On most days, it’s not simple to say where our feelings emerge out of. It’s not easy to know why our heart tingles and who tugs at the little invisible strings inside — the kind of tug that fills us as if we were flouncy, fidgety giants, or empties us altogether, as if we were nothing — as if light could pass through us. It’s not like we’re the first ones to be asking these questions. Several before us have employed psychiatry, physics, biochemistry, neurobiology, computers, literature, and the history of everything to know why we feel what we feel and how are feelings manufactured. Perhaps, it’s in the heart — the cartoon-red, glistening with a tiny shine-spot as if it were a polished apple — or perhaps it’s in the upside-down pear-shaped one that’s located in the middle mediastinum, the one with nerves, veins, arteries, and commuting fluids betwixt.
Full-time digital marketeer and part-time digital artist and modern poet Arjun Chopra is perhaps the latest one to take a dig at the question, and from where we stand, we think he might have a clue.
If you would care to come along and rummage for a hint with us, here’s Arjun trying to answer our question, in his own words.
Q. Where and how are feelings manufactured? Briefly explain where they are stored and what happens when they exceed the threshold limit. [ 5 Marks ]
Ans: Feelings aren’t manufactured in your heart
But I’ll take my poetic license and say that they are.
In a biological heart, none of that cartoon bullshit.
Emotions are produced in response to external stimuli and inner contemplation.
These feelings, once produced, are stored in a large glass vial.
Swirling ribbons of multicoloured emotions.
There’s also this red tape around its neck to indicate optimal emotion levels.
It’s okay if the feelings are red-lining, but rare for them to exceed the limit.
When the vial overflows, the following is experienced:
a). I feel like a giantess.
A poke, a prick or a punch and I might spill.
b). I feel myself shimmer,
Like afternoon sun caught on a swimming pool.
c). I find that there’s a song booming in my bones,
And a hum hooked on my lips.
d). I can simulate entire lives. With anyone and everyone.
And I’m optimistic for a change.
e). I don’t need to place my brain on a chopping board,
make minced meat patties of my thoughts,
before serving it to food critics.
f). I’m willing to drive all the way to Kalimpong
Just for a steaming hot glass of tea.
g). It almost makes me want to forgive myself for all my past time-crimes.
h). I can bend weather and moods,
From blue & hazy to clear & bright.
It’s only when the vial overflows
I realise that my life is an art gallery,
And every choice I make is an installation in it.
Arjun Chopra is a Mumbai-based digital marketer, who studied in Raigad, Maharashtra. He writes poetry in an attempt to bottle life and its various instances from his perspective.
Find Arjun’s poetry on Instagram here.
If you enjoyed reading this, we suggest you try: