Niksen

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In our frantic, target-oriented, and perpetually busy world, doing nothing is not something we would consciously choose. However, if we do, daring to be idle even for a short period proves extremely tough.

I’d been craving a break for days, but every time I tried, something came up. Remembering the blissful peace of the COVID lockdown days, I finally decided to dedicate a full day to complete idleness—a retreat to refresh both my mind and body.

Surprisingly, despite brainstorming various ideas, I couldn’t figure out how to unwind for a whole day of doing nothing. So, I scaled back my ambition, settling for half a day.

Anticipating unavoidable distractions at home, I planned to spend half a day at the nearby Lord Ganesha temple, simply sitting in a quiet corner. To ensure I wouldn’t be tempted by emails or social media, I left my “second better half”—my mobile phone—at home, of course unwillingly.

Today is Sunday, my execution day of inaction. Fully prepared, I set off on my bike towards the temple. As I arrived , the soothing chants of the morning Aarti welcomed me. While the other devotees sought divine blessings for success and prosperity through their prayers, my mission was quite the opposite—a quest for blissful nothingness.

I found a nice corner, got comfy, and just as I was settling in, the temple security guard announced they were about to wash the corridors. All vehicles had to be moved.  As I take my bike outside, he dropped another bombshell: the temple will close in fifteen minutes for painting ahead of the upcoming Ganesh Puja celebration. What a setback! My meticulously planned “Niksen” session was now in jeopardy.

Feeling pretty defeated, while driving  home, I noticed the nearby library was just opening. “Why not give it a shot?” I thought, and walked in. But, just within 15 to 20 minutes, boredom began to set in. I couldn’t help but regret not having my second better half with me. Then, a man reading a newspaper caught my eye. Maybe this would alleviate my boredom, I thought. I seized the paper and eagerly turned to the first page, only to be jolted by a half-page advertisement in the lower corner. The Income Tax Department’s urgent reminder was clear: file your returns by tomorrow, the final deadline. It also warned against fake rumours, emphasising that no extensions would be granted. To my dismay, I had forgotten to file my income tax return. This oversight had completely slipped my mind!

As lunchtime neared and everything seemed normal, a stark red email flashed across my laptop screen, warning of an immediate system shutdown due to a catastrophic software virus. Chaos erupted as everyone scrambled to save their work and power down their computers. It felt reminiscent of COVID lockdown, except this time the virus was spreading to the digital world.

Overwhelmed with panic , I could no longer stay put and rushed home to file my tax return, and just made it on time.

It was around 10 AM on Monday morning, and I arrived at the office feeling subdued, regretting yesterday’s misadventure, but as usual, got on with work.

As lunchtime neared and everything seemed normal, a stark red email flashed across my laptop screen, warning of an immediate system shutdown due to a catastrophic software virus. Chaos erupted as everyone scrambled to save their work and power down their computers. It felt reminiscent of COVID lockdown, except this time the virus was spreading to the digital world. Being paranoid and clouded with crazy thoughts, I even Imagined if this virus could leap from the screen and infect humans.

With the entire network down, our canteen TV became the sole source of external information. It soon became clear that it was a massive global technology outage caused by a faulty software update, disrupting all the sectors all over the world. However, When the TV flashed news of airline systems crashing, showing nightmares for passengers at the airport, my anxiety aggravated. Since our office building was directly in the landing path for all planes approaching Mumbai airport, I worried that planes might fall from the sky. I rushed to the canteen’s wide glass windows, nervously looking at the sky for any signs of planes falling. Fortunately, the sky was clear—what a great relief!

With no quick fix in sight for this widespread tech disaster, our management eventually declared a company holiday. While all my colleagues prepared to leave the office, I also decided to pack my laptop bag to leave for home. Just as I reached the office exit door and was about to swipe my access card, the idea of ” Niksen” suddenly came to mind. Why not use this unexpected downtime to resume my ” Niksen ” experiment? With no distractions and technology silenced, I returned to my cabin, ready to embrace idleness once more. Thank you.

So, let’s all embrace a bit of Niksen in our lives for some much-needed mental and physical refreshment. Just remember, while intentional idleness is fantastic, too much of it might lead to procrastination. Enjoy your reading!

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4 Responses on this post

  1. Your blog is a wonderful resource for anyone looking to slow down and relax. I’ll definitely attempt this 😁

  2. Very interesting story narrated nicely. The concept of Niksen is quite useful to rejuvenate your mind and body periodically. Enjoyed the storey, keep writing!