The raw, uncut, pristine flock

Today, I was given the honour of reviewing my daughter's artwork. I call it an honour because arts is something built upon since my childhood days when my father had spotted my early talent and had rewarded me consistently based on the quality of my artwork and more so for how much he used to like my piece of abstraction represented on a sheet of paper. Then I had soon blossomed into a full-fledged painter and had begun painting aeroplanes, flowers, faces of beautiful people, parrots and then nature. It was this transformation from aeroplanes to nature that had captured my imagination so much so that I still benefit from that. Whenever I get drowned in the depression given by the man-made structures, there is something that I can sense and smell from the perfume of the air that comes to my rescue to provide bright and vivid creatures of nature that I can cling to. Today was an inch perfect example of that. I had got the chance to help my daughter with drawing a large tree draped under the hot Sun and housing a woodpecker and above all a sweet squirrel. The fluffy tail of that cute animal piqued my interest so much that I began looking at the different colours and hues that don its body. I could quickly spot a pattern with three colours present on its body. Later, I also realized that it can become a pet for the humans because of the sweet camaraderie it shares with us. I was stunned to see the raw speed of such a tiny creature yet a pristine and a rich flock of hair on its fluffy tail and elsewhere on its near invisible body. No wonder humans have been inspired by this creature and made movies such as Ice Age and its sequels. It has not been raining since several weeks in various parts of north India. A primary reason is either too much pollution of air due to vehicles occupying the road or the cruel trimming of trees as if they deserve a haircut during this summer season. If we would have allowed the vast trees to live freely and not chopped off the leaves and the branches from it, then we would not have been bothering about why the God has kept us bereft from the beautiful rain. This event of my virtually seeing a squirrel capturing my imagination which the tall buildings or the guzzling cars acting as spoilers has been enough to make me realize the importance of living with the nature and being with the nature at all times. It might rain tomorrow as is predicted by the Indian Meteorology Department and people may use that water to wash all the sins they have committed in the past. However, it is the smell of the rain and even more important the smell of the predicted rain that I am more interested in, and I have already got the fragrance of that smell! I would like to end this piece of artwork by saying that the nature has taught me to stay humble, happy, hopeful and hirsute in all times.