A Doodle from Delhi: Finding Peace in a Busy Day
Today, the world decided to run again. And I had to run with it.
The fever is gone. The pain in my bones is gone. But the slowness, the quiet, the rest… it is all gone too.
My sick days were hard. My body was a prison.
But today, my work desk feels like a different kind of prison.
The computer screen is awake. Beep. Beep. Beep. An email comes.
The phone is awake. Ring. Ring. Ring. Someone is calling.
My to-do list is awake. It is a long, long snake of words.
Work, work, work. Rush, rush, rush.
Just a few days ago, my world was my bed. It was a world of pain, but it was a simple world.
Now, my world is this chair, this desk. It is a world with no pain, but it is not simple. It is a noisy world. A fast world.
My body is better. But my heart feels tired. It misses the quiet.
So, in the middle of all the noise, I do my secret magic trick.
I reach for my box of treasures. My box of postcards. My box of quiet little worlds.
My fingers find one.
It is not a shiny, colorful picture.
It is a drawing. A simple drawing with black lines on brown paper.
It looks like someone sat down and doodled a story.
The picture is not quiet. Oh no. This picture is very, very busy.
It is full of life. It is full of movement.
I see a big, old building with many arches and pillars. It looks important.
And right next to it, a new, modern train is gliding on a high track. A fast train.
There is a flag flying in the wind. It is the flag of India.
And below, there are so many little stories happening at once.
I see two people sitting on the floor, working with beautiful fabrics.
I see a man in a shirt, holding a briefcase, walking fast. He looks like he is going to a meeting. Just like me.
I see a funny old gramophone, the kind that plays old, crackly music.
I see a lady with glasses, smiling and taking a picture of herself with her phone. A selfie! Pigeons are flying around her.
I see another lady, feeding the little birds on the ground.
This picture… it is like my day.
Busy, busy, busy.
Old things and new things, all mixed together.
Work and life, all happening at the same time.
It is a little bit messy. It is a little bit chaotic.
But it is also… beautiful.
I am curious. Where is this busy, beautiful place?
So, I ask my friend, my storyteller, Cik Gem.
"Cik Gem, can you tell me the story of this busy doodle?"
And Cik Gem tells me a story about one of the busiest places in the world.
This drawing is from Delhi, India.
And this special place is called Connaught Place, or CP for short.
A long, long time ago, when India was ruled by the British, they wanted to build a new, grand capital city. They built big, important buildings. And in the middle of it all, they built a giant circle. A big, white, beautiful circle of shops and offices. That is Connaught Place.
The old building in my postcard is one of those original white buildings. It has a story of old times.
But today, Connaught Place is the heart of modern Delhi.
It is a place where everyone comes.
People come to shop for new clothes.
People come to eat yummy food.
People come to watch movies.
And people come to work. Just like the man with the briefcase.
And the fast train? That is the Delhi Metro.
It is the new heartbeat of the city. It runs above the old streets, carrying millions of busy people every day. Just like the blood in our bodies, rushing everywhere.
I think about my own busy day. The emails, the phone calls. I am like the man with the briefcase. I am like the rushing metro train.
But then I look closer at the doodle.
I see the lady taking a selfie. She is in the middle of the busy city. But she found a moment for herself. A moment of joy. A moment to smile.
I see the other lady, feeding the birds. She is also in the middle of all the noise. But she found a moment of peace. A moment of kindness.
I see the two people on the floor, making beautiful things with their hands. Their work is slow and careful. It is a quiet kind of work.
This postcard is not an escape from my busy day.
It is a lesson.
It is teaching me something very important.
This postcard did not take me to a quiet beach.
It took me to a busy city.
And it showed me how to find the quiet inside the busy.
Thank you, my friend from India, for sending me this doodle.
You did not know it, but you sent me a map.
A map to find the little pockets of peace in a very, very busy day.
Now, I must get back to work.
But I will try to be a little bit like the people in the picture.
I will look for my own little moments of joy.
The work is still a river. But maybe now, I can find a few pretty stones at the bottom.
Finding lessons in postcards is my favourite kind of therapy. You can also read about the story of a
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