THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT!

This is not the corny title of a Sidney Sheldon spoof, nor is it a sequel to the original. It is as simple as it sounds...the other side of midnight... Call it what you may, "dawn", "sunrise", "early morning" or whatever else may suit your fancy. To me, it is a time of sweet succour.

If I sound repititive, it is owing to the fact that I give such a lot of importance to the wee hours of the morning! The time of day, which most people proclaim , is the most productive. Personally, I believe it is the most beautiful time of the day. Before we digress, or misunderstand each other, I am most enamoured with it, precisely because I spend most of it sleeping! In those last few moments of stupor, when the morning sun beckons us all, the urge to pull on the quilt and sink into a few more stolen moments of obilivion gives me the biggest rush of all. This is the most tangible feeling of spiritualism that I shall ever achieve, in fact the only one that I want to.

Mistake me not! There are those (unfortunate) folks who revel in their new-found early-morning productivity. I have the privilege to share my humble lodgings with such an inspired soul. He thrives on rising bright and early and takes immense pleasure in his early morning chores. I am aghast! I bemoan the fact that those blessed few moments of early morning bliss are so contemplated, derided and then cast aside! It is an unspoken pact, tenuous yet permanent, wherein we let each other be. There have been occassions when I have peeked out from my cushioned, quilted, comfortable haze to see this enlightened soul questioning the lethargy that engulfs my waking(literally) hours. I have listened to discourses on the twittering of birds, the blissful sunrise and the unadulterated healing powers of the wind god, all in an attempt to help me awaken(sigh) to the merits of rising early!

I am nocturnal! I say that unabashedly, gleefully and with some amount of vanity too! I have grown up to stories like Cinderella where the midnight hours bring disaster if little girls and budding princesses are not in bed. There must be a valid reason for this element of caution in this fairy tale. If the fairy godmother did not deem it fit that her god daughter should stay up till the wee hours of the morning, she must have had a valid reason for doing so!

In the last few moments before mortal compulsions drive me out of bed, I meet my maker! I meet him in the sense of serenity that engulfs me in my personal space, in the languour that makes me defenseless against the world and enables me to relish it, in the sun-kissed patterns that draw visions across my bedroom floor and in snuggling into the covers when a peek at the clock gives me a few more minutes of slumberous solitude.

We amass wealth, build palatial homes, spare no expense in the decor and make our personal living spaces as comfortable as possible. Then we contradict all that we have done thus far, by spending minimal time enjoying these worldly comforts. I love all the trappings that allow me to to pamper myself. And then, sleeping my worldly worries off is therapeutic.

On the other side of midnight, a new day takes shape, with a sense of purpose, with new promises and with everything to offer. On the other side of midnight, the world is mine for the taking, awaiting my moves and beckoning me to give it all I have. On the other side of midnight though, the world can wait. Its my world and I shall decide when to meet it. On my own terms, in my own time , with a spring in my step and a song in my heart...

On the other side of midnight, the sun awaits my approval. On the other side of midnight, I rise and shine and the world welcomes me. I let in the sunshine, welcome the wind god and with heavy lidded bliss, I am the mistress of all that I see. On the other side of midnight, I dream anew. I awaken to life, love and hope. With the last embers of sleep that I dispel, I am replete. On the other side of midnight, a new world is at my feet!