Blink tales : Some Observations

Blink.

Every time I say it, my eyes obey.

In Gujarati, Palkaro (પળકારો)

—a word with rhythm and softness,

a blink hidden inside this beautiful phonetic sound.

Blinking,

I can feel it in my body and mind as I speak it.

Why do we blink?

Science says: to moisten dry eyes.

But is that all?

Each blink is also a pause, a shutter, a reset.

Think. Blink.

I think because I blink.

Or can we think without blinking?

Sometimes we make decisions in a blink.

Sometimes it takes years and years,

and we never reach a decision,

we never reach a destination.

Sometimes journey pass — in a blink.

A friend once told me:

“We blink because we are tired of this monotonous world,

and we hope that after blinking,

our eyes will open to a better world.”

Maybe each blink is a camera shutter.

We see, we frame, we store.

An infinite reel of moments —click, blink, click…

blinkclick, clickblink, clickblink!.. ink...

Imagine a life without blinking —an endless, uncut take.

Like the film Russian Ark.

Or P.K., the character in the film P.K.,

who doesn’t blink at all.

A long gaze, no relief, no pause.

Blinking is punctuation.

Blinking is a breath in.

When we breathe out,

we open our eyes.

Blinking is breathing — for the eyes, the mind, and our being.

Blinking, a return to self.

For that fraction of a second, the world shuts down,

and I am alone, you are alone,

finding a small piece of peace in our world.

Is sleep conscious blinking,

with vast distances between blinks?

or do we blink in sleep too?

Everyone blinks differently.

Some rarely, some too often.

Each blink — a signature of the self,

a hidden rhythm within us.

In cinema, blinking becomes art.

An actor’s blink must come from within.

A director can’t direct blinks,

but the editor creates rhythm through blinks.

As viewers, we blink less when we are immersed.

When the character blinks, we blink with them —hundreds of strangers,

blinking together in the dark.

Blinking can even become language.

Jean-Dominique Bauby, trapped in his body,

wrote an entire memoir with his left eye

—letter by letter, blink by blink.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly emerged.

He spoke through silence.

He wrote through blinking.

When silence speaks,blinking is its language — its vocabulary.

Each blink, along with expression, conveys more than words.

Who knows this better than Marina Abramović.

The artist who explored silence and conversation

—she spoke with strangers through blinking in a three-month-long performance.

I blink because

I return to myself

—to my own city, street, home, tears, fears.

I return to my own breath.

Now I blink, and you blink.

Soon I will sleep — you will sleep.

Isn’t  a life a blink between birth and death?

References

1 Talk with Arvind Goja - Micro biologist scientist and friend , 2008

2 Walter Murch - Editor and Mentor - In the Blink of An Eye'  , Book 1992

3 Phycologist - Malcom Gladwell -'Blink' Book, 2005

4 Raj Kumar Hirani - P.K. , Film 2014

5 Julian Schnebell Film 'Diving Bell and Butterfly' Film, 2006

6 Jean-Dominique Bauby Memoir - Diving Bell and Butterfly' Book 1992

7 Marina Mabrovic, Artist is Present,  Performance at MOMA, New York  2011

A part of Daily Observations