Tuesday, December 15, 2009

A brother for Life

My younger brother, Saujas is a very important part of our family. He is lively, bright ,talkative and very naughty and I am the complete opposite. The name saujas means full of energy and to my mothers uttermost dismay he completely lives up to it. I have mixed feelings towards my little brother and I think he does too. Deep inside we both adore each other but on the outside we act as if we hate each other. Our relationship is the perfect example of sibling rivalry. He is always hitting me and fighting with me. He also goes around snooping through all my drawers and papers as if its his job to spy on me. Hes 7 and im 13 so there is a 6 years gap between us ,which is a lot. My mother's constantly nagging me to teach him and help him but we are hardly ever on talking terms with each other. I like talking to him and playing with him but somehow that hardly ever happens. But out of all the memories that I have of him the ones that stand out the most are the times he has come up to me to tell me that he loves me or to hug or kiss me for absolutely no reason. Whenever people see my little brother they go like “oh! So sweet!” or “oh! So cute” and I tell them to try living with him.But its hard to even imagine life without this young and playful soul. He makes me look at people , the world and life in a completely different perspective. His ideas and aspirations and especially his intellect never fail to inspire and astonish me. So, even though life with him is hardly bearable, life without him would be unbearable.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Call of the Wild

I stepped into the canter. It was 6:15 in the morning. I could feel the cold engulfing my body inch by inch. My legs had turned to ice and the weather was not showing any sympathy. When the canter started moving it was like a war. The canter fighting through the wind and moving forward while the inwardly rushing wind slicing through us in return. I was not thinking, not moving. Everything was blurred. As if the whole world and time itself had stopped but somehow we were still moving.

We finally entered the forest and were mesmerized by the sudden change in the air, in the surrounding and the general aura of the place. As if the gate to the forest had been a gate dividing two completely different worlds which were existing right next to each other. Everything was quiet and there was a feeling of existence of exotic life that now hung in the air.

We started moving, driving deeper and deeper into the forest. There were trees of different colours ,shapes and sizes all around. Some a fresh green depicting summer, some ice cold depicting winter and some green with bright red flowers giving the feeling of autumn. All different but still co-existing . I realized how beautiful nature is on the outside and the inside. We humans could learn so much from it if we tried. From the canter I could see the distant chocolate brown mountains standing tall in front of the ice blue sky, where dawn was breaking.

We could hear the twittering of the sparrow and the “ DID YOU DO IT!” of the lapwing. Two beautiful sounds together making a harmonious melody.

The bright yellow of the grass below matched that of the sun overhead.

Now moving at a steady pace, we could see hundreds of langoors playing in the trees high above and spotted deer eating the grass below. We interrupted a fight mid air between two bucks. Suddenly, we heard an alarm call which scythed right trough the tranquility of the forest with its sharp notes. Everyone, humans and animals, were on red alert. The feeling of death and anxiety now hung in the air. We were all holing our breath and waiting. At first nothing happened then as if mocking us all it appeared from somewhere in the dark holds of the forest. The magnificent beast took our breath away. Its sheer beauty bewitched us all. The orange black stripes standing out against the deep green of the jungle. The yellow eyes watching us but showing no mercy. Its strength and ferociousness was felt by us all.It was no mistaking that he was the king of the jungle. Soon it disappeared into the forest again. We were all content now as we had seen the main attraction, the tiger.

As we reached the end of the ride, we saw many exotic birds. The peacock, covered with vibrant colours and a neck which was a deep and magical blue.

The colours were purer than I had ever seen before. The kingfisher, which had pale yellow and blue feathers , looking pretty next to the green of the water. Last but not the least we saw the snake bird. It had a long black neck which moved flawlessly and with a lot of grace just like a snake.

We finally passed through the gates again and entered the other world ending our trip to the forest with just memories to remind us of it.