NATURE AND POETRY

Embracing nature's symphony.

- Elsa Lycias Joel

Here I am doing what I do best! I have enjoyed sounds, sights, scents, thoughts, and feelings; sights such as twilight, sunrise, sunset, changing colours of the sky, floating clouds, birds in flight, raindrops on petals, dewdrops on grass blades, rainbows, swaying trees, falling leaves, caterpillars, pupae, butterfly dance, a full bright moon, silhouettes, and a lot more. All these are always accompanied by familiar sounds, relevant or otherwise, and feelings which I can't explain.

Just when I try to work on how exactly I feel, my restless wandering eyes and mind would take me to another place. Scents either cover me in nostalgia or make me waddle in déjà vu. Flowers and their fragrance take me back to old-fashioned houses of loved ones, their well-kept small gardens, flower vases, or their kerchiefs with flower embroideries.

The smell of heated oil and spices leads me back to dimly lit kitchens, where I waited for my favourite foods beside women who loved and nurtured me.

Sometimes, those women smelt like spices and curry leaves. They sounded too kind and explained the process in simple words. Time stood still as I observed my grandmother make an omelette or my mother make caramel pudding. The various ways in which my grandmother cracked open eggs were a sight to see. Before I knew she taught History in a government school, I assumed she belonged to the Old McDonald clan given the types and number of pets she raised and cared for. This is why my thoughts travel faster than light to the stable, kennel, hen coop, and backyard of my grandmother's house, whenever I hear a continuous bleat or moo or barking, chuckling, cackling, gobbling, or crowing. I never grow tired of requesting my family members to turn off the rooster alarm in their mobile phones because I don't want to wake up in a make-believe world.

Cherished Memories of a Bygone Era