Nature has always rejuvenated us. Be it a leaf, a walk in the garden, the caress of the breeze. In its animist nature it has the power to heal, to make us one with the universe and lead us to harmony within ourselves. The cyclic nature of the rhythm of the seasons, with the song lines 'Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall / All you have to do is call' commemorate the perennial nature of true love, viz. love through all seasons.
This breathtaking picture of the birds in the foliage of trees is on Google for today. Sometime back Google started commemorating the day by placing a dedicated visual just above the search space, to remind users of the significance of the day. I loved the enterprise the moment I chanced to notice it. It helps bring more meaning to the day. And to remind us that we don't live for ever - if we want to make a difference we need to do it today.
Wherever, whenever I travel (which is most of the time) I seek out oases, or sometimes clumps, of peace. In these zones of quiet you are face to face with your destiny. Here geographical boundaries or locales lose their significance. What matters is the earth you are standing on, the tree under whose shade you are in, and the sky above.
Yes I will go
Yes I will go
to see my ‘friends’
the rivers, the birds
and the trees
where the wind calls
and the forests wait
in the stories of an India
yet to be told.
(Delhi-Jabalpur)
In the vastness of Nature, all technological advances seem feeble and soulless. When you find bliss in a leaf or a drop of dew. My father was telling his grandchildren and me that he used to love the smell of burnt leaves when his mother used to heat the bathwater for him as a child.
The Lap of Nature
Me?!
With a laptop?!
Hah!
After Kyari
All you have
on your lap
are leaves . . .
burnt leaves.
(Kyari village, Uttarkhand)
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See my poem 'The Smell of Burnt Leaves' dedicated to dad in my blogpost 'Last Bus to Vasco' of 21 May 2008 - a collection of poems read on AIR Delhi: http://lastbustovasco.blogspot.com/2008/05/last-bus-to-vasco.html
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