Words rarely do justice to the ‘spontaneous overflow of my emotions’. Yet, just an attempt to string the desultory thoughts.
It was stirred up a few days ago, by some delicate pictures and verse. Thank you, Usha, Shail, and my dear sister!
And it was taken to its peak by a film on TV. The familiar songs of that film had never evoked much interest in me. Prejudiced, I had written it off as trite. When I started watching, it was already halfway through and so couldn’t even get the storyline.
It was the dampness depicted that tranced me out. You will be wondering how a film, that too on the mini screen, can do that. Well, as the saying goes, it’s all in our head. The film may not appeal with the same intensity to the aesthetic sense of another viewer. It simply jibed well with my mood, that’s all.
The dark green foliage, the shades, the serenity, the sounds, the smell of the soil, the wetness of the forest… It all came trickling down to my soul, through something beyond my normal senses.
Where am I? In the sweltering desert or in the middle of some remote rainforest? I couldn’t discern. I couldn’t control the urge to open the window, anticipating the raging clouds, the shroud of darkness, and the rustle or the rumble of the distant rain. The repulsive sun made me retreat to the forced coolness of the room.
My daughter once told me there is a special smell all about my parents’ house. (My husband and kids had been to that place only during the monsoons when the whole place will be soggy and cold.) While young I loathed the dankness for the creatures that crawled and crept in, seeking refuge, though snuggling under the covers, tuned in to the pitter-patter on the roof, ah, was bliss! (How I treated myself to the abreaction of that experience elaborating on Nissim Ezekiel’s Night of the Scorpion! Much of it might have gone over the heads of my hapless students born and brought up here.) I used to yearn for the dry summers. Now that very same Dryness has got back at me!
Grateful to you film maker, cinematographer and the one who chose the location, for that treat!
Nine more months to go!
Nine looong months in between me and the heavenly showers…
) and just start adoring green. The place is 
