Morning Joys in the City





 

My husband and I recently moved from our house amidst green landscapes, on the outskirts of Bangalore city, into a new apartment. With all amenities right at our doorstep, everyday life is comfortable in the lively multi-generational community that populates the apartment complex. Moreover, our access to cultural events and entertainment has improved significantly.

But surrounded by construction of more apartments, metro lines, malls, traffic, I miss the feel of enriching nature around especially during morning walks. However having opted to move here I really have no right to complain. So I changed tactics, maybe my attitude? I looked for ‘little joys’ and see what I found!

Most mornings in the lift I meet Elsa the lovable Labrador in our block. I pat her in greeting; she wags her tail but is too distracted to pay more attention to me. She’s waiting, almost with bated breath, for the lift doors to open; when they do on the ground floor she shoots out!

I get on to the apartment walkway. On school days I see moms, dads and kids waiting. Some kids are playing, chatting, others still sleepy eyed; a mom is coaxing her little girl to finish eating fruit, a late comer lugging a heavy schoolbag rushes past me into the waiting bus. I walk out through the main gate to the road outside, which is actually a gravel laden path awaiting the long overdue asphalt coat. Auto-rickshaws, bikes, school buses, cars, trucks, water-tanker-tractors drive past throwing up showers of mud!

I cross over to the open play ground on the other side and start walking briskly. A group of young men are playing cricket on the rough and ready pitch in the middle of the ground. I hear them shouting, egging on the fielder who is racing towards the ball; he gets it, throws it at the stumps and ……..misses…… to the sound of a collective groan. Then there’s the ‘runner’ who does several rounds of the ground, taking short breaks in between when he sits on a large stone sipping water. Some days a bunch of kids play their own game of cricket, but spend more time arguing about rules! “Kaapi ayitha?” two women greet me cheerfully as they walk past in the opposite direction. I feel an undeclared camaraderie with all these “regulars”! At the far end of the ground overgrown shrubs and weeds jostle for space. As I get closer I see butterflies, dragonflies hovering around silently. Makes me think - they don’t complain about depleting greens or polluting air. They just go about living.

I leave the ground and “trek” further up the road alongside groups of construction workers wearing yellow helmets. I walk past a small makeshift roadside temple and do quick salutes to the god inside when I see a man bend double and stretch his hand into the temple. To my astonishment he brings out a cooking gas cylinder! What on earth ….I think. 

I continue walking keeping safe distance from a bunch of stray dogs. On reaching the narrow tree-lined streets further up I turn off the road. There are houses on both sides. I walk through trying to identify the trees. I recognize the shiny new leaves of the ‘Honge mara’, there’s Singapore Cherry, Mangoes hanging, Neem, fading Copper Pods, bright Gulmohar blooms . Mynas hop around, squirrels dart up and down. Women sprinkle water in front of their homes and draw ‘‘Rangoli’.  A little boy comes running excitedly towards his gate only to tumble and fall right where his mother is standing. About to burst into tears, he catches my eye. I make a sympathetic face which seems to stem the flow! His mother smiles at me. Cars, bikes are getting washed. A man is perched cozily within the low branches of a roadside tree speaking into his mobile phone.

Soon I head home. Back on the apartment walkway I stop to chat with friends before taking the lift to our eleventh floor apartment. I pick up the newspaper and go sit in the balcony. In the distance I see the green canopy of a large Rain Tree, hear a Koel call out. I feel refreshed, recharged ……..like I have reclaimed my morning joys …….