Lub – dub, lub – dub, lub – dub...

The noise of traffic is deafening, the honking of cars, the roar of engines, the shouts of people, it all is bound to disorient you. When you get to work, the channel music in the elevator is boring, the same piped music wafting from the brass lace affixed overhead. The telephone on the right side of your desk never ceases to stop ringing. Every time you bang the phone shut, you wish you were able to kill the forsaken device. Even the mobile phone in your pocket contributes to your slow death with its subtle, but very distracting vibrations. Your ears start to ache as you can feel your boss literally breathing down your neck, loudly reminding you of your deadlines, as if you were deaf. The chatter of your colleagues makes no sense to you, and you are polite enough to sit through their intelligible chatter without embarrassing them.

When evening comes, you just cannot take it anymore. You long to leave this place and return to your sanctuary, where you are certain of being reminded of the person you really are. When you are haste to your sanctuary, the entire volume of noise around you seems to increase. And just when it almost engulfs you, the key in your hand twists in the lock and gives you entry through a door. Immediately, you enter and shut the door behind you and all the noise that had plagued you since morning has suddenly vanished. You are home. You let your coat and with it your bag fall off your shoulder. As you lumber on, you see a bed in front of you. Your legs give way, and you crash into bed. Fatigue overcomes you, and you lay still as a stone in its cold covers. As you lay in bed, you can feel something slip in beneath you, and suddenly the bed seems warmer than usual. And then, through the silence of this sanctuary, you hear a faint and rhythmic beat. ‘Lub – dub, lub – dub, lub – dub…’ it goes…

It’s not just a sound; you can actually feel it throbbing at your ear. Your head rests on the bosom of your loved one, who unfailingly runs her fingers through your hair, soothing your tense and stretched nerves into submission. Her bosom not only heaves rhythmically with the throbbing of her heart, but it also intoxicates your cluttered mind, drawing you into a deep and much needed slumber. A memory of the morning’s noise has now ebbed away, and your ears welcomed the delicate throbbing of her heart. And as you drift into deep slumber, you know that every day, you would give anything just to hear that pulsating throb every time you retire at the end of the day. Because that’s the only beat that would keep you going through every passing day.

Lub – dub, lub – dub, lub – dub…