When Nature Plays, Bitter Gourd is Sweet!

The twin beauties hanging in our courtyard were neither planted nor tended. The bitter gourd vine just came up from the decomposing kitchen waste deposited at the base of the poochapazham and sappota trees. In a few months, it climbed up the sturdy branches and produced little yellow blooms followed by the light green bitter gourds. Seeing them, one smiles in joy. They seem to say, “Like you, we are the children of mother nature. Man thinks that he is doing everything, but he is just a tiny cell in our mother’s body, for it is she who thinks through him and acts through everyone and everything. Let go of the belief of doership, and free and childlike, sit joyfully in the lap of our mother!”

A Wild Flower of the Field!

"Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air."

Thomas Gray, An Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard.

A Drama in Emptiness!

Ever content, restful,
Slumbers the ocean,
Seeing playful gusts,
Of fancies, unperturbed,
Pushing up undulating forms,
As waves, ever restless,
To dash upon rocks of ideas,
Creating bubble things afroth,
Thence to ebb back to itself,
Formless, blissful, eternal infinitude!

Feast!

While most Keralites are about to enjoy a grand Onam feast at home, nature makes it a point to present all her children with food every day. Here's a Glory Lily bloom peeking through our hibiscus 🌺 hedge, so enchanting in beauty and at the same time, toxic to humans if ingested. You can see a family of four grasshoppers upon the Gloriosa Superba (മെന്തോന്നി പൂ). They have already devoured generous portions of the petals as well as the stamen; for them, a delectable feast. My friends, wish you all a very happy and prosperous Onam! May the spirit of togetherness and compassion pervade all hearts!

Give Hope, Get Hope!

When dark, sinister clouds,
Worries and troubles about,
Just gaze around to see,
Others in despair deep!

Do spare a loving glance,
Compassion, a word of cheer,
From doldrums drag their hearts,
To beat, to dance encore!

Thine words are wings of hope,
Dawn to genesis new,
Seest thou someone down,
Dither not, proffer thy hand!

For t'is verily the way of nature,
What goes around, comes around!

As thou holdest a lighted match,
To up someone a flight of steps,
Know another dost hold a torch,
To help thee up thine own!

A Hearty Meal on a Rainy Day!

A parakeet enjoying a guava in our courtyard. Luckily for the bird, there are enough fruits on the trees to get through the monsoon. By giving a helping hand, by replanting some of the trees that we humans destroyed over the years, we can help nature take care of her own, including of course, ourselves!