Imagine...

A clear sky, just before sunset (early dusk), tall trees all around, Gulmohar, Banyan and the like, ground covered with grass and those red-yellow petals from the gulmohar, big rocks lying hear and there and to complete the perfection, a brook noisily running over all kinds of pebbles: big, small; smooth, rough; brown, green; round, oval;(every kind imaginable). The water is crystal clear.

There's a cool breeze..You wander into this place, barefoot. You can feel the grass, the softness and the gentle coolness of it; you here the chirping of birds (given the hour, there's a lot of it), you reach out and touch one of the trees, the bark is cold, damp; you look up and spot a nest on one of its lower branches- its beautiful. Maybe there are eggs in it, maybe there aren't. Your hand smells like the damp earth just after a seasons first rain. You walk around, picking up those red petals and the rare complete flower fallen from the Gulmohar. The breeze ruffles your hair, ever so gently.

You sit on one of those rocks, just by the brook and dawdle your hands in the water: its refreshingly cold; you splash it on your face- its chilling and yet strangely relaxing. You can hear the crock of frogs somewhere in the distance. The reddish sky is stretched overhead like some tight canvas roof of a tent full of trees and grass and birds and flowers and pebbles and brooks. You can see the setting sun on the horizon. Its tranquil. You sit there, alone, contented, at peace with the world. And then you spot her. A deer, cautiously approaching the brook, right opposite to you, Golden, with dark spots, light and agile. Those eyes, those black eyes, they stare at you. You sit there- motionless, breathless. She comes closer, bends, drinks from the brook. She's so near, you can almost smell her. Having finished, she straightens, another of those stares and then she's off, leaping. You keep looking until she has disappeared over the horizon. PICTURE PERFECT.

Submitted By: Chaitra.S, E&E, SJCE Mysore