When your day has already started off on a bad note and gets
increasingly frustrating as the hours pass, it is easy enough to give in and
gripe. Things go wrong. They keep going wrong. There seems not much hope that
things will suddenly begin to go smoothly. I was in a lousy mood. The
unseasonal heat and my crazy hormones didn’t help either. I decided to forget
about doing anything or thinking about the ever-present problems – at least for
a while (that’s a very tough task for me normally) and engage my mind in
something different. So I stopped tugging at my wayward locks, stopped worrying
my lower lip, stopped looking at my phone aimlessly for divine intervention and
let my mind wander for a while. I then decided to write about something that
had caught my interest.
The item in question was a link sent by a friend yesterday –
someone who occasionally sends me interesting pieces of music or well-written
articles. It was a video – a few words preceded it in which the main characters
were introduced as Marina Abramovic and Ulay. They were once in an intense
relationship that apparently petered out as relationships are wont to do.
Intensity after all comes with a steep emotional price tag attached. When they
decided to part ways, they did so dramatically as befitted the performance
artists they happened to be. They each walked the Great Wall of China from either
end till they met in the middle for a final hug goodbye. They never saw each other
again.
The video shows glimpses of Marina performing her show
titled ‘The Artist is Present’ at the Museum of Modern Art. The show was her
longest performance running from March to May of 2010. She sat day in and day
out in a little square area facing, across a simple table, a member of the
audience. She would spend a minute simply gazing at the other person. No
talking or any other sort of communication was allowed. This happened
continuously. One day without her prior knowledge, in walked Ulay who sat down
opposite her as she waited with closed eyes to behold her next audience member.
She opens her eyes to find her former lover sitting across with a hesitant
smile. Her gaze grows soft and luminous as her eyes fill with tears. His face
lights up with the same glow. The silence between them filled with the million
memories a love of immense depth is bound to leave behind. She leans over
slowly to grasp his hands. After decades, they meet again in the middle. She moves
back as the minute runs its course and he gets up slowly, his eyes still on
hers as he walks away.
I loved the video. It was simple. It was short. It was
beautiful. Relationships do not last forever. One is fortunate to find love
even fleetingly in a life that may not always give you chances for happiness. If
you cannot afford the price tag on that intensity, it is better to walk away
rather than let the relationship sour so much even your memories become
tainted. Very rarely perhaps you get to revisit that feeling even if it is only
for a minute. In the video, the transformation on that tired, ageing yet
beautiful face was sublime. After Ulay left, the smile Marina bestowed on the
next participant was radiant. The performance was complete. I watched it many
times for the unadorned beauty of true emotion. No masks, no lies, no
bitterness clouded that moment of pure love.
As usual I feel lighter after writing down words that
probably hold meaning for no one else. My words are for myself alone, being the
tangible wanderings of a mind overloaded with thoughts from which there is
never any escape. The good part of letting your mind wander however is that
when you get back to the task at hand, you do so refreshed and restored – its almost
like taking a walk on a breezy summer evening...
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