The Nirvana of Shaving

Duality seems to be the essence of what I am. I am… and I am not. Cryptic, but leads to a deeper truth. If only you can pause to consider. But time… so scarce… no question of pausing! So we all race to the next Mirage, in search of the elusive Nirvana. And I stumbled upon it in the bathroom!

Finders Keepers. Hard Luck!

But you and I, we are all one! Quantum Physics… Maya… whichever way you choose to look at it. So I’ll solve this little conundrum for you.

Come on, it’s not a secret. We all knew it when we were little. Closeness to the source seems to be inversely proportional to the size we attain. Within and without. The little room can be a magical place. Here, you must confront the mirror; especially when you have to shave. You look in, and the years peer out. The abrasions, the wrinkles and the bumps. Beaten down by the weather of time. You wish you could shave away the years as easily as you can remove your stubble.

And then... you realize, you can. Well, at least I did.

My cell-phone on top of the mirror. Lilting strains of Arkenstone’s Atlantis emanation from its tiny speakers and filling up the little space. The blades working furiously in their daily debilitating fight against nature... Much like us, incidentally. And suddenly, surrounded by music, I find my little magic! An epiphany of sorts. Holding the brush under the gushing water, I witness a fountain of Joy. Bubbles! Thousands of them! Jostling. Sparkling. Bubbling in an effervescent frenzy! And a liquid chain mail cascading down my hand. I hold my other hand under the waterfall. But it could hardly hope to contain my fountain of Joy. Millions of liquid scales donned the mantle of a mermaid; embraced the opposition and went on its merry way with nary a backward glance...

The frothing bubbles spoke the language of life... And the hundreds of reflecting rainbows splashed colours on the greyness of my mind. I look up at the mirror again. Steamed up and barely translucent. I brush away the condensation. And a new smiling Me peers back from behind a dewy curtain. I say Hi. And a veil lifts somewhere in the deepest recesses of my brain. The world is fresh again.

And my weary mind, for a few precious seconds, got a glimpse through its lost childhood eyes... my personal Atlantis.