"A slow unraveling of narratives…" I had heard this about Adalaj once. But never paid much attention to the wise person at that time. But his words echoed silently as I stepped onto a bare stone platform overlooking the entrance to the stepped wells.
Step by step as I climb down the words take form… a form of yellow stone leading to a chasm of infinity. Infinity of beauty carved in yellow stone.
I first reach the threshold. Even though its not a traditional threshold, its not a rectangular opening which opens onto something. No, that it definitely is not. But I call it a threshold. Even though I am some way well inside the well. Yet it seems like a threshold, simply because it frames the entire space… or as the wise man would like to call… it frames the entire narrative. It looks like a grand start of a story book. Not a ‘once upon a time’ start. Allow me to rephrase that. It’s a ‘once upon a timeless time’.
In one glance I am able to fathom the entire space and there is a new expression that starts ringing in my mind. ‘Windows to infinity’.
Yes, that’s what I see as I impulsively start clicking away… I want to take them all in, when and where else will I get a chance to capture infinity? When else will I be able to capture timelessness in time. Paradoxical yet true.
And then there are the windows… stretching infinitely. Offering me glimpses through each of them… and miraculously even though all of them look the same they offer me different views… the closer I get to one the more infinity tries to stretch beyond.
Its everywhere. Even as I journey downwards, closer to the bottom the harsh sun trickles down to black shadows and an eerie silence. The echoes of voices from above seem to get lost somewhere within this infinity. As I go down I see multiple layers of infinity. There are windows right in front of me on each level stretching into the horizontal beyond and forever. Then as I look down more windows go vertically down giving me a feeling of being suspended in space… suspended within infinity.
I feel like an intruder… peeping through windows… trying to look for things that haven’t been meant for me to see… but rather for people from another time and place. Perhaps for the queens of adalaj and their maids and courtesans of a long forgotten court… laughing and giggling playfully as they run about and get enveloped by this infinity while savoring the cool water on their bodies on a hot day. for them yes, but not for me. Its not for me, yet I know I am very much a part of this space. I am an intruder, I know it, yet I feel at peace with myself. I feel at home within this play of light and shadow and infinity. I feel at home because like the queens, courtesans and maids even i am getting enveloped with this infinity. I am an intruder yet it has lovingly embraced me. Offering me all its mysteries and glimpses.
I look up at the sunlit sky. The biggest intruder of us all. It comes in everyday…first glimpses then peeps in then slowly weaves its way in sweeping though every nook and corner and perhaps feeling a little exasperated when it cant reach the end of the dark infinity. I know it hasn’t reached. I can see the cool dark infinity stretching forever beyond the reaches of the sun. smiling a mysterious bewitching smile. A smile that entices you to move towards it wanting to explore it and yet leaves you wondering what the mystery is all about.
That’s the game of infinity and the sun. they play it everyday. And today, I am a part of it. Watching them play through windows. Above me is the sunlit sky which is bright yet it again is infinite. And below me is solid stone stretching into nothing. Dark and infinite. And I am dangling in the paradox..
I am at the very bottom. And not surprisingly once again the bottom is not really the end. Now the solid infinity has flown away into a limitless pool of water. I cant see limits of its depth. Here infinity has the final laugh. I cant explore it anymore. I can just sit back and look at it and then look at it stretching from the endless bottom to the very top. And then I laugh along. Because way above beyond me is the sky… caged up behind bars… trying unsuccessfully to get in and failing in every attempt. In the end reduced to a mere spectator.
Infinity has won its game afterall.
Step by step as I climb down the words take form… a form of yellow stone leading to a chasm of infinity. Infinity of beauty carved in yellow stone.
I first reach the threshold. Even though its not a traditional threshold, its not a rectangular opening which opens onto something. No, that it definitely is not. But I call it a threshold. Even though I am some way well inside the well. Yet it seems like a threshold, simply because it frames the entire space… or as the wise man would like to call… it frames the entire narrative. It looks like a grand start of a story book. Not a ‘once upon a time’ start. Allow me to rephrase that. It’s a ‘once upon a timeless time’.
In one glance I am able to fathom the entire space and there is a new expression that starts ringing in my mind. ‘Windows to infinity’.
Yes, that’s what I see as I impulsively start clicking away… I want to take them all in, when and where else will I get a chance to capture infinity? When else will I be able to capture timelessness in time. Paradoxical yet true.
And then there are the windows… stretching infinitely. Offering me glimpses through each of them… and miraculously even though all of them look the same they offer me different views… the closer I get to one the more infinity tries to stretch beyond.
Its everywhere. Even as I journey downwards, closer to the bottom the harsh sun trickles down to black shadows and an eerie silence. The echoes of voices from above seem to get lost somewhere within this infinity. As I go down I see multiple layers of infinity. There are windows right in front of me on each level stretching into the horizontal beyond and forever. Then as I look down more windows go vertically down giving me a feeling of being suspended in space… suspended within infinity.
I feel like an intruder… peeping through windows… trying to look for things that haven’t been meant for me to see… but rather for people from another time and place. Perhaps for the queens of adalaj and their maids and courtesans of a long forgotten court… laughing and giggling playfully as they run about and get enveloped by this infinity while savoring the cool water on their bodies on a hot day. for them yes, but not for me. Its not for me, yet I know I am very much a part of this space. I am an intruder, I know it, yet I feel at peace with myself. I feel at home within this play of light and shadow and infinity. I feel at home because like the queens, courtesans and maids even i am getting enveloped with this infinity. I am an intruder yet it has lovingly embraced me. Offering me all its mysteries and glimpses.
I look up at the sunlit sky. The biggest intruder of us all. It comes in everyday…first glimpses then peeps in then slowly weaves its way in sweeping though every nook and corner and perhaps feeling a little exasperated when it cant reach the end of the dark infinity. I know it hasn’t reached. I can see the cool dark infinity stretching forever beyond the reaches of the sun. smiling a mysterious bewitching smile. A smile that entices you to move towards it wanting to explore it and yet leaves you wondering what the mystery is all about.
That’s the game of infinity and the sun. they play it everyday. And today, I am a part of it. Watching them play through windows. Above me is the sunlit sky which is bright yet it again is infinite. And below me is solid stone stretching into nothing. Dark and infinite. And I am dangling in the paradox..
I am at the very bottom. And not surprisingly once again the bottom is not really the end. Now the solid infinity has flown away into a limitless pool of water. I cant see limits of its depth. Here infinity has the final laugh. I cant explore it anymore. I can just sit back and look at it and then look at it stretching from the endless bottom to the very top. And then I laugh along. Because way above beyond me is the sky… caged up behind bars… trying unsuccessfully to get in and failing in every attempt. In the end reduced to a mere spectator.
Infinity has won its game afterall.
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