Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Sounds of Serenity






Actually it's the start of a new month and i thought i would have lots to say after the reunion and that it is going to be a blog filled with fun and laughter and lots of pictures of going berserk...animated discussions on catching up on lost times...hugs...and more hugs.
But all i can say is maybe i was unlucky.Maybe i took all the Facebook planning seriously...maybe i was just too hopeful.It so happened that no one except me and this other friend who was having her book launch there, turned up.
But i cannot say however that my trip came to nothing because i had three missions of which only one remained unfulfilled but the rest in a way compensated for the loss to such an extent that i can be happy about my trip.2 out of 3 is definitely not a bad score...maybe i cannot say my trip was perfect but definitely justified.
So this blog should turn me towards what i can really talk about with happiness.Although i have been meaning to for quite a while, i think today is best.



(when proceeding to the next link ie www.costaricabirds.com... which is also sound based kindly pause this music as this will continue and you will not be able to hear nature's true symphony)

As i am on to my next nature trip i can't help but acknowledge what happened to me on my last trip to Coorg which erupted something in me which was not quite dead but dormant actually. i had been bereft of listening to
nature at it's best. That which is serene and the rejuvenating . These sounds of nature i realised i had forgotten and was now missing so badly.
The gentle rustle of leaves in the breeze, sounds of rare birds, crickets as they hummed in the coffee and spice plantations was what Coorg offered me amidst breathtaking lush green landscapes.
It was here that i heard after a really long time the natural sound of nightfall and the breaking of the dawn.For the homestay that i had chosen was away from the main town right into the midst of Coffee and spice plantations.
Since i am poor at capturing skills i can best rely on this blogger once again called Karthick to give the best of Coorg in his own special way http://karthikclicks.blogspot.com/2008/09/among-coffee-beans-and-pepper-trees-in.html

i can only talk about how i understood my true nature here in Coorg amidst all the spectacular natural beauty and the music of nature.
Dense green vegetation here with Silver Oaks, (looking sort of sanitized) Eucalyptus, Black wood, Rose wood, Benteak, Indian Kino tree, Flame of the forest and lots of thick bamboo thickets everywhere.i may not be able to list the variety but i know how pleased i was to gorge my eyes on all the trees and all the flora typically abundant in the hills.
Found the sounds of nature mysterious and enigmatic and very soothing. Some call of the birds i had never heard before would force me to look into the direction where i would desperately try to spot the bird.
The creaking of the bamboo as the slender but sturdy branches rubbed against each other would make me stop talking as i would try to figure out the rhythm or if they had some unheard off beat to this kruck!kruck!. i realised it was the most amazing jazz of sorts and that i should just listen as much as i can for soon i would be in a position to hear them in my thoughts only.
i wished then to capture it all. i wished then to be a photographer or perhaps a naturalist who would go on dwelling in such locales studying, observing , learning and staying connected to nature in a way that would cure me of all the blasphemy and the cacophony so much typical of a busy metropolitan.

i guess i am ready now to distinguish between want and need.To distinguish between the fake and the real.To appreciate the sounds of silence.
Submitting to where i do not belong i guess i am ready to go back to my roots which i have vehemently denied all this while.Madly trying to fit in, aping what is not mine,conforming to what i am most uncomfortable with i guess i am a poor lost soul who is looking for a haven which exits and yet i have ignored it all this while.
A creature of this earth and so comfortable with nature which allows me to be me i wish i could walk into the woods and never come back.Never come back to the city with it's honking sounds, the din of which drowns the music that i my heart craves and my ears yearn to hear.


i am unable to decide what beckons me to what city dwellers call THE WILD. Whether it is that image of raindrops on the leaves looking like diamonds as sunlight fell on them or was it the pitter patter sound of rains falling softly on the lush green vegetation.So is it the sight or the sound?


i want to wake up to the call of birds and rustle of trees and to watch when that MAGIC happens. When everything standing still gets a signal from some unknown source and it springs to action, to movement, to an invisible rhythm which is the harbinger of life.Maybe these dissonant anthems that i am desperate to hear would be like this http://www.costaricanbirds.com/Sound%20Poem2.htm (Don't be in a hurry and listen to what i am listening as when you open this link and start to read the sounds will slowly surprise you) . Maybe i might not get to hear all of this and more but whatever it will be will not yell me into a startling wakefulness.It may not replace the gentle soothing words of Ma when she would come with tea and caress me and say ,''Badki uth ja beta Suraj devta chadh aaye hain" (Badki get up child the Sun God is already high in the sky) but definitely it will caress me enough to open my eyes slowly and familiarise myself with it's soft symphony.
It will be the kind of music that i want to wake up to and then later at bedtime something similar should lull me to sleep.Something that resembles these dissonant sounds and not the blabber on TV and the incessant sounds of traffic on the road that never sleeps.

