SUMMER FIESTA

In current times, travel for leisure is not feasible, our environs are our destinations. There is time to cherish nature and reflect upon life. Isn’t travel all this?

With the first rays of the sun everything comes to life. Plants and flowers look delightful as if new life has come into them. Trees are glimmering in the golden light of the morning sun. There is serenity in the environment before the hustle and bustle of the day begins. One solitary magpie robin is whistling a sweet song, perched on the top of the tree, with a watchful eye for a mate. The sunbird is enjoying the nectar from the fire bush and singing a sweet song of gratitude. The gregarious babblers are giving background music to the morning raga of nature. Magpie’s symphonic melody and bulbul’s rhythmic song is soothing and prepares you for the heat of the day. 

Summer air is fragrant with the colorful cannas, pink and yellow oleanders, zinnias and pristine white satinwood. Lustrous leaves and petite flowers of begonias are a sight to behold in the heat of summers. The wild and beautiful periwinkle is blooming happily.  The winter annual petunias and spring roses are also surviving with water, sunshine and care.

 Sitting in the garden; amongst flowers and birds, relishing the morning dew drops on the grass is relaxing before the heat of the day picks up. In the early morning silence, only observing the sights and sounds of nature is true meditation for the nature lover in me. Vibrancy of nature can make any nature lover curious with the hunger to explore more.

As the day is progressing the seven sisters are busy looking around the garden for food before the day heats up and they will hide in some shady corner of a tree to protect themselves from the heat. The beautiful parrot is perched on top the peepal tree soaking the sun after a watery mud bath in the garden fountain. Soon babblers too get the confidence to enjoy the muddy bath in the garden. Bulbuls do not want to be left behind so they too join in, mesmerizing my soul. My little cocker spaniel too is soaked with the wet mud enjoying the coolness. This becomes a daily ritual and he enjoys every moment of chasing and playing with the birds. He loves being a total ‘Jungle Ka Raja’ of his garden kingdom.

Afternoons have become hot but mornings and evenings are still in love with the spring. Hot summer afternoons are meant to be spent indoors with the company of loved ones; books and board games for company and of course the essential homemade cool drinks to satiate and rejuvenate ourselves.

Bright red fire bushes stand alongside the vibrant yellow golden showers and the orange cannas with the setting sun in the background look like a divine painting of Supreme Being. It’s wonderful to walk on the wet grass in the evenings and see your worries wash away.

The celestial light show of fire flies in the dark of the night seem like the star and the sky have descended down.

 British writer Jenny Uglow rightly says, “We might think we are nurturing our garden, but it’s our garden that is really nurturing us.”