Nature's Necklace

At the peak of sunrise, when people wake up from their slumber for the auspicious day to get a glimpse of the deity of Lord Krishna, the tree which once seemed to be leafy and naked of flowers, starts to adorn itself with ornaments of gold that are seemingly matchless to real gold. And as it stands, glimmering in the morning rays with pearls of dew studded on it, like a bride bedecked in the most exquisite jewellery, it is truly deserving to be known as ‘Kanikonna ‘     (Golden Showers).                

  A few days back, we were all in the midst of the exam fever. Revisions and warm-up test papers were all a part of our diet. But the wonderful thoughts of summer vacation had made me more enthused to study. Now that the holidays are here and ‘Vishu’ is just a few days ahead, those flowers are in aplenty. Even though its summer and the wrath of the Sun God tires us out, the serene view of the ‘Kanikonna’  hanging in a bunch from the branches refreshes my mind. In the monsoon season, this tree would be hiding a amongst the other high and mighty trees. It shies away from everyone and its bare branches would stick out becoming a nuisance. But now, no one would go past the tree without stealing a glance. It stands as a queen amongst the other flowers and when the wind is on its cheek, its petals wither away and fall onto the ground like   ‘Golden Showers’.  This is one of the most remarkable idiosyncrasies of the ‘Kanikonna’.

 Summer is always the best time for children. We can play and have fun to our heart’s content. Besides this, the lemon yellow flowers that envelope the tree and canopies my house gives the environment an atmosphere of spring.

Down Memory Lane

Gone are the days of fun and frolic, the days when nature was children’s playground. Parents were never so fussy about their children having fun in the scorching sun. They let them live the life the way they wanted. While boys catapulted juicy ripe mangoes making the bushy-eyed owner of the mango tree run on a wild goose chase, girls were busy collecting broken bangles and colorful beads to gamble with it. They mastered the art of origami by making spinning tops and watches out of the fronds of the coconut tree. They chased cycle wheels down the winding village path with a stick as if it were a Rolls Royce running at 60 miles an hour. As the hoop hurdled over hedges and bushes, making a light hum as it went wheeling through the streets was a pleasure to watch. They sledged across muddy areas on areca nut leaves as if it were a wagon. Contrary to the present day schools which are exam oriented and slave the children with the sole purpose of making them engineers and doctors, the schools of yesteryear implied to the motto ‘Learning Without Burden’. There was no stress over exams and no child sweated over too much on Algebra or Geometry. But who cares? Exams and homework are only the fragments of the education process. But childhood is just a tickle of feathers that can be blown away by the wind at anytime. Nowadays, children are getting attracted to the technological wiz like magnets while their childhood shrivels up. Have they ever seen ant lions moving around in a pile of sand making beautiful patterns as they trailed along? Have they ever experienced the sheer bliss of breathing in the sweet scented smell of the Night Queen flowers on moonlit nights? But when play stations and idiot boxes rule the world, who is even bothered to make them understand the joy of childhood? Dreams are just dreams.