Walk in the park# life's
lesson
A bright Saturday early morning, overcast Delhi skies, I tie my
favourite sneakers and set out for a walk in the park. Never realized, as to
how every step that I took, I got a clearer picture of life. It seemed the
whole circle of life was moving in this park right front of my eyes.
Most
of the faces were unfamiliar. The faces I remember from my childhood days
seemed to have crossed over to the other dimension. The park was alive with
life. Toddlers in their prams, children playing sports, young people running or
walking, elderly chitchatting on benches, few doing exercise in open gym. Green
grass patch had small group of yoga class. The centre clearing was stage for
hip hop dance class. This sight left me spellbound. Birds were singing in harmony,
butterflies added their fluttering notes, their rhythm, squirrels running from
one tree to another. I felt overwhelmed. I could visualize myself in different
age groups in all these scenes. My trance was broken by “ Hello Juju!”.
I
turned around and saw my neighbour with her mother. The recognition brought a
lump in my throat. The elderly lady was a strict person who used to poke her
nose in all our play activities be it on the road or in the park. She always
had some nasty discouraging comment. Once a strong women, was now a frail person
with Alziehmer's and required help to walk. Greetings exchanged, I completed my
walk. All throughout parallel scenes were played in my mind. The spots where I
was three decades ago had new children and faces of many neighbours were
missing.
Mother
Earth had just taught me yet another lesson of meaning of circle of life. I am
reminded of lines from the famous song - “Main pal do pal ka shayar hoon, pal
do pal meri kahani hai …Kal aur aayeinge mujhse behtar gaane wale aur tumse
behtar sunne wale….” ( I am a poet for few moments and so is my poetry …..tomorrow
new poets will be there and so will be new audience…”).
Enjoy
the miracle called “Life”.
Love,
Juju.