My little daughter is 3 months old for today. She’s growing up to be quite a charm. One thing she likes to do is ‘walk’. She doesn’t like to stay at one place, so she always lifts her small hands and indicates that she needs to ‘walk’. So we take her and walk around the garden, showing her what she likes to see. That’s a usual routine in my life now.
This morning too, I took her for the ‘walk’. The heat that lasted for about 2 months has vanished. The rains have started and it has rained heavily last night. Tiny mushrooms were bobbing their heads from the grass, where the grass itself was covered with drops of rain beads from last night. The grass was overgrown, since my dad couldn’t mow it recently, since he was so ‘busy’ with the baby. Nevertheless, the grass provided a soft velvet blanket below my feet. The wind was so cool: not that it was too chilly, but a soft blend of mint and with a dew-like moist. She started to look around, catching her eyes on the colorful flowers. There were red and yellow carnations. Another one was a blend of yellow and mild orange. It’s May! The month of flowers! The arch above the gate was groped by a vine of white and purple trumpet flowers. The most attractive thing was the swarm of orange flowers conquering the garden. That’s an eye-catcher for her. Then she turned her eyes towards the sky. From where I stood, the sky was a perfect glaze of milky blue, filled with a puffy cloud or two here and there. But from the distance, I could hear the slow rumble of an incoming rain. When I looked, I noticed the grey, gloomy layers in the sky in a distance. She started watching the sky too.
The papaya trees were heavy with ripe papayas. I could feel her listening to the sounds around her. Parrots!! Loads of them! The chirp of the birds was everywhere and I couldn’t figure out each sound by my own as well. There were like thousands of squirrels everywhere.. up in the coconut trees.. on the roof.. on the wall… Everywhere!! They’re so loud and reminded me of triggered alarm clocks! The green was everywhere! She was watching everything with the cool breeze caressing her tiny body. Then I took her near the wall. Since it’s the Wesak season, Wesak lanterns were already hanged at my neighbor’s place. The Buddhist flags are so colorful; she couldn’t help noticing them too. After a moment, a gush of cold air rushed through the garden and I realized that it’s the symbol of a rain coming our way. I took her back to the house. She looked disappointed. Just as I took her inside, the rain started, drizzling slowly, making the wind chillier.
She enjoys it all. I was thinking.. this is how we grew up when we were small too, with all this greenery, sounds and fresh air. Now we spend most of our time in the polluted city, because of our jobs. We’re forced to do that. My little daughter is still lucky to have this greenery and space. But one day, we’ll have to move back to the city, where it makes our lives ‘easier’ like clockwork figures, facing the same daily routine day by day. One day, she’ll have to get into that rush too. Then I wished for her to find a way to stay out of that rush and the noisy city.. Maybe she’ll be able to do that. I still love this greenery, but I can’t linger here. So I again wished that the things should someday change for my little daughter
