4:45 AM
The bus grinded to a halt near the Valayar checkpost. People got out. Drank tea. Got back in. And the bus crossed the checkpost with a flourish. Cocunut palm leaves trooped majestically into view. Greenery all around.
Suddenly, in a fiery salute, Mother Nature let lose a spurt a Monsoon rain. The rain lashed upon the windows, and slowly starting peeking into the bus. In a mad joyous frenzy, I put my hands out to welcome the welcome rain, back home in my home state of Kerala, the God’s Own Country! And suddenly, somebody poked me from behind.
“Close the window,” He said.
“Uh?” I asked, still in that barbaric mood of joy.
“Close the bloody window! My girl is getting wet!”
Indeed. His girlfriend had got a drop of water on her hand, and was withdrawing from it, as if it was a huge spider, with a half-moan, half-scream.
So rudely shaken from the wonderful welcome She had put up for me, I closed the window, and went back to my monotonous stupor, looking out of the now closed window, longing to touch – to make physcial contact with Her.
* * *
The bus zoomed past fields, meadows, houses, forests, and towns. I glanced at the fog, mingled with smoke emitted by earthen stoves in houses, lazily swimming through the open grasslands. The sun was slowly starting its day, finding it as difficult to rise through the mist as we do on a nice Sunday morning.
Majestic landscapes. Wonderful views. The clouds were putting up a magnificient show. The spectacular smell of freshly wetted Kerala soil…
All this was definitely a treat put up just for me… Me who was returning to my home from the polluted, dingy, dusty, dirty, metro-wannabe, cool-make-believe ‘city’ of Bangalore, where trees and plants were considered alien; living creatures (other than humans) unreal.
Suddenly, I realised how much I was missing! Was it all worth to give up all this, and go to that alien desert, to buy myself a better life? And then I realised, it was all worth it, because that was necessary for me to understand, and appreciate, this magnificient show!
Thank you Mother Nature!
I’ll just enjoy the beauty, and receive the wonderful welcome with all my heart…
A very Happy and Prosperous Onam to all my readers (if any) 
Vallomkalli
Onasadya - dedicated to my frndz V&V in Norway =) Missing you guys!
To all my readers
Footnotes : This post was dedicated to a very new and good friend whose name starts with A… No thanks to Kerala State Electricity Board for the power cut… Thanks to the following websites for the pictures.
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