…what if bonhomie is with a stranger whom you have never met?
I chanced upon a young violin instrumentalist and singer in YouTube. Her magic with hands and soothing voice had a mesmerising effect on me. I was hooked on her melodious and eclectic tunes for days. A sense of Bonhomie germinated with her. Perhaps music has that mystic element to foster such connections. Last years death of Sri. SPB was a personal low where for two weeks his memories lingered, his voice played in loop.
So can I make a hypothesis Bonhomie can be fostered with strangers, without talking, without seeing, if the other one makes you completely forget yourself and you get lost in the throes of self-meditative states. Here I need to make clear distinction between meditation and meditativeness. Meditation is an act of doing something to get somewhere, meditativeness is an involuntary state where we should slip in effortlessly. That space where we are there, but we are not there — a continuum where there is space between me, my body & my mind. And music is a great force to help in transcending to that space and the musician is that provocateur channelising us into that realm.
But Bonhomie doesn’t stop there, I feel Bonhomie thrives if a deep sense of reverence occurs to the other one. A sense of inclusiveness where the other person is completely accepted for who they are. From my childhood days I remember seeing the Last ruler of Travancore Kingdom Sri Chitra Thirunal Balarama Varma.
I grew up around the great Padmanabha Swamy temple and as the custodian of the temple all of us in that place had a very deep veneration for this man. And he has done some great things in life whose rewards the State of Kerala is still reaping. Such was my sense attachment to this man, whom I have seen only in distances, that the day of his death is still etched in my eyes, visiting his mortal remains as a 12 year old to pay my last obeisance is a sight I can never forget. Here is a stranger who stuck a chord, who was in Bonhomie with me. A man who I have seen, never known, never talked. Just his presence was enough to kindle this emotions. Perhaps he had that gaiety and I had that unhindered inclusiveness for him within me.
Let there be more Bonhomie-ness around :)
