4 years back, I was backpacking in the valleys of Kashmir, where I stayed at Lalleshwari Homestay. Koyal, a single mother, used to run that homestay alone.

One night she was singing a lullaby to her baby, and I asked her about it. “Koyal, what is Hukus Bukus? I heard this song once in a TV ad featuring a little girl.” Koyal took me outside and showed me the night sky, where a crescent moon peeked from a valley. She said, “It is one of the most popular songs of us, the Pandits of Kashmir. The great poetess of Kashmir Saivism, Lalleshwari, wrote it. This poetry asks us a question - Who are you and who am I? Who is the one that resides amongst us, the one who created us?”

It asks you about your identity. You, the one who works day and night, filling your stomach with desires and attachments of the world and searching for answers — have no idea that all you seek already resides within you.

She said, “We spend so much of our lives chasing titles, money, validation, even love. And somewhere along the way, we forget. This poem reminds us that what we’re looking for… is already inside. The divine, the peace, the wholeness it’s all here. Not outside. Not in another place or person.”

She explained that onum batuk loddum deag refers to those who endlessly fill their lives chasing, consuming, collecting, only to feel emptier than before. “What you truly seek,” she said, “has always been within.”

That night, something shifted in me. Hukus Bukus wasn’t just a lullaby anymore; it was a lesson. A prayer. A mirror. It taught me that stillness holds answers and that sometimes, ancient whispers carry the wisdom we forget in our loud, busy lives. And maybe that’s the most powerful kind of song — the kind that doesn’t just help a child sleep but helps an adult finally wake up.

So if you ever hear Hukus Bukus, don’t rush past it. Let it slow you down. Let it simmer in your veins and ask you the question: Telli wann che kus - then truly, who are you?

That night after Koyal’s voice had faded, I stayed awake under the stars. The words kept echoing in my mind like a chant across the silent valley. I realized how often I had looked outward for meaning in achievements, in relationships, in fleeting moments of praise all the while carrying a deep well of quietness inside me that I had never dared to explore.

As the cold breeze brushed against my face, I felt a strange warmth blooming in my chest. It was as if Koyal’s lullaby had cracked something open inside me. I thought of all the journeys we take, the miles we travel, the plans we make to find happiness - and yet, the most profound journey is the one that takes us inward, into the vast and mysterious landscape of our own soul.

In the days that followed, I found myself sitting more often in silence. Turning my thoughts over, I felt the exhaustion from relentlessly chasing the unreachable become more tangible. And to free myself from the clutches of that dreary thought, I would watch the light play on the snowy peaks, listen to the soft rustling of chinars, and feel the rhythm of my breath. Slowly, I began to understand what Koyal meant when she said everything we seek is already within. It felt like I was coming back home to myself.

Toiling to fill an ostensibly bottomless pit, only fuels the urge to pursue the unattainable

Perhaps that is the greatest gift of songs like Hukus Bukus they do not merely captivate us; they awaken us. They remind us to stop, to listen, to question. They invite us to peel away the layers we wear and touch the sacred stillness that lies beneath.

Even now, years later, whenever life feels overwhelming, I close my eyes and remember that night in Kashmir. And somewhere deep inside, I'm comforted by the fact that I no longer have to reach out in the dark and fumble for the unknown. I simply have to plunge within and anchor myself with what I had all along.

About the author,

    Jainil Bhatt

A person who enjoys exploring and has a great fondness for philosophy. This guy can’t stop comparing himself with the character of film he recently watch or the book he just read. An Operations enthusiast guy looking for more blues in life.