What happens when 2 sitar students and a yogini go on a picnic? :)
As we sat on one of the wooden picnic tables at the park by the lake, laid the table with the pretty tea set made in Japan (which i borrowed from mum) a basket of scones, cheese breads and some delicious rambutans, a book about history of amazing Asian gardens, a flask of hot ginger infused tea which we were just about to pour into the lovely cups when we spotted a guy nearby staring right into one of the palm trees behind us...we were wondering what he was doing standing there all alone. So we kept an eye on him while having our tea and buns. After a while we noticed that the guy was chatting away, still facing the tree and looking up at the sky and spreading his arms as though he was absorbing the energies around him...that's when my friend said "looks like he is talking to the tree...nothing to worry then, he is just one of us" And all three of us burst out laughing and said..oh yes, that's so true!
We so love the trees that we go lie on the grass under the oldest raintrees for hours till it gets dark...just having some homemade snacks and drinks, sharing random stories and somehow, the things we chat about turns out to be the most interesting ones compared to stuff we talk about when we meet elsewhere like restaurants or even our homes. No matter where it starts, the conversations somehow gets diverted into talking about the universe and its magical realms, light, life, aliens, music, dance, colours, books, travelling, crystals, and so on..we usually do not realise the hours that passes till the security guards at the park come shining their torch lights on us prompting us to leave... and we would reluctantly pack our stuff only then realising how long we have been sitting there.
These picnics have reminded us of how life is as it is, before we thought everything needed to be captured in photographs or published on social media. Times when we had a meal simply by sharing the moment with a friend or family and not necessarily with the whole world to see. We wrote our experiences on our personal diaries (i mean the real ones) to be kept in a secret compartment of a drawer so our brothers will not read and make fun it! But now, we snap EVERY moment to be shared..and then forget to look at it again coz everyone is too busy snapping new pictures. To me pictures are precious...i love looking at old pictures because it contains so much stories and those imperfect shots before digital cameras came, held the most interesting stories...one picture was enough to bring the whole atmosphere back, remembering everything we said or did on that particular day and how the chain of events led to that moment captured in the picture. One shot was enough to say it all. But now, we take hundreds of pictures and yet have no stories to tell coz everything is missed while we are staring at ourselves through those tiny lenses. The vastness of life can never be captured in a shot...it will always remain a tiny part of the whole and yet we are deceived into believing that these glimpses could reflect the real experiences.
When you choose to arrange a pretty picnic basket and wear a lovely dress and your favourite accessory , do you do it so the pictures will look good or because you yourself should feel good. How about the friends who sit with you chatting and having tea, sharing the moment for real? Isn't that more important then to simply show the pictures to another person who wasn't even there? No matter how many pictures you shared, only you heard the bird cooing and scanned through the old cluster of bamboos to find where the sound was coming from. Only you felt the warmth in your heart when your friend brought a little card with a handwritten message which included a few lines of Irish Blessings especially for you, not because it was your birthday or any other celebration but simply coz it was a beautiful day out... only you sat there looking at the ants crawling over blades of grass and said to your friend "These ants...will never be able to see the whole world with those tiny eyes..in fact they won't even see the whole person sitting above them coz we are too huge in its vision...if we were to explain the vastness of the universe and the planets humans have come to know ...wouldn't it be way beyond their capacity to imagine it even...would they believe you?? Isn't that how it is with human beings? We believe as much as we can see and deny that which we don't...but how small are we compared to this reality? We will never know" Now, how could a picture show this moment of truth you felt while sitting at the park? If we cant give the whole truth to another person who wasn't there...what is the point of pictures?
I am not saying we should not take pictures...for i LOVE photography and how some shots bring the magic through it. I am only saying, we shouldn't miss the reality while trying to capture it. Enjoy the moments with all your heart and soul and you will never need photographs to keep the memories...take one picture that tells the story rather then a hundred random shots that says nothing. So that was our first picnic of the year 2019...more to come...more to share...soon :)
