STAY STILL

Imagine you are staying in a small wood cabin in the middle of a deep forest. It's night. Through the foggy window of your cabin you see the moon. It appears blissful, but is looking for a kindred spirit. A meditative soul. The stars are hibernating.

Outside your window, the trees are covered in snow. There is no breeze to shake some snow shavings off the branches. You are carried away by the thought of foxes trotting across the niveous landscape, looking for things that matter to them.

Your fingers clutch a tea cup tightly. Your room is just about lit, just about heated to keep you minimally warm. The world is still except for the golden coloured liquid wobbling in your white tea cup. The more you observe the contrast, the more you are enamored. By its colour, its life, its vivacity. 

 You don't have an internet connection or a mobile phone. You are far from the city. You have books for company, carefully chosen ones. The tea gets replenished, each time, the stillness of the world and the exuberance of the liquid touch you.

You look inside. You look outside. You form connections. You look back. Like a movie reel that plays reverse, your life unravels in slow motion. You traveled a lot, worked a lot, sent thousands of messages over SMS and WhatsApp, posted on FB, made phone calls, chattered endlessly, built a business, built someone else's business, and came back home tired. You felt low once in a while. In spite of all this action and commotion, a void remained. 

You wanted more technological progress. You also longed for unspoilt places. 

Deep in the woods, you find your lost soul. You feel the void no more. You stand still while it gets filled. You don’t make haste to pick up your mobile phone to check the last message that came in with a beep.

You are now visiting the woods, going back to the pristine, to whatever is left after your constant rummaging. You have now discovered that your windows are more transparent than the many flat screens that once filled your life. As you venture into the woods, pay heed to this reminder from Robert Baden-Powell. "When through with a camp-site, take care to leave two things behind. Firstly: nothing, Secondly: your thanks" 

Gratitude is the best emotion to ring in the NEW YEAR with. Happy New Year.

 (Image courtesy: www.desktopnexus.com)

Blue Jays and Sparrows

                                             (Picture courtesy: Photographer and filmmaker Jim Brandenburg)

This afternoon, as I was ambitiously finishing some last -in- the- line errands in the house, my eyes caught some swift movements outside. A quick dash, an even quicker chase! In the stillness of the cold winter afternoon, against the backdrop of the bare tree tops, a few birds that seemed to come from nowhere suddenly filled up my chalice of hope, rekindled new thoughts and gave a fillip to my sense of positivism. I had never seen this kind of a sight before. A Blue Jay chasing a few sparrows! And the best part was we weren't seeing any birds for a few weeks now, except the V- shaped Geese formations that parade the skies during early morning hours.

Birds. They bring me boundless joy. I just need to catch a glimpse of a Sparrow in its flight. Or a twittering Robin trying to find its feet on a shaky little branch. Even as I was overcome with happiness watching the little power struggle of my feathery friends, I eagerly showed the sight to my Seven-year old and in unison we said in our typical sing-song style, ' Spring is round the corner, Spring is round the corner!'

March 20th is the official date for the advent of Spring in this part of the world. But, I keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best to happen. Last Winter; weather channels said was the coldest in a few decades. This Winter; they say is the warmest in a few decades. Last Winter, we saw nothing but snow. This Winter, we haven't seen snow at all. So, what is the reading on the wall?

A humble worshiper in Nature's shrine, am awed by the myriad ways in which life around inspires, rejuvenates, enlightens and what not. And it hurts to see the ease with which we take life away from Her. Looking around, am not sure, whether its ignorance or sheer carelessness that is the reason.

A few days back, we were at Coney Island. Weathering the cold winds, as we strolled around the waterways , much to our astonishment, we found at least a hundred mallard ducks, swans, geese and other birds cackle endlessly while eating bread crumbs! The first question that we asked each other was, ' What are these birds doing here at this time of the year? They aren't supposed to be here eating bread this Winter!' As we exclaimed thus, we thought we figured out the answer as well. First of all, weather patterns are changing across the world. These birds could very well be a confused lot. And second, if bread happens to be their staple food, what would that land them in? Research proves that it delays migration and impacts their natural instincts to forage for their own food. There were about a dozen happy souls feeding the birds from huge packets of breads and buns. Other than anxiously staring at their feeding frenzies, there wasn't much to be done. Looking back, I dread to think what the birds would do if they were stopped being fed bread, one day, all of a sudden?

Sad thought indeed. And I know not the answer. Whenever I think of Nature, I think of Her as nimble-footed. And so are her creatures. But, we must let them be. We must just let wildlife be. Its best to let them be in their own wild worlds, with their wild instincts.