Sitting in our balcony, sipping a hot cup of filter coffee, I noticed black rumbling clouds forming like droplets of ink in water. During the morning walk, I had felt the wind turning chilly but did not realise that the clouds would be coming in so fast. Watching clouds gather, darkening the skies, thunder drumming in the distance preceded by a streak of lightning, got me thinking. Mother Nature was announcing her presence.
Not coming back with a vengeance but just back doing what she is supposed to do without being disturbed by external elements.Yes - Just Being Nature
The whole pandemic episode in itself is a lesson of a lifetime for the human race. We feel, only feel, that we are ruling the world, controlled nature and are Masters of all we survey. But how wrong we are? A microscopic virus has brought our world to a standstill, a grinding halt! It has not differentiated among cast, creed, colour, class, wealth or boundaries, the way we humans do. It has waded into us like an angry bull elephant and trampled us to submission. But look at the beauty of all of this. Nature has left the rest of nature alone, to heal. Animals and birds are not dying, plants are not dying, actually the nature is in full bloom.
Blue skies, fresh air, green leaves, colourful flowers of all sizes bursting out from plants, birds which were unheard in the din of machinery and vehicular traffic are back in the skies, their chirping, a sharp reminder that they were there and they are here to stay.
The flora and fauna had no one to protect them from humans, but their Mother - Nature. Man, whenever he decided that he had become more powerful than all beings, started working towards the top of the food chain.His path to the top was that of Destruction, not of Nurturing. He first subdued the so-called Voiceless and Motionless beings - the trees and plants. All those he found supported his need, he cultivated them. All others who stood tall and seemed to be in his way to the top, he decimated them. He cut the trees of the forests and created space for himself. But true to his arrogance, he decided to keep the subdued ones next to himself - growing some flowers, fruits and vegetables and grains. Again every had a selfish motive. All these were for him and him alone.
Then he started terrorising the animals. Not in close combat but by creating weapons by which he could kill them from a distance. He would not have survived a face to face battle with them. Using brute force and teach them a lesson, , he went on a rampage. He entered their domain and slaughtered them. Some of them fought and died, while others backed away into deeper territory. All the animals and birds he subdued, he made them into pets. Again to satisfy his selfish interests alone. Some to show off to others, some for his consumption - in the form of milk and meat and others for his own protection - from his own creed.
He then destroyed their homes further so that they could not return and started building his own kingdom. Villages, towns, cities, bigger and bigger - impinging more and more into the privacy of plants and animals.
Mother Nature looked on, admonishing at times. Helping flora and fauna to regain some of their rights by sending them back into the human territory in the form of weeds, hardy thorny trees with deep roots, snakes and scorpions which could protect themselves and the stealthy ones like the cockroaches, flies and mosquitoes. Man did not understand. He fought back like a child which has some other child's toy and does not want to return it. Some of these Mother Natures' fighters fought and lost. Others continue to make sneak attacks willing to give up their lives while doing that. And still others have fought to live another day.
Mother Natures' patience was stretched but she continued to watch as any mother would - worriedly wondering where her brash child was headed to. The man broke the ultimate rule - that of insulting his own mother. He decided to fight and conquer her so that he could control her. He started small by desecrating ponds and lakes and slowly moved to dirtying the rivers. He started chemical warfare against her by releasing poisonous gases into space she occupied without realising that he needed the same air to breath. He then started causing bodily harm to her by scratching and tearing at her skin using bulldozers to bring down hillocks, by digging into her to pull minerals and oil from her. He cut through her to make roads. He even started stepping out of his realm in an attempt to reclaim the land which was he felt was his - Reclamation from the Sea.
It must have pained the Mother to see and feel all this. She kept sending signals to him to show him the frightening consequences of his actions - Tsunamis, Acid Rain, Cancer causing UV rays pouring down the hole he had created in her clothing which she had been using to protect him - the Ozone layer. But the power-hungry man had got into his head that he was the Master of Nature itself. He had learnt through his intelligence to create inanimate objects for his joy and pleasure which were harmful for him while rejecting everything his mother was providing. He had reached a level where he wanted to play God and that had caused the final clash between him and his fellow humans who were doing the same things and felt as powerful as him.
Mother Nature had come to a stage where she felt that this species of children had gone too far and needed to be taught a lesson. So she decided to send her Nano-warriors against him. Enough was enough. The warriors are swarming, invisible to the naked eye and man has no weapon built against them. the attacks by this nano-warriors are fierce and deadly. Their message is clear - Stay Home Stay Safe, let others breathe. Anyone grouping together will be taken as an enemy and war is declared against all of them. They go on a concerted attack, causing great physical suffering and death and mental agony as part of the collateral damage , just to teach a lesson to the other humans to stay out of the fight.
And while man is fighting this presently unequal battle, Mother Nature has let her other children free. The nano-warriors are not attacking them. They are free to grow and prosper. Many are enjoying the temporary peace and have moved into places that are rightfully theirs. The butterflies,
the flowers, the birds, the wild plants and animals have started walking and flying and growing freely. Frightened and hiding in the safety of his shelter, man has been given time to think and introspect, forcing him to realise his wrongdoings.
Will he learn from this short and powerful lesson that his mother is teaching him? Only Father time can tell.
