The City Belonged To Me @ 5:30AM!
The city was asleep! Holding breath in between the dreams and reality! An hour where even time feels like it’s deciding whether to move forward.
That day I chased the quiet! I chased the whisper! Something real — without people, without noise, without plan!
I was returning! No jacket. No purpose. Just me and the hum of the winds.
Shops closed. Shutters waving the graffitis. Windows dark. The only thing that was half awake was the Sun; peeking behind the clouds, thinking maybe 5 more minutes. And me!
I walked on the known streets. My footsteps were the only sound echoing. It felt like being the only page being read in a closed book. And for once, I didn’t run. For once, there were no people brushing shoulders, no tyres crushing the roads, no sprinting or speak loudly. I stood in the middle of the road. No one yelled ‘watch out’. I smiled. Not the kind for photos or when someone asks ‘How are you?’, but a softer kind! Like I was smiling at someone I haven’t seen in a very long long time.
And then it hit me! That “someone” was me! The girl I was before the deadlines, the responsibilities, the expectations. Before the heartbreaks and constant smiling. She was there — grinning, joyful and brimming with hope. The one who used to believe in enjoying her own company, finding happiness in small things.
It felt like meeting a lost lover. But this time, the “love” was for ourself! Oh boy, how could I forget how beautiful that is? We talk about companionship, about finding someone who “gets” us. But sometimes the person we’re waiting for is already here — we just forget how to look!
I kept on walking, crossing roads, watching birds chatter, admiring the Sun quietly saying a silent “good morning”. I saw the clouds writing songs, making me sit for sometime, carving out stories. I took a deep breath! And I didn’t have to be anything.
That hour — that eerily, quiet, slow hour — was mine. And in it, I was present. No past and no future! Just the moment! Then I remembered how important it is to love myself. To love my own silence, my own noises, my own messiness. Because that’s what makes me me. The girl who wakes up early just to see the world in it’s wake.
The city stirred. A bus passed. A shutter creaked open. A dog barked. The spell lifted. The city was waking up, and I reached my home. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to experience the same again — maybe this happens once. A magic only when you need it!
But if you ever get a chance. Walk your city in dawn.
There is a version of you — waiting for you— who was long forgotten.
A reminder that you’re your own beginning.
You’re your own dream.
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