In an unprecedented global wave, sound completely disappeared from the world, leaving behind a deafening vacuum. The decibels were taken in the dead of night, leaving everyone dazed and utterly uncomfortable. As words like silent raindrops fell, the world was left wondering: where did the constant buzz go and more importantly, when is it coming back?

In a world where the whistling wind and the buzzing bees were overthrown by glowing screens and their eternal hum, we entered uncharted territory. The dreaded stillness stretched on as citizens panicked, straining their ears to hear the steady thrum of their congested cities, the frizzle of a crackling fire, the soft whispers of a Sunday afternoon, all now lost to time. Exiting an era when
urban din was never too far away, shock rippled through the system as we entered a world filled with empty echoes reminiscent of olden days, when serenity and tranquillity was an inevitable law. To say that it was a surprise, however, would be unjust. We all saw the signs, in how every liminal space was stuffed with sound, shutting out every voice outside of our choosing, which ironically came to include our own.

Once a welcome reprieve, silence turned into an unwanted confrontation with oneself, an interruption of the fast-paced lives we led, a symbol of stillness we all turned our nose up at. It's clear that comfort was found cocooned in the cacophony, nestled soft in the centre of all that sound. Personal preference, yet, was of little consequence, as noise pollution was standing to become the second largest environment health concern. Thus, no matter how dearly close we held it, the time had come to face the music.

With brains buffering and tongues tied, the planet accustomed to a new way of life. The global music industry crashed in one fell swoop, taking with it our beloved artists and their infernal concerts as film productions universally adopted closed captions and mimes regained their former glory. Teaching shifted to digital tools, creating understanding without uttering a single word and sign language and braille were embraced as a popular way to communicate informally. Naturally, where it was once sound which was capitalized and bought, it is now the lack thereof that companies are eager to grab up, when silence speaks, even communism takes three steps back. As being outside became the norm, yoga classes rocketed to their highest ever popularity, every retreat was a silent retreat and reeling from the loss of melodies, people rose to the occasion and began truly caring for what they did have left, realizing that every resource is a gift and it is their duty to protect these gifts.

Everything slowed, on a fresh frequency for a time, a moment was all we truly needed. Slowly faded away the cultural devaluation of stillness and the awkwardness that came with it, the discomfort was confronted, and we are all better for it. We learned to sit with our silence, let down our shields of sound and it made all the difference. In the immortal words of Friedrich Nietzsche, "Silence is worse, all truths that are kept silent become poisonous.”

Contradiction on contradiction, Raunak Chopra is constantly somewhere between creating and consuming. An avid reader, earphones always plugged in, she is waiting for someone to throw a cymbal at her head.