Anita Pujari

It is my 3^rd day of SILENCE. A neglected throat infection has led to my voice box being affected…and how! After non-stop chit-chat over the week-end with visiting friends I was rendered speechless (literally) on Monday morning. A visit to the Doctor has ensured that I do not speak at all for 2 more days even if the vocals return.

Now all this speech-less-ness is a first for me and I am going nuts …SILENTLY. It’s scary to find how dependant I am on my ability to speak.You too! Just think about it. Speaking up, speaking to, speaking about, speaking for, speaking down, speaking your mind, speaking nonsense, speaking against, speaking sense… Speaking in the classroom, boardroom, drawing room… Speaking on the phone...could go on but won’t. It hurts. Saying all this SILENTLY really hurts. Suffice to say(silently of-course) that speech matters.

In 2 and half days I have several innovations on the art of “Management minus speech”. The domestic life is manageable. The helps are happy. My switch to instructions in sign language is providing them unexpected entertainment. My son is blissfully unaware of my predicament and thinks I have finally relented and allowed him be adult & irresponsible. He now spends all his time on Facebook , TV, Phone and Fiction(not necessarily in that order) without reprimand from me. My husband is travelling. Had he been here he would have begun believing that I have turned over a new leaf. So on the home front I find everything is running smoothly without me uttering a word. I am shocked & speechless!

At work it is quite another story. I have had to develop a Morse code – different for different people and different needs. Blank phone calls from me are being taken sportingly. My team is all sympathy and why not. All my harebrained ideas and new developments are on hold! I don’t take calls anymore. I hand the phone over to my colleagues who manage matters very well. They sweetly convey messages from the callers wishing me speedy speech-recovery. That well known maxim of sleeping over a problem rather than instant confrontations is proving true with inter-departmental issues. My tolerance and patience with all problems as I face them with stoic “silence” is paying rich dividends. The problems are blowing over! I am shocked & speechless.

SILENCE has been an eye-opener.