Twilight...

Twilight, that brief yet intensely haunting time of the day, makes me go through a mixture of emotions every single time I watch it.

Twilight brings back childhood memories of visits to temples at my hometown in Kerala. Though I am not religious per se, I absolutely love visiting these temples. It’s an experience I hold dearest to my heart. The serenity of the temple yard, the warm smell of the burning oil lamps, the pathways of cool stone, the moist sand, the subtle fragrance of sandalwood paste and flowers wrapped in a banana leaf, the mystical chime of the temple bell, the burning camphor, the sight of bird flocks going back to their resting places, the slow beats of the hand-drum…the picture it paints in my mind never fails to make me emotional.

Twilight reminds me of the days I sat with my grand-parents and cousins at the doorway of our ancestral home, munching on fried snacks, listening to the chirps of the crickets in the garden get louder. Of the times we sat there and watched the huge green hills across the road vanish into the darkness of the night with the sound of raindrops falling off leaves after a heavy rainfall in the evening.

Twilight, for me, is the most spiritual time of the day. It’s a time when I feel the desire to be utterly silent, introspect, reminisce, sit back and look at life.