Dr. Chari and the Science of Stillness – A Witty Tale on Silence and Power

Dr. Chari Diaries:

The Science of Stillness

The Crisis at Ananda Neelam

Radha was irritated. Again.

“Your father,” she muttered, chopping vegetables with sharpness only an annoyed wife can summon, “has gone inside the farm, sitting on that stone bench doing absolutely nothing! For hours! Dogs snoring, eyes closed, and he calls it meditation and stillness!”

Ammulu giggled. Saami looked up from his book. “Amma, what’s wrong if Appa is just relaxing?”

“Relaxing?” Radha snapped.

“The whole world is moving, people working, children studying — and your father sits there like a saint from Himalayas. I’m sure even the cows are bored by him now.”

Finally, in pure domestic hierarchy, she sent Saami to ‘bring back that stupid man from his silence.’

Saami walked across towards the end of Ananda Neelam, the air thick with sunlight and the scent of neem.

And there was Dr. Chari — sitting under the big Seesham tree, spine straight, eyes closed, surrounded by his dogs — Mylo, Sita, and April — all asleep in perfect trust around him. Only big Arjuna, cocked his eyebrows in quiet expiration...

The scene was so peaceful.

Even Saami hesitated to interrupt.

The birds seemed to whisper instead of chirping.

“Appaa…” he said softly.

Dr. Chari opened his eyes slowly — clear, unhurried, like the morning itself had just woken up .

“Amma says to come home,”

Saami added apologetically, “She says you’re wasting time sitting here.”

Dr. Chari smiled. “Ah, so your Amma thinks silence is a waste of time.”

He patted the bench.

“Sit, Saami. Let me tell you what silence really is.”

Saami sat beside him, awkwardly.

“Look at that mango tree,” Dr. Chari pointed. “Do you hear it shouting while it grows?”

Saami shook his head.

“Yet every day, its roots go deeper, its branches spread wider. That’s movement in Silence. Same with your body — your heart beats, your cells repair, your mind creates new connections — all silently. All happening in stillness”

He chuckled.

“Even an enemy plans his attack in Silence, not noise. As Bruce Lee once said — ‘Most people don’t know my Silence… they only see my action.’”

Saami laughed. “So, Appa, you’re saying you’re like Bruce Lee?”

Dr. Chari grinned. “Only with more dogs and less karate.”

"Go Saami, tell Amma, I will come soon," Dr Chari said in all serenity.

“Amma, Appa said he’s charging his inner battery. Like your phone — when it’s plugged in, it looks like it’s doing nothing. But it’s actually powering up.”

Radha paused. “Hmm,” she said, half amused, half thoughtful. “So your father is a power bank now?”

“Exactly!” Saami laughed. “A spiritual power bank!”

They all burst out laughing — even Radha.

But later that day, when she saw Dr. Chari step in quietly, dogs padding at his heels, eyes serene and shining with something deeper than peace — she felt something shift inside her.

Maybe he wasn’t wasting time after all.

Maybe, in his stillness, he was holding the entire household’s calm together.

In Ponmanipudi, everybody knew that Dr. Chari had a “energy technique” — sitting still. Doing nothing....Thinking in stillness...

Appuswamy, the poet, had written a line on his tea-stall wall:

“Noise makes machines work. Silence makes souls grow.”

And as the moon rose over Ananda Neelam, the dogs curled near their master again, silent witnesses to the truth —

Stillness is not empty. It’s full of movement you cannot see.

Because sometimes, doing nothing is the most powerful thing you can do.