Musings by UK Menon

We live with a deep sense of isolation, even when there are people around us—family, friends. We seldom share our uncertainties and doubts but try to resolve them in our minds.

Yet, this solitary boundary is gently dissolved every day in my workspace at home by two hidden lizards who are seldom seen but seem to know my thoughts. One is always in my study, the other hides within the leaves of the rambutan tree at the edge of the veranda. They have become my companions. When the weight of my unuttered hesitations becomes too heavy, their timely chirps break through the silence to validate the thought in my mind. Their chirping has become a reassuring sound that steadies my thoughts and gives me confidence.

They are beings of stillness and shadow, rarely seen but deeply felt. They do not demand attention, yet they engage in a silent dialogue with my thoughts.

As I sit in contemplation, wrestling with the formless weight of an abstract idea, a sudden, sharp chirp breaks the silence. This chik, chik, chik punctuation is never arbitrary; it arrives uncannily at the precise moment when a question is posed in my mind. Not always, but only with some thoughts that they seem to confirm.

To experience this is to realize that our minds do not think in isolation. Instead, my thoughts seem to ripple outward, meeting an immediate, living affirmation from the environment itself.

This phenomenon forces us to reconsider our relationship with the living world. It is the very essence of Palli Sastram, an ancient framework that views the movements and sounds of these creatures not as random noise, but as meaningful signs intimately bound to our lives.

When these hidden companions chirp in response to a breakthrough in my mind, they disrupt the artificial boundary between us and nature.

They remind us of what these timeless traditions have long held: that we are woven into an interconnected stream of existence where everything listens, everything responds, and everything vibrates in a shared rhythm.

In the quiet echo of their call, the universe feels a little less empty, and the act of thinking becomes a communal act of being.

Petaling Jaya
9 August 2026

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This article is written for a general readership and does not constitute technical or legal advice. Readers with legal questions are encouraged to seek independent legal advice.

The author thanks KN Geetha, TP Vaani, JN Lheela, and Lydia Jaynthi at GK Legal. Our gratitude to Peter Law of Unsplash for the image.

Claude, Anthropic’s AI, smoothed the drafting; Perplexity Pro checked the facts. The argument, the views, and the errors remain the author’s.

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