Turn

My son Jai has moved into an apartment that is on a lake. The view is absolutely beautiful and the lake and its blueness greets you from every window.

From the window of the study, which I have more or less occupied exclusively, the window faces a temple with its two towers, a shanty hamlet and an ill-maintained piece of land with some bushes and which is also used to tie up buffaloes. Beyond this is a coconut grove that can be accessed by a path with rubbish strewn along it…not very conducive to walking on it!

As children we visited villages close to Chennai or Madras as it was known. There were casuarinas forests and coconut and palm groves through which we would happily stroll through and buy and drink tender coconut water or palm fruit that was a mouthful of sweet, fleshy, juicy delight. We never worried about getting bitten by insects or frightened by prospects of other creatures.

Life has turned full circle and a coconut grove is available to experience and explore, something rare in an urban setting. Today, I see the coconut grove from my window and very rarely see any human being walking through it. I cannot imagine taking my granddaughters across the rubbished area to access the grove. I worry about insects biting them, about stray dogs barking and attacking them and all that rubbish causing infections.

I have turned into an urban person. I have turned into this modern day creature who is scared of so many (in)variables. I have pockets of information stored in my brain that sees terrorizing situations all around me.

Can I turn into that unsuspecting, ingenious person who saw nature and natural surroundings without looking at it with suspicion? Or am I too much of an urban creature who sees terrors lurking at every turn? Difficult to say…but to tell the truth, I have not stepped out to explore the coconut grove that peeks at me whenever I turn my chair near the window, or when I turn my crooked neck towards that landscape!

Welcome to the Friday Loose Bloggers Consortium where Anu, Ashok, Conrad, Delirious, Gaelikaa,  Grannymar, Magpie11, Paul, Maria the Silver Fox, Rummuser , Will Knott, Shackman and I write on the same topic. Please do visit the linked blogs to get  different flavours of the same topic.