let the rambling begin

Although unattended and unvisited, I don't want my blog to end up like the hundreds of blogs that started around the same time as mine. I wouldn't call this huge gap as a writer's block. I believe a block would occur when you sit down to write something but words don't come out. But this didn't happen to me, rather I was busy shuffling between many things that I didn't happen to sit down in the first place and ponder. I need to allocate some time to reflect and analyze my course of action.

This brings to my mind an interesting book that I got to read - "A year by the sea" by Joan Anderson. Although the perspective is different, I can relate to the protogonist's feelings in some way. Joan aged 50 years feels that she has been living her whole life running around with family responsibilities and taking care of her kids' demands. One fine day, she decides to let go of everything and move to a small cottage by the sea shore for a year. Living by her own means, reflecting on how her life turned out to be and drawing inspiration from the sea and seals, she turns out to be a strong and happy person. With no rules to abide by, she sets a course for herself, takes risks and tries out many new activities like selling fish which she wouldn't dare to dream about on a normal day. It was an interesting and thoughtful read.

One starking perspective was the engagement with nature that can be a healing and a rejuvenating experience. Living in a metropolitan city like Bangalore with rushing around all the time, such engagement seems to be rare but those few moments can have a big impact. For instance, the other day I went to a nearby grocery store to get some vegetables. It was a weekday evening and so the crowd was comparatively less. The fresh vegetables of varied colors and shapes, the aroma of coriander and mint leaf bunches and the sheer variety of vegetables got me all cheered up. I bought minimal quantities of different veggies and my refrigerator is now neatly stocked up. I have been trying different South Indian dishes for dinner these days, call it the repercussion effect.

Last Sunday was rather a special tryst with nature. With cloudy and gloomy days gone past, the sun was shining brightly. The afternoon rays entered my living room through my orange colored curtains, giving a bright orangish feel to my home. The mini red roses in my garden blossomed like a flower bouquet, adding more sheen to the green grass. The squeaking squirrels were running around and the tiny butterflies were playing with the flowers. Such a beautiful afternoon cannot be complete without a hot cup of cardamom tea. It was a heavenly feeling and hoping to have more such moments every week.