5 everyday miracles that bring me joy

1) That inspired moment: That little spark arrives and suddenly changes everything. You are staring at a blank page on a computer screen, trying to fill it up with thoughts and words. You labour, write, rewrite. And, then, suddenly it happens: sentences come out, exactly as you want and fill up the screen — making you immensely happy.

Everyday creativity doesn’t have to be a serious thing: I keep a pair of pliers in my box of earrings. I make, break, change, reassemble my earrings. Sometimes for hours — at the end of a hectic workday, in the middle of the night. And I get immense joy out of making something new.

What explains those inspired moments? I have no answer.

2) Laughing unnecessarily: Scientists say we actually don’t know why we laugh but we do it a lot — seven times in every 10 minutes of conversation. Why do we laugh? Jokes and humour, you thought? Think again.

We laugh the most because we are with people, they say. It’s a social emotion. Laughter is contagious and it is also therapeutic. I know that I often laugh, sometimes unnecessarily. But when I laugh, I notice the way faces around me start changing — lips tilting up, eyes crinkling. That’s a very special feeling that stays with me every day. Laughter is a miracle humans are blessed with.

Did you know that only mammals can laugh? I can tell when dogs laugh. Apparently rats laugh, too. Whew!

3) Kind without reason: She keeps giving me things — big and small — without reason. She is years junior to me. I don’t know her too well. Just that, she is the mother of a little girl, has a hectic life, takes care of a lot of people. I also know that I haven’t done anything special for her.

Why does she bring gifts to me? When I ask her, she says: “Just.” Bless her for being “just”.

I have encountered many such random acts of kindness: a smile from a stranger, a sweet word, a little gesture, an unexpected gift. I still have the little stone statue I once received from a shop-keeper in one of those gullies in Varanasi. And I am still not sure why I got it.

4) Secret of plants: I have Allamanda plants at home. Also called Golden Trumpet, they burst into sunny trumpet-shaped blossoms, when happy. And they start shedding leaves when sad or anxious. Sounds odd?

When Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird wrote The Secret Life of Plants in 1973, narrating plant emotions, most botanists pooh-poohed them. But new research shows that plants may lack brains but they do possess a sophisticated calcium-based signalling network in their cells (Nature 2014). They not only remember when you touch them, they are sensitive to risks and can make incredible decisions for survival (Oxford University, 2016).

Intelligent plants: isn’t that a miracle?

5) The morning light: I am working through the night to finish a piece of work and then inevitably, inexorably, at a particular time the darkness outside starts fading: morning arrives. I curse the light that is so relentless, unstoppable, unavoidable and without a care for my deadline. But it’s nothing short of a miracle, come to think of it.

The morning light tells me: move on, your time is up. It also tells me: do well, whatever you do, because it never fails to turn up, never gets delayed, never falls sick. No shortchange ever.

It’s older to me by 4.5 billion years. And it’ll stay after me for another five billion years. Yet it’s so new every day.