In the meanwhile fresh wind blows through the air, unpolluted by the man-made sounds and dirty chemicals, the birds chirp and the plants flower and the Sun is shining brightly in the clear skies.
Photographs shot on my OnePlus7T
The whole pandemic episode in itself is a lesson of a lifetime for the human race. We feel, only feel, that we are ruling the world, controlled nature and are Masters of all we survey. But how wrong we are? A microscopic virus has brought our world to a standstill, a grinding halt! It has not differentiated among cast, creed, colour, class, wealth or boundaries, the way we humans do. It has waded into us like an angry bull elephant and trampled us to submission. But look at the beauty of all of this. Nature has left the rest of nature alone, to heal. Animals and birds are not dying, plants are not dying, actually the nature is in full bloom.
The flora and fauna had no one to protect them from humans, but their Mother - Nature. Man, whenever he decided that he had become more powerful than all beings, started working towards the top of the food chain.His path to the top was that of Destruction, not of Nurturing. He first subdued the so-called Voiceless and Motionless beings - the trees and plants. All those he found supported his need, he cultivated them. All others who stood tall and seemed to be in his way to the top, he decimated them. He cut the trees of the forests and created space for himself. But true to his arrogance, he decided to keep the subdued ones next to himself - growing some flowers, fruits and vegetables and grains. Again every had a selfish motive. All these were for him and him alone.
Then he started terrorising the animals. Not in close combat but by creating weapons by which he could kill them from a distance. He would not have survived a face to face battle with them. Using brute force and teach them a lesson, , he went on a rampage. He entered their domain and slaughtered them. Some of them fought and died, while others backed away into deeper territory. All the animals and birds he subdued, he made them into pets. Again to satisfy his selfish interests alone. Some to show off to others, some for his consumption - in the form of milk and meat and others for his own protection - from his own creed.
He then destroyed their homes further so that they could not return and started building his own kingdom. Villages, towns, cities, bigger and bigger - impinging more and more into the privacy of plants and animals.
Mother Nature looked on, admonishing at times. Helping flora and fauna to regain some of their rights by sending them back into the human territory in the form of weeds, hardy thorny trees with deep roots, snakes and scorpions which could protect themselves and the stealthy ones like the cockroaches, flies and mosquitoes. Man did not understand. He fought back like a child which has some other child's toy and does not want to return it. Some of these Mother Natures' fighters fought and lost. Others continue to make sneak attacks willing to give up their lives while doing that. And still others have fought to live another day.
Mother Natures' patience was stretched but she continued to watch as any mother would - worriedly wondering where her brash child was headed to. The man broke the ultimate rule - that of insulting his own mother. He decided to fight and conquer her so that he could control her. He started small by desecrating ponds and lakes and slowly moved to dirtying the rivers. He started chemical warfare against her by releasing poisonous gases into space she occupied without realising that he needed the same air to breath. He then started causing bodily harm to her by scratching and tearing at her skin using bulldozers to bring down hillocks, by digging into her to pull minerals and oil from her. He cut through her to make roads. He even started stepping out of his realm in an attempt to reclaim the land which was he felt was his - Reclamation from the Sea.
It must have pained the Mother to see and feel all this. She kept sending signals to him to show him the frightening consequences of his actions - Tsunamis, Acid Rain, Cancer causing UV rays pouring down the hole he had created in her clothing which she had been using to protect him - the Ozone layer. But the power-hungry man had got into his head that he was the Master of Nature itself. He had learnt through his intelligence to create inanimate objects for his joy and pleasure which were harmful for him while rejecting everything his mother was providing. He had reached a level where he wanted to play God and that had caused the final clash between him and his fellow humans who were doing the same things and felt as powerful as him.
Mother Nature had come to a stage where she felt that this species of children had gone too far and needed to be taught a lesson. So she decided to send her Nano-warriors against him. Enough was enough. The warriors are swarming, invisible to the naked eye and man has no weapon built against them. the attacks by this nano-warriors are fierce and deadly. Their message is clear - Stay Home Stay Safe, let others breathe. Anyone grouping together will be taken as an enemy and war is declared against all of them. They go on a concerted attack, causing great physical suffering and death and mental agony as part of the collateral damage , just to teach a lesson to the other humans to stay out of the fight.And while man is fighting this presently unequal battle, Mother Nature has let her other children free. The nano-warriors are not attacking them. They are free to grow and prosper. Many are enjoying the temporary peace and have moved into places that are rightfully theirs. The butterflies,
the flowers, the birds, the wild plants and animals have started walking and flying and growing freely. Frightened and hiding in the safety of his shelter, man has been given time to think and introspect, forcing him to realise his wrongdoings.
Will he learn from this short and powerful lesson that his mother is teaching him? Only Father time can tell.
In the meanwhile fresh wind blows through the air, unpolluted by the man-made sounds and dirty chemicals, the birds chirp and the plants flower and the Sun is shining brightly in the clear skies.
Photographs shot on my OnePlus7T
The entire world went through the unexpected agony of the pandemic. However, for some it was an opportunity and for many it was a terror. How many of us have learnt lessons from the pandemic? How many of us have executed our learning into practice?
ReplyDeleteThe title of the story is so apt! The story has the elements of beauty, romance, thrill, horror and the 'moral'. Your choice of words keep the reader hooked on to reading, your perspective is an eye-opener, the description of nature and the situation is amazing and the analogies highlight the focal points.
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