the driver told me about Benne Dosa. Benne Dosa translates to Butter Dosa. But if it is famous, then there should be much more complexity in making it than adding oodles of butter into the batter. If you are now wondering what the connection between the dosa and my awareness of the surrounding is, then I have to tell you about my gym.
My gym is situated on the fourth floor of a building. The gym is not crowded like the one I used to go earlier. The previous gym was on the third floor of a building overlooking the Microsoft offices. I see a pattern here. None of the gyms are located on the ground floor. Not only are the gyms located on the third or the fourth floors, but they are also covered in glasses. As a result when you are using the treadmill or elliptical machine, then you end up watching the traffic and the people in front of the building. The gyms are also located around temptations in the form of restaurants. Luckily, the smell of the food doesn't penetrate into the gym. Imagine the torture if it did. A few days after this conversation with the Uber driver, I noticed the restaurant named Davangere Benne Dosa.
The famous dosa from Davangere was always in front of me. I have passed it countless times. Never once did I see it. Nor did I feel curious about checking it out. When I fail to see what is right in front of my nose, how will I be present? Should I blame it all the incessant chatter in my head? I could try multiple remedies to get rid of this nuisance. But the truth is that I will never never be free of this chatter. Instead, I need to find peace with the chatter and gently bring my mercurial mind back to the present. And that is easier said than done.
Comments
Post a Comment