Bindi - The Center Of My Universe

Sounds too Indian of a name right!!! Well, Yes, it is. While all my folks with Indian origin will quite relate to it like I do, let me help those friends who might happen to read this overseas if somehow this blog reaches you and I manage to be any decent at expressing myself.

There is a lot to its history but let me simplify it to you for a better understanding. Bindi originates from a Sanskrit word "Bindu" which signifies a dot or a focal point. Much like a "Full stop" used at the end of a sentence to complete it, now that we have understood the root of it, Similarly Bindi is more of an ornamental form of this dot worn on the forehead by almost every woman in India at some phase or another of her life. It completes the look they say! Now you got it, Isn't it?

While you have your sources that would help the wings of your imagination, let me help you with mine. For me it has always been a beautiful, small, red-colored circular dab on my mother's forehead at the center of her eyebrows placed at exactly the correct distance and angle (if that makes any sense) from every corner of the forehead and carried with utmost grace.

Growing up one of the fondest memory of my mom happens to be the time when she gets ready in front of the mirror every morning. A crisp, well-pleated Saree(an Indian attire), semi-dried dark brown locks tied in a short ponytail secured with a back pin, face all groomed up and the look completed by Sindoor(vermilion) at the center of her hairline and a red Bindi. And trust me it really does ties up the Indian look and can change the entire game of dressing up. I would give hours and hours to watch her getting ready. My mom would always wake up before me and I loved waking up to this visual whenever I had a few minutes to myself in the morning. This might be weird for few but I am sure many will go back to those times because something just can’t be taken off you no matter how old you grow. It brings in me a lot of tranquility when I think of it.

Give a moment and think of something that brings you peace, something that last made you feel or still does makes you feel that Life is a good place to be!

I was a very intellectual kid and I would always think that it’s her bindi that makes her so calm. It is because of this bindi that she has a smile on her face the entire day. Tons of chores from the minute she is up till the time she puts herself to bed and yet perfect in each and everything that she does. Not a single line of stress on the forehead, though she has an amazing rock-solid life partner who supports her like nothing else matters to him in this world. Yet it’s not easy. Ever since I can remember I had this habit of sleeping next to her, I still do. So close that I could feel the softness of her skin and the warmth when she used to wrap her arms around me. And the next morning as she already had woken up before me I used to find her bindi which would come off in her sleep on her little pillow next to me. I still see her bindi on almost all the possible mirrors of my house. It brings a strange smile on my face which I have never really understood why! Maybe it tells of her presence that makes me happy and puts me at ease.

That Bindi reminds me of all her love, that I have nothing to compare to but just for the lack of a better a phrase as pure as the first air you breathe when you are surrounded by nature, it reminds me of the grin on her face when she is the happiest, it reminds me of all the tears she holds within in front of me when I fall weak, it reminds me of all the patience she carries, it reminds me of all the sacrifices she has made, it reminds me of every minute detail she shares everyday important for a human's sanity and survival, it reminds me how important it is to speak your mind and heart, it reminds me how selfless one can be, it reminds me of how grounded one can be, it reminds me of how one can keep doing for people while not expecting a thing in return, it reminds me of how powerful yet so simple one can be.

Little did I know that years later I would end up being all of this as they rightly say “The apple doesn’t falls far from the tree” and little did I know that I would actually find out the reason why bindi is put on the forehead in the Indian tradition but I would leave that up to you to do some research if you are a curious soul.

Bindi is all this to me yet it is that one person, the center of my universe. Nothing has changed till today and I can never get any luckier!!!