Hail or Hell

In bud, or blade, or bloom, may find A meaning suited to his mind.~Alfred Tennyson

 It was dismal dark,  the sky was overcast with clouds, the intense afternoon’s warmth outside had abruptly  cooled , the whole scenario was picturesque and exquisite with the sky changing its hues,  sky blue to  deep purple  to grey, there were shades of  scarlet and indigo too. The weary men and women in the huge ground surrounding the brick kiln had a cheerful countenance as the weather conditions transformed dramatically into a  dreamy one  making the young and  the old idyllic. I began stirring in and out of the porch drawing in mouthful of air while  savouring nature in the startling thunderstorm.

                                   J Krishnamurti in the speaking tree column  says ‘to understand beauty ,is to have a sense of goodness which comes when the mind and heart is common.’ Who must not have found the surroundings scenic that day, every living form seemed elated  in anticipation of the unexpected shower . A  pair of pigeons were back to their nest earlier than usual to nourish their young ones much before their time. The sky turned darker than ever, and lo behold , it rained hailstones in the month of March . My son who was exhausted after his online exams was quiescent, only to be woken up by  his excited mother dragging him out saying ‘it never rains hail’, and so  did all mothers tug their kids who tried to catch the hailstones and gulp it. Within twenty minutes the whole of our lawned area glistened  with tiny diamond shaped hailstones, mothers with their little children hurried down the stairs with small steel bowls, they picked the hail and heaped  it in the bowl, and clicked photographs to share it with their kith and kin. I sluggishly wandered to get something on film from the third floor to flaunt the beauty of nature while I thanked God to be  blessed to witness the appealing environment.

The next day newspapers spoke about the destruction of crops especially oranges , grapes , pomegranates and mangoes. I wondered whether the news was true. Could nature be heavenly for one and dreadful for  another?

            The joy of the hail storm was so exuberant that the reality was forgotten.  Perhaps sorrow is felt only  when it thumps the person but joyfulness, especially that which concerns  nature is felt by all binding us naively in that ecstasy.

A few days back the news heading “Hell Storm”  caught my attention. I read it totally as I saw pictures of farmer showing shrivelled grapes, uprooted and trampled  young banana plants, mounds of half  done pomegranates, and a lot regarding the loss each farmer in many of the districts in Maharashtra had experienced. They said the euphoria ,exultation  and their expectations for a bumper crop fostered for months were ruined in twenty minutes. I remembered that they were the same twenty minutes when we had savoured the hailstones.  A farmer said he had to sell the crop of pomegranates for as low as rupees  25000 when he had been hopeful for a fifty lakhs. I felt sad but did nothing.

It was joyful reading today’s news which spoke of many of the primary teachers who had decided to donate half a day’s salary towards the welfare of the grief stricken farmers. A sum of  thirty crores is expected to be generated which will help the farmers overcome their loss. It was wonderful to know that the proficients of  nobleness were noble indeed.

   J Krishna murti  says that “a shallow mind cannot experience the welling of  immense joy upon looking at something when the mind is merely concerned with itself or its own activities it is not beautiful, a mind which is not caught up in its own desires  or driven by its own pusuit of success has inward goodness”.

Perhaps while enjoying the bountiful nature,  each one of  us needs to be benevolent in sharing affluence with the unfortunate ones  to bring true significance of magnificence in our lives just as the unbiased nature which  showers its bounties on the rich and the poor evenly.

I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright.  ~Henry David Thoreau