Wordsmiths, may your tribe increase!
It is the end of March now, spring is yet to burst out. We have had an unusual winter with major dips and highs; there were warm days but come February, we have been in a cold snap ( read below zero degrees) and there is yet one more impending one, as I write this!
Yet, the air around me now is pregnant, heaving with unborn life, the buds are there in trees and the trees seem to be holding on to them magically- not yet letting them bloom, a few brave early flowers here and there - daffodils, primulas, some brave snails and earthworms making an early appearance. Life seems to be on a fine line, holding on, I can almost hear the millions stirrings around me, all just waiting these few precious degrees of sun's warmth. Life and its myriad possibilities, I often find myself pausing in awe, as I wait for the fecundity of Mother Earth to unfurl in all it's glory. Almost like an inhalation and waiting to exhale, the threshold, almost there but not yet! How long will it hold on before everything bursts out!
The beginning of spring for me is always when I see daffodils. Yes, the snowdrops and blue-bells make an early February appearance, yet daffodils for me, are somehow the harbingers of spring. As soon as I see these flowers, I inevitably reach out to read William Wordsworth's poem -"The Daffodils", the beauty and simplicity of the verses never failing to enthrall me. Sheer poetic magic!
Especially after a long, harsh, cold, dark, desolate winter in black and white, the effect of seeing green foliage and yellow flowers can't really be explained, the yellow flowers a throwback to warm sunny days, hope and infinite possibilities, the yearly renewal of the romance with the Sun God, before he turns away yet again!
As I read the poem again and again, I think of the beauty of the verses, man-made, that bring so much joy, an ode to Nature, a perfect complement! The poem puts me in jocund company, painting a beautiful masterpiece in my mind, time and again!
During an especially rainy December in Madras, when most of the bed-rooms became laundry rooms with clotheslines and the ceiling fans were on duty 24x7, during a chance encounter Mrs. Ramanan remarked - Enga Veetile Kodi Katti Parakarthu(my home is fluttering with victorious flags) referring to the clotheslines fluttering under the ceiling fans. It was a funny take on a common complaint, evoking smiles in everyone.
And in one of her short stories describing a Punjabi Mama eating Masala Dosa at a restaurant, she writes - before proceeding to eat, he disarmed the dosa (moved the fork and knife aside) and started eating with bare hands. Disarmed, ha ha, whenever I see Masala Dosa wih knife and fork, I remember this and end up smiling.
The beauty of words - these wordsmiths who add so much aesthetic and joy to our life, who through their words make themselves immortal, long live their tribe and increase!
Recently as I was banging around my kitchen during a particularly energetic bout of cooking, my little one clapped his hands and exclaimed - Ah, the sauce-pan band has started! Compared to the adult gripe of - so much noise, can you tone it down a bit, this instead brought a smile and everyone now and then, I smile, Sauce-pan band, hey!
Using the much used clique - 'Never underestimate the power of common words' - words are worth a million smiles, for the joy of beautiful words is indeed immortal!