Sharon Eappen

Keeping Quiet  was the poem that was being taught when this happened. Pablo Neruda wanted his readers to spend some time in silence, meditating and introspecting and it was like Anjana Teacher fulfilled his wish like it was her duty as a Literature teacher. She told us to close our eyes and place our palms on our thighs. I did so, willingly, because I badly wanted to leave my confinement. "Feel yourself breathe" or something like that. I did. She asked us to feel our heartbeat in different parts of our body and I did. My mind was only beginning to grasp the power of this practice. Then she told something a little more vague. "Expand your consciousness" or something like that and I did and it felt like something within me started to inflate. Was I expanding? " Concentrate on the noises around you." I did. The wind was my favourite. I could even hear noises from the school's playground. Then I started to hear birds, just faintly. "By now yo...