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Wednesday, 21 July 2010

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Feel the sylvan symphony

“You should sit down and go on writing…” I heard someone say.

I had my doubts about the statement. In any case I cannot just sit down and go on writing. I am not that wise enough, or may be not mature enough. Or precisely ideas won’t come that easily.

The statement nevertheless sounded intriguing. It coincided with something I’ve encountered in a recent trip I made to Kumana. The guy next to me was interesting not only because he was a teetotaler as well as a vegetarian – well that’s a rare characteristic, I must say – but also because he had a whole lot of ideas and experiences.

One of our aims was to meet Hindu pilgrims walking their way to Kataragama taking the Kumana route. Rightly so the place was crowded enough. But we took alternative routes too, to take a peek at the wilderness.

That’s when my friend admitted how fond he is of these wild sanctuaries. I was listening to his story without interrupting.

****

I go on jungle tours with many kinds of friends. They are mostly no exception when it comes to taking pictures, laughing out loud, all this and that you know. But they are the educated lot too. The thing is as anyone they were always on the lookout for any wild creatures to appear.

I had a hard time convincing them that the forest is not a zoo for wild creatures to pop out at your beck and call. This is their kingdom after all, and we need to be vigilant to spot them. I’m sad to say only one of them really agreed with me. But that one person was enough for me.

We were looking down at a tree bark for sometime maybe a minute or two. Following that moment, we could notice a change in the bark. That was a lizard disguised in camouflage for its defence.

We stared into waters, and within a few minutes we noticed it causes ripples. There were crocodiles. They make sure of the environs before making a move. That was the lesson of bio diversity not only my friend, but I too, learnt. We could work it out, because we cared to stay still for some while simply doing nothing.

That night we spent outdoors, just to see what’s going on. That day we could make out an elephant in the dark. Our eyes grew used to the dark, and we realized elephant’s colour is different to that of the dark.

We were still observing, without even a whisper.

Everything changed all of a sudden a growl was heard from afar. Fear took grip of us, though we forced to let it slip by. A leopard had grabbed a calf from its mother. Its mother, a grown up cow very much stronger than its enemy, was on feet chasing behind the leopard. The leopard seemed to have no option but climb up a tree. But he could not get down, because the cow was waiting for him in the ground. Half an hour must have elapsed, when leopard finally dropped the calf to the ground. But believe or not, even before cow could move, the little victim had another claimant! That was a crocodile dragging the carcass to the waters in a fast pace. And finally we were listening to the sound the waters made.

The following morning our guide said such incidents were something common in wilderness. But none of our friends could witness this type of action-packed live drama.

It made me think rethink, in fact. How many of us go to the forest with a steadfast mind? Most of us go with alcohol. Sometimes it’s barbecue. We do barbecue, sing aloud and leave our leftovers. We come back saying we couldn’t see much of the ‘forest’! Of course most of these wild creatures are scared of us humans. They don’t get close when they hear us.

You have to be patient to spot the tree bark change. You have to be silent to hear the movements in waters. You have to be steadfast to observe what’s going on in the forest.

The forest has its own symphony the sylvan symphony. Only if you really care to feel it!

*****

We are always moving so fast in reading and writing. We all talk, read and write about this book and that movie. But have we really cared for a respite at least for an hour by a streamlet to just feel what the Mother Nature has to offer us?

That’s where you feel really calmed down, inspired and re-energized - something books or any other work of art cannot do all the time.

Have you ever felt that symphony of your own? Or do you have one? If not, feel it now. Feel the sylvan symphony!

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