Wednesday, March 12, 2008
A Quiet Lane
Today I took a walk down a quiet, shady lane, and went back in time.
I had not taken my car today, and after class at Besant Nagar, thought I would walk up to the nearest ATM. I walked down a lane that I must have zipped through numerous times, and only today I really saw it. Intent on driving safely, I had not noticed the old genteel houses, or the apartments built to blend into the greenery. Lovely old trees spread their branches across the road, diffusing the sunlight. It reminded me of the lovely lanes of my childhood in Madurai and Coimbatore, when life was still simple, and it was safe to play on the streets.
The silence was soothing, broken only gently by the conversation of the ironing man on the roadside with the maid who had just come to dump the garbage. I walked down, enjoying the sights and sounds (or lack of them).
Further down the street, I was surprised to see an old house had been pulled down. I had not come here for a month, and in that time, the house had been reduced to dust, the aluminium sheets had been put up around the plot, and a sign board announced the launching of a new housing project.
Each house that is pulled down takes with it memories of a different era, when we had the time and inclination to build houses not just to live in, but to bequeath to our children. They were big, not to impress the neighbours (well,maybe!), but also to house our large extended families. Soon, a large apartment complex will come up, and new cars will zip up and down this quiet lane. And it will not be quiet anymore.
Ah, such is life!
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7 comments:
Hi Meena! I discovered that you have just started this blog! Nice seeing you and reading what you write!
witnessing what is happening around with awareness is a wonderful experience.
Thank you fruitu, and welcome! Yes,witnessing with awareness is indeed a wonderful experience.Words cannot adequately describe it.
Meena.
Good one....What you've described happens sometimes with me too...especially when I take an early evening walk in the narrow lanes and gardens near my office. The sights and sounds trigger long forgotten memories, sometimes reminding me not to rush through life in a hurry, to slow down and breathe easy.
You are right,Vishwa.We tend to rush through life in a desperate hurry to reach nowhere. We need moments like this to remind us to slow down.
Everyone in the world seems to be in a hurry to go somewhere. Even here, Raji and I not having kids around, seem to be the only people who have the time and space for anything.
When a person does not budget his or her time for work, relaxation etc you will miss out on the small things in life that matter.
One reason why I love Florida, over any other part of the US, especially the North East and California. Here time moves at a relaxed pace. Raji and I make it a point to drive along highway A1A right on the ATLANTIC. The difference is that unlike California it is serene with no traffic, just you, your thoughts and nature at it's purest and the Blue/Green ocean. Another thing is that we do not allow skyscrapers for the most part in Palm Beach County and so preservation is very important. A few months back I killed a snake in my driveway :-)
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