When Paul Simon wrote this song called 'Sounds of Silence' i read somewhere that he never assumed it to have any meaning but to me this song now has a profound meaning.i can relate it to the stream of conciousness that i am drifting into.
Restless and troubled with the cacophony, we have become accustomed too and are addicted to a whole lot more as technology advances , i am scared we are soon going to be hearing impaired.
i want to shut out these and instead turn to the sound of nature which in every way is the sound of silence.When we for once can remain aloof to our own phoney voices and our silly gizmos and just listen to what nature is desperately trying to tell us.That it is in her lap that we will eventually find all that solace that we are looking for and not in these artificial gizmos and gadgets that offer nothing more than just some temporary artificial beat which we outgrow so effortlessly and so quickly.Can or has anyone outgrown a mothers caress as she tries each time to soothe our stress or tensions away? Maybe that is why when we are in distress the only word that echoes is Ma! Ma!!

Also while we try to cling on to these artificial man made sounds here again the one that holds us is that one which beats the same lub dub lub dub of our own beating hearts.
As these play and mostly in our hearts while we try to correlate our senses with music don't we often see ourselves in a wide field of golden wilderness or perhaps along the vast stretches of some water body , maybe a lake or stream or even ocean? Or perhaps wander in a rain forest surrounded amidst the glitter of jaded green or emerald green? Think about this next time when you listen to some symphony.In your mind's eye you would be visualising nature itself, in a way that pleases you the most.
i know this time i'm really listening to the sounds of silence.Are you ...?



Image courtesy:http://www.fotosearch.com
                       :http://www.istockphoto.com

18 comments:

  1. Awwww...That reunion tghing didnt materialised...Bad bad...

    Anyways that Coorg beauty would have more than made for it naaa...Have heard a lot about that place..Cool pics thse

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  2. kaafi hara-bhara post hai yeh...

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  3. @Nish yeah that thingy did not come through...so cooling my heels with these.Thanks for reading.:)

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  4. @Aakaash hahaha!!... 'HARA BHARA' i really like the way you put it.Thanks sonna !!

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  5. yajnaseni (class6)June 4, 2010 at 1:45 AM

    the sound poem made me feel adventurous and i felt one amongst the flora and fauna in rain forest.
    :)

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  6. lets make it to coorg.iwant to feel the same.i need rejuvenation desperately.

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  7. @Yajnaseni thanks Doll for taking time out from ur projects,homework and 1st term exam preparation to go through my blog.Surefire!! i know u too well to know how thrilled u would be to hear those sounds.Hugs Doll and thanks a ton :)

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  8. @Gauri thank you dear sis for raeding and let me tell you this...if there is anyone i'd love to be with in all these nature trails it is YOU.i know u will believe me in this.i just wish for ur wish to come true soon...too soon :)

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  9. Those sound clips were too cool although i feel city bred that we are we would want to come back to it.Just sounding realist and less of a romantic but surely any such is definitely a welcome break.

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  10. @Anonymous thank you for reading and appreciating the sound clips and maybe u r right.Maybe it a phase i am going through where sick and tired and bored with the city life i want to retire to a dream haven near a stream amidst all these sounds.

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  11. Shivani, once again an excellent post on serene nature in abundance. I have been to Coorg about eight years back. It's an idyllic setting for a peaceful getaway nestled amidst vast coffee plantations, pepper corn vines and stately silver oak trees. The pleasures of the evergreen forests of the Western Ghats, fresh air, the sounds of the jungle and the flowing stream…It's enchanting indeed. Am already planning a visit there soon. Thanks to your blog post.

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  12. @Tandarin thank you for what i lacked in words you said it all.Yeah planning to go shortly to Thakkady and maybe this time i hope i am not too lousy with my camera.But tell you what...the pristine beauty of nature cannot be captured and kept...it has to be experienced.
    i feel glad that you find my post igniting that craving in you once again.Happy! very Happy :)

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  13. Sad that the reunion didn't happen. As I said in the last comment, even our school-reunion was sort of cancelled.

    This post is among the best I have read here. The paragraph starting with "i want to wake up to the call of birds and rustle of trees ....." is priceless.
    Your post reminds me of our bike-trips through Coorg, and other places along the Paschim Ghat and Nilgiri and the dense rainforests at the foothills. Some of the places are so incredibly beautiful and serene!

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  14. @Raja you now sound a true Raja of words.
    a) because you called this among the best so i an overjoyed :)
    b)loved to hear the you share the same instincts as many of us who find these ''so incredibly beautiful and serene''.
    Thank you so much and wait eagerly for more of u.Maybe now u can start one on what i just mentioned in Anirban's post.Sry i sort of called out to you in his comment box.Hope he does not mind and hope u don't mind.Let peace prevail amongst us at least.Thathastu!!

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  15. I don't mind at all. Hope he doesn't as well.

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  16. @Raja thanks and now you are the harbinger of peace.

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  17. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful post. Took me back again to kerala. I have promised myself to gift a trip to coorg as well. Thanks for sharing the link. I am a die hard nature lover too. Did not know what i was missing until my trip to kerala. Now that i know, i will grab any such chance greedily.Nature's sound of silence is surely the best as you rightly said. I just love the way you thoughts are brought forth, particularly this one concerning nature.I have downloaded the rainforest video and put it on to my mp3 using a converter. Will make it a point to listen to it every night before sleep!

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  18. @Kiran thanks for appreciating what i thought would catch ur attention.
    More glad that u found the rainforest video as appealing.
    Catch up with you later on more of this...as i relate my own discoveries and experiences.
    i should be any day now :)

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