Yesterday, while waiting for a train at one of New York's subway stations, I heard a girl playing a violin. As she played, she also swayed to a hula hoop... a soft, slow dance that was beautiful to watch. The music she played was a sad tune... it reminded me of painful thoughts. It was a hauntingly beautiful but melancholic experience... a juxtaposition of the soft, slow music with the ruthless clash of metal trains against the tracks. Its strange when you are just going about your day... a mundane, routine day... and you suddenly come across something which is seemingly random... but which leaves a lasting impact on you.
It was a tune which brings back everything you regret in life... the person you didn't love enough or the person you loved too much, an experience that you should have pursued but somehow let go of, the wasted times, the risks you did not take, people that you'll never meet again. In a span of fifteen minutes, I was transported to a different place, a place that is haunted by regrets. She continued playing, completely unaware of the effect of her music. The trains continued to come and go... like life flashing past. And suddenly I felt like I had to be at a million different places doing a million different things. That if I did not, I would miss out on many more things.
Of course, I never did leave the platform. I continued to wait for my train, continued glancing at my phone, tapping all the million different social apps that professed to make me feel more connected. And in that moment I felt completely disconnected as if I was watching myself sitting at that platform. Crowds of people continued their day around me, moving in and out of trains in a hurried frenzy. Nobody stopped to listen to her music and yet she continued... swaying and playing.
My train finally arrived and I left that station, continued that random day till it ended. Only to be followed by another random day. I forgot what station it was, I forgot what that girl was wearing, even what she was playing. What I did not forget was the way that music made me feel... if only for fifteen short minutes. It made me feel regrets that I didn't know even know I had. For those few minutes, I would always remember you... stranger with the melancholic music!
It was a tune which brings back everything you regret in life... the person you didn't love enough or the person you loved too much, an experience that you should have pursued but somehow let go of, the wasted times, the risks you did not take, people that you'll never meet again. In a span of fifteen minutes, I was transported to a different place, a place that is haunted by regrets. She continued playing, completely unaware of the effect of her music. The trains continued to come and go... like life flashing past. And suddenly I felt like I had to be at a million different places doing a million different things. That if I did not, I would miss out on many more things.
Of course, I never did leave the platform. I continued to wait for my train, continued glancing at my phone, tapping all the million different social apps that professed to make me feel more connected. And in that moment I felt completely disconnected as if I was watching myself sitting at that platform. Crowds of people continued their day around me, moving in and out of trains in a hurried frenzy. Nobody stopped to listen to her music and yet she continued... swaying and playing.
My train finally arrived and I left that station, continued that random day till it ended. Only to be followed by another random day. I forgot what station it was, I forgot what that girl was wearing, even what she was playing. What I did not forget was the way that music made me feel... if only for fifteen short minutes. It made me feel regrets that I didn't know even know I had. For those few minutes, I would always remember you... stranger with the melancholic music!
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