Early Spring Rains

Of Nature as Teacher and Refuge.

Late March and today, we encountered surprise showers.

Rain bathed the pink bougainvillea flowers, the green Song of India plants, and the ground, spreading the smell of spring through the air everywhere.

Spring Rains - Bougainvillea (left), Song of India (right)! © Jayshree Gururaj

Unprecedented hot days brought the birds, small and large, hurrying to get a sip of water in the garden and to hunt for insects.

Then, the heat-filled days were broken up – first by a deluge of thunderstorms, and later, by soft rainy days like the one today.

Just a month earlier, this tree was bare of leaves and flowers. Shorn of hope.

Now, the radiant whites smile at us as though to mock our lack of faith in the certainty of nature’s discipline.

Or to reassure us of how plenty may return after a hard winter.

First, the fragrant flowers arrived, followed by the new season’s green leaves.

Odd to see bunches of flowers atop a bare-branched tree.

Sometimes, it works that way in the quantum zone.

Lessons for life, from nature’s pages.

The frangipani (Plumeria) flowers announce spring! © Jayshree Gururaj

This tree is a particular favorite of birds, small and friendly, like the yellow-throated Bulbul or sunbird (Pycnonotus xantholaemus).

The garden, lush with greens, invited birds like the Greater Coucal considered a good omen in Hindu mythology and associated with the Preserver-God, to land majestically and mark its turf.

Or the red-vented Bulbul that mistakenly entered inside and lost its way for a few minutes.

It sat woefully on a high window sill, gazing through the long glass pane at the garden trees – wistful, perhaps, at what seemed like a lost paradise – before trying again to figure out how to return through the French doors.

Of course, we turned off the oh-so-necessary ceiling fans so it would fly out safely.

Aren’t birds just wonderful?

They seem to know how to live in the moment, as though born with the knowledge.

Born to be free.

Reminding us that living one day at a time is enough.

Tomorrow is also just another day.

It will arrive in its time.

But today - there are gardens to be explored, water to be savoured, joyful sounds to share, trees to be navigated, and friends to be made.

My own creative explorations last month surfaced as a mix of reflections and retellings.

‘When The World Seems Upside Down,’ struck a chord with many of you.

So did the retelling of an ancient tale – of a fearless child overcoming a tyrant.

A walk down the lanes of English-language television in a more regulated time sparked memories of your favorite U.S. shows.

The Wisdom series continued with a new post on Sanskrit sayings.

Finally, as I shared in Notes, I was surprised to see a notification that

helloIndia!

had been listed at #18 on the ‘Rising’ leaderboard under International—thank you, dear readers, for your generosity and engagement.

Everything else is icing on the cake.

Until next month, I bid you farewell, may spring’s small joys find you amid life’s hardships and false promises.

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Read my other monthly musings!