Images of beauty

‘The beauty is everywhere around you,’ said the calm voice, ‘but you cannot see!’

While searching for the meaning and the source of beauty, I saw a dream earlier this year (2005).

In my dream, I saw that my home was redone in a Kashmiri style. There were wooden carved windows and a balcony added. In amazement, I flew back to look at my home from a distance. And then I turned and beheld an amazing sight!

My neighbor’s home, I saw, was even more stunning with an etched metal roof styled in the Shangri-La fashion. There was now a tiny lake in the vast veranda of the house, which has three gondolas or shikaras – traditional Viennese and Kashmiri boats, respectively. They, too, were carved exquisitely. One of them looked like an intricate khussa.

I flew father still and saw what used to be the drab house on the corner. This house had the most remarkable make-over: it looked like a gazebo, once again all metal. The top roof was like the crown of a pomegranate upside down. Detailed etching adorned the metallic canopy.

In the unfocused expanse of my vision, I could see that the entire landscape was re-done, re-discovered, and glowing under its new beauty. I could no longer take in that utter beauty without letting out a squeal of joy. In my dream, I heard my voice remarking: ‘I never knew that my mohallah’s houses were so beautiful!’

And then, clear as ever, the voice which had been showing me images of beauty in the past many dreams replied, ‘The beauty is everywhere around you,’ it said in the ever-deep, ever-even tone, ‘but you cannot see!’

I woke up. I woke up from the dream, and I woke up in my life. I opened my eyes and I saw.

Life has never looked the same since.