Bells...

Have you ever heard the bell ringing far away in some mandir or a chruch and felt a moment of peace? This keeps happening to me. When I lived in Toronto there was a Russian Orthodox chruch just a house away. We used to hear the bell toll every day. I remember one night I was feeling very blue and lonely and then suddenly I heard the bells toll for the midnight mass. It felt like a signal for me to hang on. From then on I used to wait for the bells to toll. Somehow the bells became my friends in a strange place. There are some fond memories. I remember the first day I saw snowfall, I was standing out there on the footpath, with my face raised towards the sky and snowflakes drifted onto my face. Suddenly the chruch bells started ringing, completing the enchanted moment.

As a kid my favourite part of going to mandirs was to pull at the bell strings and make them swing. I remember when I was a kid most of the times I would not be able to reach to the bells hanging high above the ground, my dad used to pick me up. Even now when I go to mandirs and see some kid being lifted by an elder this memory comes back. It used to be a competition amongst us, the kids, who could reach the bell strings and who could not.

In Kolkata nearby there is a mandir and every afternoon just after lunch when I feel the laziest and am trying to fight the battle against sleep some days suddenly the bell tolls. Somehow this sound has the capacity to wake me up and motivate me like none other. Best part is the peace it brings to me. I have often wondered why, but have not been able to come up with answers.

Apart from that I love the bells that people tie on their pet animals necks. The couple of times I have been to rural India, I loved watching a horde of cows or goats move with the bells hanging from their neck tinkling. When I was im Himachal Pradesh I asked the family from where they had got the bell for their cow. I was pretty shocked when they said that they had picked up the bell from a hardware store! Dont know where I was expecting the bells to be sold. Anyways searched that market and that store and picked up two bells. Of course I do not have cows to tie them on, use them for decorative purposes.

I am sure most of you remember the Austrian cow bell that Kajol had picked up in Vienna and eventually left for SRK in DDLG. Somehow this became a very romantic gesture for me. Indranil all on his own (there was, I swear not even a hint from my side) has promised to buy me an Austrian cow bell and even better take me to Austria to buy it.. I know it is going to be filthy expensive but oh well some things in life are meant to be. Lets see finally when we do make it.

Over the last few years, I have collected a substantial number of decorative bells. But keeping in mind my almost nomadic life, they all are small bells, stuff that I can easily move around with me. One day when I have my own house, I have decided that instead of an electric calling bell, I will install an old brass bell and whoever comes visiting me would have to pull at the strings. Would'nt that be lovely? Some shops have bells attached on their doors, I just love going there. Apart from that you get ear rings with bells attached to them which I love. Indranil teases me saying that cows wear bells and so I, s logically that makes me. Well you can call me a cow all you want, but I am not letting go of these tinkling bell ear rings.

Anubha is another bell crazy person. The piece d' resistance of our barsati ( flat with the huge terrace )was a marvelous Himachali bell that she had picked up to gift a friend but which never reached the friend!

Wind chimes are another favourite of mine and a must have in my house. In my room there are always a couple of wind chimes, on summer nights I love listening to them swinging gently to the breeze while I drift off to sleep. But my brother hates them and says the sound irritates him. yes there are people like this in this world too.