Tonic of wilderness

                                                     Photo by Ignacio Brosa on Unsplash

Every day on my running path, I see a lady, who is enthusiastic as me to enjoy the pleasantries of the early morning silence. She has short wavy silver hair, overlaying with charcoal-grey hair. Eyes looking straight, powerful & mysterious. Skin, showing the wisdom & experience life has taken her through. She is there walking around my block every day. I guess she is over fifty or sixty. Walking briskly in a calm yet steady motion with track pants & a tee shirt & a sling bag. One thing that always caught my attention was her gaze from the masked face. Her eyes spoke and I heard.

She sought motivation from the early risers like me. When I run past her, I would see her steps grow faster. As if I sprung energy into her or anyone who passed by. 

I won’t have noticed any of the above, except for the strange response I noticed when I saw a group of people walking past her one morning.

She stepped off the road, into the unkempt, bushy garden & utility area. She ducked to avoid a pile of leaves, but she was still moving past in that direction, into the wilderness! 

Lockdown is easing & the caseloads have fallen under 200 daily cases & the positivity rate is below 1 per cent in Delhi. Despite this, our hearts are largely filled with gloom. We are not allowed to exhale - to relax. We are still fearful.

The government says that hospitalisations are ‘a rare case'. But ignore that, the hysteria is still living lingering in our hearts. After 18 months of living through a pandemic, we are still scared, and the lady I passed on my running path was scared.

So scared, she went off the road and into the bushes.

That’s when it dawned on me, we still have a long way to go. Even after all of us are fully vaccinated with added booster shots. Regardless of whatever freedom parts of the world enjoy, regardless of being on the traffic light travel system - red, amber or green list. Regardless of your location India, US, Australia…UAE, Japan etc. We are all in this together. We are still fighting this virus.

That said, we were still wary not to risk a crowded place in a public place full of strangers. So, we still more often than not opt to stay home or to meet at the home, sitting in airy surroundings, exchanging elbow bumps rather than hugs or handshakes as a concession to the virus.

We are still in the bushes, hiding & living in fear in hope that we don't fall prey to the virus.

Seasonal Presents

                                                      Photo by Adam Jaime on Unsplash

We don't realise the importance of different seasons & the mood it brings.

If days are seconds and months are hours, perhaps the seasons are the long clock remaining us in infinite ways, we are part of the bigger Universe, rendering our soul to the greatest clarity.

In Northern India May & June come with harsh & dry weather, as if you are in an oven the whole time!  But, with the advent of July, the rains returned bringing some respite. Shortlived monsoon, but the foliage that was looking tired, sad, exhausted were now coming back to life. 

The birds sat on the electric wires to soak themselves in the cooling showers, as if it was decided, they'll drench themselves in those seasonal rains to bring back their lost enthusiasm as the time stretched out during the sweltering summers. For them as if the party has begun, a season of dance, welcoming fun. 

Each season, bring along with it a unique flavour of dishes or beverages. Summers calls for cool drinks & rainy days calls for hot tea or coffee. With the ongoing humid days, you'll see in Delhi, the capital of India the roller ice-cream cart. It is a rarely sighted cart, equally frustrating because they do not have a fixed spot. They move about with their roller cart, making their elusiveness more desirable.  

You'll often find a moderate crowd resigned to the hot pedestrians gathered around the cart to get their share of ice cream to cool them off. This so-called ice cream looks so different from the factory manufactured packed flavoured ice-creams. Oblivious to this delicacy is the cars fleeting past the cart, with air-conditioning cooling them off, instead of the rolled ice cream. This unique delicacy is a fruit flavoured smoothie that instantly freezes on crushed ice. The very first bite revives the senses as the fruit chunks implode in the mouth spilling out the secrets! It's enthralling. 

You'll often see the cart vendors involved in the production that seldom register the curious onlookers like me, around them! If you visit the city in the months of summers or monsoon, make sure to watch out for them. Like I mentioned earlier, their elusiveness makes their cart ice cream even more desirable, so happy sighting! 

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