A Rendezvous with Mother Nature

It was a Saturday morning on a hot summer May day in Chennai. I picked up my cup of tea and Robin Sharma 's The 5 AM Club to fill my solitary morning moments. The idea behind buying this book was to inculcate the habit of early rising and to achieve the benefits asserted. It says' Own your morning, elevate your life'.

Thankfully the election drama had died out and peace was restored at home. I had a tough week, alternatively listening to Arnab on Republic TV and Budh and Badri on Discovery kids, both equally annoying throughout the day. I settled into the brown chair in the balcony with my book, wishing I had a cozy sofa instead. But nay, this was no time to read; it was time for a long-due randezvous with nature. I stared at the skyline, the far away hills and the match box- sized buildings. They all looked like a high school project model. The irony of life is that all seemingly big things look miniscule if looked from a different perspective. I could see Lilliputian sized people racing around on rooftops and walkways. Nature was trying to converse, and I was all ears.

I spotted the miniature aeroplane that was making its way slowly through the runway, doing its rounds religiously and then finally taking off with all its might. This had been my favourite pastime for the past year, watching aeroplanes land and take off and more interestingly doing its rampwalk. Everytime an aeroplane took off, its a happy moment, a splendid sight. There are so many hearts soaring up along with the mighty plane. One of the many wonders created by man.  As I sat there watching four more take offs, my mind drifted away. We were scheduled to shift from this 7th floor apartment by this month end; the Balcony Coffee with Aditi was something I was going to miss. This was a ritual where my daughter and me played a unique kind of hide and seek sitting in the balcony facing the city, where one should find the nameboard/other object in the vicinity mentioned by the other.

There was a race of thoughts running in my mind. Its like that thinking box locked up in the brain's attic. If I give a chance to open it, all the guests waiting there come bouncing on me.  Ideas generated over conversations, talks and discussions sometimes leave a trace on our minds and continue to bother us until we act upon them. Such solitary moments are meant for these guests willing to talk. I call this passive thinking.

My sister had made a casual remark the past week about the growing water problem in Chennai, and her concern for the next generation that was growing up at home. I can assure my daughter gets a decent education and most of the modern day extravaganzas we call necessities. But what about the real basic necessities like water and clean air. I stared down at the neatly laid road below. As a kid I remember this very road looked like a cave with huge trees on either side. Thanks to the SEZs and EPZs, these are all good memories to narrate to kids. Today we are all too busy solving the pressing daily issues of parking space, network problems, traffic jams etc. Who is going to solve these larger than life issues. I don't think the faces I've been seeing too often on TV lately would care to do much about this. I wonder what I as an individual can do about this, apart from hoping that the likes of Vandana Shiva and Maneka Gandhi will do something. There is a world of difference between wanting to do something and rolling up my sleeve and doing it.

Today's thought is definitely not something to ponder over a cup of tea, write about and say I've done my job. It needs more action, I see the need to sow the seed of sustainability in the minds of the next generation. As a parent, that is the least I can do. As we all pray for rains, let's also be careful about our usage of water and pass this on to the next generation. 

Let's plant more trees, preserve the existing ones and save our planet..