The greatest gift

28 December 2020

The holiday season is underway and people too active in exploring exotic places. I am also exploring few places nearby native which I had listed long time back. The pandemic though not allowing full fledged expedition. There is always a pinch of jitter while visiting places due to abundant crowd. The recognized tourist destinations of coastal Karnataka is witnessing massive influx of crowd from whole state. The cold weather at highlands is drawing crowds to tropical coastal lands to have respite from chill for few days. People at the same time are forgetting the pandemic that is still active. Authorities are imposing tight rules on every person to be vigilant but this can be successful only if common people wake up. Hope the pandemic does not raise again.

Meanwhile today morning, I chose another unexplored part of our village for cycle riding.

The traditional hay stack after harvest

It was the most fulfilling cycle ride I ever had. The weather was tad cold but not chill enough to wear winter clothes. This path I had glanced while driving towards relative's house and was impressed with the landscape it hosted. The road was narrow and car is not an ideal vehicle to gawk at nature. You know, nature loves simplicity. Hence it is better to be simple to enjoy the nature. The best vehicle is our bicycle which is simplest and environment friendly. The best transportation to enjoy nature to the fullest without the need to heed to running traffic. We can lift the cycle whenever the traffic is hindered. It is possible to park the bicycle over the fields without bothering about the road traffic and thus peacefully snap the favourite shots. There are many advantages which most of you are aware. Undoubtedly, the ideal way to enjoy nature is walk on your own foot. But in my case, the distance was more and time was less and hence the next possibility was bicycle :-).

Back on track, the morning light was pleasant and fog was dancing over the fields. The lush green plantations were gleaming against the azure sky. The tonal contrast was eye-catching. The morning aura was perfect to capture the landscape portraits. The beauty was inexplicable. That's where title arose. The greatest gift for anyone is not travelling to exotic places but the ability to explore and enjoy the beauty nearby. The same experience even I had today and the pictures are just outcome of the morning expedition. Hope everyone finds the beauty at their proximity in this pandemic time and thus relieve the inner stress of lock-down.

Just scout your proximity to discover the exotic beauty. There is lot you don't know about your place. Like the below diverse light of sun rays, hope you find diverse beauty in proximity

Finally I realized, the greatest gift is not visiting exotic places but 

The ability to see the winter sun sweeping the farmland

The ability to see beauty of dancing fog over fields

The ability to enjoy the tweets of barbets

The ability to enjoy the song of bulbuls

The ability to enjoy the bucolic landscape

The ability to see the beauty of tiled roof houses tucked away inside the coconut plantation

And last but not least, why not, ample time to see our treetop beauties.

Overall, its the ability to see beauty nearby.

Thanks to cycle ride today along unexplored part of village which exhorted me to behold the beauty nearby than longing for longer destinations.