I haven't left the city in six months. This is my longest continuous stretch in my hometown since 1998, when I was a teenager. Of course, three of these months have been under lockdown, but there is so much that I have been able to notice and observe thanks to this forced isolation.
For starters, the natural light outside. I can easily tell a month in Bombay apart by just looking outside. The 9 am blue-yellow light in December is different from the light at the same time in April when it's more of a lemony yellow. The breeze that blows in to my apartment in May is different from the one in April, although the difference is absolutely subtle.
What I have been able to notice in 2020 is the gradual change between these periods. The cloud formations, the birds (except parakeets) and butterflies were things I never paid too much attention to, but now I can tell the whistle of a black bird with a silver tail apart from the chirping of other birds.
When one is left with few choices, it's easier to notice the size, colour and shape of flowers on the trees. So no, copperheads and laburnums don't just have yellow flowers and the gulmohur flower is not just orange-red.
The late summer twilight is so different from that of January.
And oh the number of big birds that fly in the sky! How could I have never noticed them and their path before?
I have no idea what is going on even two kilometres from here, but I do know that we are surrounded by all kinds of beauty that often goes unnoticed. It's all there for us, to access when we do.
It's time to light candles and enjoy the grey and white rainy monsoon days now. I don't have to worry about being late for a meeting because the rains have wrecked havoc with the traffic or trains.
For starters, the natural light outside. I can easily tell a month in Bombay apart by just looking outside. The 9 am blue-yellow light in December is different from the light at the same time in April when it's more of a lemony yellow. The breeze that blows in to my apartment in May is different from the one in April, although the difference is absolutely subtle.
What I have been able to notice in 2020 is the gradual change between these periods. The cloud formations, the birds (except parakeets) and butterflies were things I never paid too much attention to, but now I can tell the whistle of a black bird with a silver tail apart from the chirping of other birds.
When one is left with few choices, it's easier to notice the size, colour and shape of flowers on the trees. So no, copperheads and laburnums don't just have yellow flowers and the gulmohur flower is not just orange-red.
The late summer twilight is so different from that of January.
And oh the number of big birds that fly in the sky! How could I have never noticed them and their path before?
I have no idea what is going on even two kilometres from here, but I do know that we are surrounded by all kinds of beauty that often goes unnoticed. It's all there for us, to access when we do.
It's time to light candles and enjoy the grey and white rainy monsoon days now. I don't have to worry about being late for a meeting because the rains have wrecked havoc with the traffic or trains.
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