Rustling of Leaves...

Assalamu Alaikum my dear reader friends,
Here I am, after a long pause, back to infotain you with the buzzing nuances of life...
Wish you had been with me on this roller coaster "space-travel" kinda ride that I'm going through right now... Haha.. I would say it's been one hell of a ride... yes, it was exhilarating, thrilling and thoughtful!

The joggers' lane at our housing society

Presently I'm in Chennai. I live in a society, where lifestyle is booming with speed, valour, friendship, and a serendipity of mixed emotions. I had to go through a very long process of preparation mentally and physically to pull myself into Chennai's sizzling chromosphere! 

Well, as usual I take my long evening walks inside our housing society, where I presume I have a lot of space for myself to be "me". I quietly love the experience!! Of peekabooing through the canopies and listening to the endless arpeggios of the Cuckoo.. Additionally, what enhances my spirit with more like a visual pleasantry, is the diversity of people that I come across in these "joggers' parks": some jogging, some walking, some crouching and some crawling..!!! 
In spite of the cultural differences people here, are so warm-hearted and welcoming that you might never notice when you will be so closely acclimatized to this amazing "City of hopes". I think people outside Chennai "need" to know that the stereotypical city that they've been informed of, by the media or by any other medium, is just a hype--a paratextual hindrance to the actuality of life!

Luckily, I also found that there is a "home for the aged" inside our apartments. And yes I do get to converse with these lovely souls, in the middle of my strolling moments. There are so many stories to be heard of, than to be told, I could perceive from the tear-laden eyes of these precious gentle souls.

I don't know, whether to debate here about the politics of wandering or about geriatrics. But yes, I'd insist, my friends, that there is a lot to be excavated from the treasures of life and the pleasures of living, than to be overloaded with the dreariness of "technology invaded solitude".

Here, I'd love to introduce you all to this wonderful treatise on walking--"WANDERLUST" by Rebecca Solnit. In this book Solnit claims that we are dumped in a "series of interiors" that curb us from knowing what we need to know. She excellently compares the right to stroll, to the politics of culture and philosophy. She gives a myriad of examples of real people to support her arguments. The right of women to wander, as do men freely, is the most constrained part of our social culture, observes Solnit.

The Human mind and body, as foretold by Socrates should be: "a free mind in a free body". Solnit infers that since the millennium, people have been jammed in their smartphone apps and expect everything to be done comfortably, right from the insides of their office cabins or kitchens. The Humans have become addicted to "arrival" than the "acquisition". They find bliss more in the arrival of products at their doorstep, than in going out and acquiring the experience of "hunt" for the same product. What "walking" gifts us with, is the infinite joy of coming back home with loads of fresh thoughts and experiences, insists Solnit. Yes, it was true in my case too. 
I was overwhelmed by the kaleidoscopic expressions in people and in nature. I feel alive, and rejuvenated once I'm back from my everyday stroll. I'd insist all my readers to definitely pursue the art of acquiring health and happiness from "Travel" and "Wandering". Solnit affirms that anyone dissuaded from "Walking" and its innumerable benefits, are the ones "denied of a vast portion of their humanity".

Hence dear readers, let us all imbibe in us "a spirit to acquire from travel"! Let us walk to the  nearest grocery store, to the bakers or to the tailors, and come back with experiences that exalt our health mentally and physically.

So, before winding up, I'd love to add a few more of such interesting reads that have been recommended to us by a team of Respectable Professors who are also ardent Readers, in our lovely Readers' commune, "READERS' RENDEZVOUS":

1. "A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America in the Appalachian Trail"- by Bill Bryson. 

2. "Walking" - by Henry David Thoreau.

[Both recommended by Dr. Samuel Rufus, Thank you so much sir!]

3. "Kafka and the Traveling Doll"- by Jodi Sierra i Fabra

[Recommended by Dr. Amrita Kasturay, Thank you so much madam!]

And last but not the least, a few lines to summarize the concept of this post.. From the poem written by Pablo Neruda, "You Start  Dying Slowly", recommended by Prof. Tina Rebecca.. Thank you millions madam!

Here it goes...

" ,if you do not risk what is safe for the uncertain

                           ,if you do not go after a dream

,if you do not allow yourself

at least once in your lifetime

to run away from sensible advice

You start dying slowly."

Quite thought provoking, ain't it? Think about it dear friends...

Signing off,

With love,

Rasheeda Madani.
















Courtesy: The New Yorker
Image Courtesy: Google