Natural Lessons Of Differences

The magic of trees, open skies, meandering rivers, thick forests, playful gardens with visual bridges through it – all these can teach us to look at the variegated patterns of life in the colours of nature.

- Siddhartha Das

As a child, in school and at home, there was a ritual every monsoon to plant seeds and saplings. The excitement that followed to see the little shoots become bigger was difficult to define. It felt like I had created something meaningful, even if my own role in it was perfunctory. This joy wasn’t unique to me. In school, many of us who had planted seeds and saplings would return to the scene regularly to see how they were faring and if they needed some more love and care. Over the weeks, months and years that followed, most of them perished, and it felt like I had somehow failed them. A couple of them that survived, I remember a neem and a palash, filled me up with a quiet pride. As years went by, I realised that the truest beauty and art is nature. It’s incredible; left to its own devices, it endures and always surprises.