Aahaa Chennai

Congealed brown innards cry endlessly, for the soothing touch of palliative green. A decaying tree stump, uprooted ruthlessly during the Vardah cyclone and awaiting its fate... a bonfire or those teeming termites, is kept happy in its last days by someone who has thoughtfully crept in to splash a bit of green.

Stop! Take a  casual look or bend down for a closer look or pause awhile for a probing look. Come back for  a second look or even a third look or simply stand and stare for a minute... not just at the plants parading before you but at their shadows too. We are equally showy, with an alluring cumulative effect, having  tales to share, of growing, falling, overcoming... Unwind with varied green shadows and chase away the shadows that linger in your eye.

'Can you come up with ten words about what 'green' means to you?' was the question posed during a family event. The younger lot came up with these: Cheeriness Garden Field Butterflies Leaves Lawn Grasshopper Jealousy Trees Beans The middle aged ones came up with these: Youth Health Earthiness Vigour Cultivation Sustainability Organic Freshness Thumb Forests The senior group came up with these: Memories Tulsi Life Vitality Resurgence Abundance Conservation Nurseries Renewal Plantain What does 'green' mean to you?

The time has come to engage little hands that are eager to toil. It is also time for a bit of freedom with muddied  frocks and shirts, time to feel the varied textures of mud, time to shape up those burgeoning n' curious fingers, with a bit of green magic. A handful of ochre hued, tiny stones jingle jangle, jingle jangle in a bowl. These are today's heroes... methi seeds . Soak 'em in water overnight. Remove  and embed in wet soil . Curious heads gather to gaze at the group of  two-leaved wonders, that push their way slowly out from their brown abode, twisting and turning their pale creamy stems, shaking off their enforced slumber inside the earth, stretching their arms and heads to welcome a dazzling sun... these 'goings on' taking a week's time, a small magnifying glass and a pair of handy binoculars, adding interest to the morning routine. Little ears are all agog to hear the tale... tiny green leaves no bigger than a t...

You've seen the the wavy golden fingers of sunlight, creep and advance ever so slowly, as you unconsciously rub away the last vestiges of sleep  from your eyes ....a view of the sky at sunrise. You've also witnessed a colourful medley  of hues... the yellows, oranges, pinks, the mauves interspersed with the blue and the emerging grey/black spread, as the dark smudgy fingers of dusk creep in silently, with the screeching birds doing their usual flypast... A view of the sky at sunset. A little one spots a magical world beneath her feet, that keeps her occupied for hours and hours... a brown sky peppered with white stars, surrounded by a shades of molten gold, including some shadowy clouds that keep changing, each carrying their own deftly spun weaves of sunlight, mixed with gently morphing/merging shades of earthy brown. The child in you ...agrees. Some scenes are meant to be enjoyed with childlike enthusiasm.

Little hands are helping to make buttermilk. The recipe goes thus... Take curd in a bowl. Add a pinch of salt. Add the required water. Whisk, whisk. The buttermilk is ready. Questions arise. How is curd prepared? The answer follows. How is salt prepared? Salt pans,  the sea and the sun... the details follow. How is water prepared? Umm....I am stumped. An explanation follows but one look at the faces before me tells me something. My answer has not been accepted. I really really wish... I knew how to make water. Little heads huddle together to pen a recipe... 'Easy-peasy way to prepare water.' To a child ...a 'magical world' exists.

A clever someone has built a home over my green home. I can't take my eyes off this spectacle... bemoans a scarlet rose, a mute witness to the dramatic goings on. The elusive culprit who has been singing 'come into my parlour...' has been finally caught lurking nearby, on camera. The trap has worked, the hapless victim is ensnared  and now, it is time for a delicious snack.