3. Seeing

17 April 2015

And then the unseasonal heavy summer rains begin. You reach earlier in the morning, on a Friday. You were to be out that weekend, and you didn’t want to miss your weekly ritual, so you wake up early and come to the park before the mad rush to work. If you really want to do something, you will find ways.

It had rained furiously in the night, a regular summer thunderstorm, and there were water-marks all over the tree.

You are mesmerized by the chorus of bird song, as always. Parakeets, mynahs, barbets, sunbirds, kites, other birds you don't know the names of.

You had reached early, and it was still fairly dark. But suddenly, between 7 and 7.15, the park is flooded with light, fingers of gold cutting through the mist between the trees. It is sheer magic.

And you notice things about the tree you hadn't seen before. That it has an elephant eye. That it has "rings of Saturn". That it has skirts frozen in mid-twirl. You, obviously, are in love. :) You have even begun to press your face to the tree and talk to it. You are content.

You are amazed that every time you return, you notice something you hadn't seen before. The tree is always the same, and eternally new.

The full series here: http://whiletheworldisgoingplaces.blogspot.in/search/label/Notes_from_a_Ritual