Remember the acoustic feel of the Simon & Garfunkel hit of the ‘60s? The compelling music draws you to it and makes you listen again... and in silence. Silence is related to in many ways and forms. For most silence is often correlated with solace, stillness, unhappiness and punishment and for some it is a way to seek enlightenment and self-realization. The world we live in continually moves towards noise so much so that it’s deemed pollution. In fact the silence of one person threatens the peaceful existence of the society. Even the observation of silence at unfortunate events becomes discomforting to many. The truth is that both Silence and the absence of it can be accepted only intermittently, the continuity creates a disturbance.
Try walking into a Bahai faith temple and the ubiquitous silence in the hall reveals itself differently, the mind apprehends the vacuum and the changed environment makes you think – here lips are motionless but the thoughts reverberate inside your cerebellum. The vow of silence by Anna Hazare recently created more than the combined cacophony of imposing opponents. The silent approach to the execution noose by Saddam Hussein left people thinking. The “Silence of the Lambs” is actually about the numbness of not being able to scream or cry oneself in a moment where you would want to. Two mute people use the medium of hands and expressions to speak to each other in existence of silence. Thus the sound inherent in the silence becomes the noise and challenges the very notion of “Silence”.
Silence belies the meaning and the reason behind it. You may be attracted to silence but once you are subjected to the state of silence you would probably scream out loud. You shut off the idiot box because you can’t tolerate the rambling on a channel, only to switch it on again when silence engulfs you. You want silence around at your workplace, but the sudden lack of noise as you walk in over to your desk makes you think “Is something wrong around here?” Silence becomes some thing that we long for but we don’t know what to do with, much like the dog that chases each passing car.
…And why so serious?! While you may judge if silence is good or bad, wanted or unwanted, it actually depends on the situation and the subject. Does a stock broker really want silence on the trade floor? His life and wage depends on the incessant clangor, silence would mean a Black Friday!! Music too inherently depends on silence in some form or another to distinguish other periods of sound and allow dynamics, melodies and rhythms to have greater impact. Does it imply that silence too is a sound? Think aloud in your silence….
