Morning Sounds

New Delhi, India
early Sunday morning, May 4, 2008

SOUNDS OF SILENCE
(apologies to Simon & Garfunkel)

(But, not really “silence,” maybe, “sounds of quiet?”
Not really “silence,” not even, “quiet,”
…more like, well…
“sounds of quieter” –
“quieter than the sounds of day or evening”)

A vehicle - only one - drives by, sometimes announced by a short horn beep,
sometimes the more usual obnoxious, blaring.

Residents still try to cool off,
• overhead fans and swamp cooler fans drone on,
• A/C compressor motors start, stop, and feast on scarce electricity.

The wind blows gently, sometimes rustling the tree tops of Tikona Park across the street.

A new building being built on the other side of the Park:
• A back hoe excavates, preparing the site,
• bricks are stacked,
• rebar is dropped, grinders cut it, welders weld it,
• cement trucks deliver concrete…
• any time - day or night!

Upstairs Neighbors – When do they sleep???
• A ball bounces, again and again and again… Do they have a disturbed child? Is one of them an insomniac?…or, do they have a computer with a screen saver?
• The interface between marble and the ever-present-in-India plastic chair creates such unusual noises.

Dog(s) bark, growl, snarl, fight.

“Tap, tap, tap,” “thunk, thunk, thunk,” the security guards’ lathi announce rounds - or boredom – each has his own lathi, each lathi has its own unique, resounding tone.

Pedestrians pass by in full – rarely hushed – conversation.

Holidays, celebrations and/or other auspicious events bring…
• Music, Singing, Talking, Crying, Laughing.
• There’s an 11:00 pm noise ordinance…but….

Call to prayer
• Often resembling – unfortunately – the bleat of a “sick cow,” but sometimes a…
• Younger, melodius voice…[We were spoiled by the voice of the Saket muezzin!].

Pigeons coo and battle for place on the air conditioner; birds chirp and sing.

Laughing in Tikona Park…
• The tormented anguish of mentally disturbed? the groan of exercisers stretching?
• No - laughter - not joyous though, evil, sinister - It’s Laughter-Yoga.

The local Madrassa has a daily children’s early morning observance:
• The younger, more melodius muezzin leads,
• The children joyfully repeat in response.

Venders begin calling out their wares:
• Newspapers, vegetables, fruit, garbage pickup, who knows what else?
• …and so begins a day in New Delhi… CL