Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Nature's Healing Touch


Going for an outing is always a joy.
This weekend, I along with my wife and three friends, went for an outing to a place near Satara in Maharashtra.
Despite the fact that the long weekend made several families to rush out of the commotion of the city, we managed to figure out a place which was kind of away from the popular view.

Nature has an impeccable quality to just lay all thoughts to nought. Mountains, lakes, birds, clear sky, infite number of trees just lie there. As if they all wait for us to 'learn' from them on what is not going right in our lives. Nature it seems is a silent physician. It heals the mind by just being there. It seems to have the answer to all our questions yet maintains the humility of a lamb.

I remember the calm surface of lake with gurgling sound elegantly surrounded by majestic mountains. The gradually changing tint of the sky around sunset to a stage where it is
completely dark and the sky gets all studded by beautiful stars. It whispers- 'Let each person absorb all this the way it appeals to him/her'. No one can escape its grace, its 'naturalness', its depth, its power, its mystery...

The serenity of the place invited us to visit it another day during morning hours when it had new gifts to offer in the form of cows coming in from nowhere with lovely chime of bells dangling around their necks grazing the pasture with an absence of urgency which is at complete contrast to the commotion of city life.

We visited a vast plateau, an old temple perched on a dilapitated fortress on top of a hill, met a farmer who showed us his farms of sugarcane, tomatoes, strawberry etc.

I know lives can't be lead by staying by the side of a lake, sharing stories with friends on a hill top, climbing trees and watching meditatively at the setting sun, but still these moments remind us about the mundaneness which we so easily accept as part of our city lives.

Amongst several lessons which I learn from such trips and interactions with friends, the one which I hold dearest is to regularly sever oneself from the outer life and dive in search of something which is more constant.

To me, Nature with its qualities seems to be the external manifestation of that Inner Oasis.
I thank my friends (Kapil, Abhishek and Shilpa) for this lovely opportunity.

4 comments:

Ankur Chandra said...

very nice description.. :-)
Today morning also I felt about fast life in city when I in a calm mood got out of the train and noticed that everybody was just running to catch another train..

Ujjwal said...

Thanks friend. :)

Probably as much as that running is necessary to sustain the economic needs of such a vast population, this balance with nature is equally essential to really stay in a serene state,

Jui Chitre Deshmukh said...

could so relate to this post ujjwal. around same time we drove past satara on our way to goa.. the landscape was same for us too. we halted at a lake in sawantwadi which was a lot like the lake you talked abt here ..

Ujjwal said...

Great to see you visit my blog, Jui :)

I feel Maharashtra is blessed with a lot of natural beauty and great culture.