Monday, May 03, 2010

Monday Morning Blues

Earlier today as I got into my car and eased into the traffic jam right outside the apartment building where I live on my way to office, my mind was quite filled a lot of things, primarily relating to my job. Things that I needed to get done and the things that I can only worry about and not do much. Plus with my wife and daughter out of town, two illnesses in the family and a dozen things I have to do personally, I had a sense of uneasiness which isn't so good on a Monday, the stress levels were already rising and I hadn't even stepped into the office yet!

To add to this was the great Indian stress machine, the traffic. Anyone who has travelled through Nelson Manickam Road or Sterling road in Chennai at 9 AM on a week day, would attest to the kind of craziness that goes everyday. I'm sure it's no different in the thousand big cities across the world.

As I weaved through traffic with cars, bikes, auto-rickshaws, buses, cycles, pedestrians all jumping in at inopportune moments, yelling or staring at each other, the normal twenty minute drive can be quite the torture. Some days, sitting in a car with the windows rolled up feels like a cozy world with the world and sometimes it feels like it did today, a prison. As I was stuck in a longish traffic signal, something high above caught my eye. It was a big bird, probably a Kite, flying high in the air making a graceful pattern against the blue sky. It didn't look like it was going anywhere but was gliding around just enjoying it's freedom. As I watched I got drawn into it's pattern and I could feel myself getting a little relaxed. Then I noticed the sky itself, with it's spectacular blue dome, partly covered with beautiful white and grey clouds. Everything looked so serene up there when compared to the madness that was down below.

As my car moved extra slowly through traffic, I started absorbing my environment probably for the first time since I've taken this route in the last 3 years, the beautiful trees covering the Sterling Road providing a wonderful cover in the hot sun only interrupted by the busy crows that looked like business executives rushing from one meeting to another. The sky was one that took my breath away, it was like a large blue canvas stretched overheard filled with a beautiful abstract art that was the clouds, the colours so pure and compelling. By the time I reached my office, I had a smile on my face which I couldn't explain to anyone.

The point that I'm trying to make is that, when we search for beauty in these big ugly metros we live in, all we have to do is look up.

(Update: This post got a kind mention at my friend Hilary's fantastic blog, The Smitten Image, as one of the posts of the week. Thanks DJ for adding this post to your POTW list! Now, I'd like to thank the academy....)

17 comments:

Hilary said...

Beauty truly is where you find it.. not only up. My camera continues to teach me this lesson daily. Keep smiling. :)

Sueann said...

Oh so true!! Oh so true! The good news is that you were able to "see" these wonders and enjoy them. Good for you!!
Congrats on your POTW
Hugs
SueAnn

järnebrand said...

Congrats on your POTW, very well deserved. You can find beauty everywhere, sometimes where you least expect it... :)
Beautiful post. An inspiration.
Hugs/ Jo.

Brian Miller said...

beauty is all around us, we just have to notice it...great post!

congrats on the POTW!

Cricket said...

Yep. Been there myself - not Chennai, just the state of mind. Congratulations on the potw.

Of course, it's really the state of mind that's the problem, not the city. I don't know what I'd do without the noise, the crowds, the craziness.

I was on vacation once with my wife, tossing and turning. She asked what was wrong. I said: I can't sleep - it's too damned quiet. No sirens, no noise, how am I supposed to get any rest?

It's that interior noise that makes it hard to see the beauty around us.

R. said...

DJ what can I say your pictures are awesome! Thanks my friend!

SueAnn, Jo, Brian & Cricket, thank you for your kind comments and thanks a lot for visiting!

Cricket, you mention a strange term, vacation, what is that?

DeniseinVA said...

Thanks to Hilary I discovered your blog. Congratulations on being on the POTW list, this is a great post and I love your header photo. Going to read a little more now.

R. said...

Thanks Denise! Hope you like what you read, coz there is no time return policy, once wasted (reading this stuff), consider it gone!

Shrinky said...

A very well deserved Post of the Week, thought provoking and beautifully observed. There is beauty to be found everywhere, we simply need to know how to recognise it. (Although, I still recall my daily London commute to work was nothing short of an endurance test! I am so glad we live on a sleepy little island now..)

Land of shimp said...

That was wonderful, and deserving of the post of the week mention at Hilary's. It did strike me funny that you said it is probably the same in big cities across the world. Whereas there is that sense of so much going on, so much stimuli that you can't isolate one thing and look at it properly, the streets of India are legendary for being so.

I think there's a lot of beauty on the ground, but as I said, there's so much going on in big cities. Your eye can't find one thing at a time, but it can find thousands. Until, as you say, you look up.

What a lovely post, and what a nice nudge towards a peaceful thought pattern. Thank you :-)

Unknown said...

perspective is everything.

congrats on the POTW,
I love this unexpected beauty too

Dianne said...

congrats on your POTW
and thanks for visiting my petals post :)

Linda Bob Grifins Korbetis Hall said...

insightful post.

R. said...

Shrinky, When I become a millionnaire, I aim to buy a sleepy little island. Just 40-50 years to go now! Thanks!

Shimp, I guess most large cities are pretty much the same in many ways but Chennai is a little different in the fact that I have got stuck in a traffic jam next to an elephant (truth!).


Daryl, Deb, Thanks!

Dianne, that was a beautiful post!

Jingle, Thanks!

Unknown said...

Oh! This is such a great reminder. Thank you for posting this. Thank you for taking the time to write it. Very poignant!

LadyFi said...

Beauty if all around us, we just need to open our eyes and hearts to find it.

Lovely post!

R. said...

Thanks Life & LadyFI!