Temple of Nature

The river meandered through an inlet, cordoning it into a secluded hidden area. The dense foliage converting the vicinity into a world of green, as sunlight streaked in through the leaves from the surrounding trees. The water was also an exotic fluid carpet dotted with lotus leaves, with an occasional purple pink flower accentuating the beauty.

It was in this breathtaking world where the earth, the sky and the water, all seemed to merge together into a seamless spectrum of green that the kayak entered with its two occupants. Ridhima and Meera had strayed into the inlet by mistake. The two girls were in Thailand for a holiday and were part of a group which had opted for a kayaking excursion.

As they stared in amazement at the stunningly beautiful world they had strayed into, each reacted differently. For Ridhima it seemed that she had entered a magical temple of nature, pulsating with an unknown energy she could not understand, but feel. Meera, on the contrary was actually scared, as the whole environment was too alien for her to comprehend.

What however piqued the curiosity of both girls was a small figurine in green, which almost seemed lifelike, sitting in a meditative stance with eyes closed, on one of the lotus leaves. They wondered who would have put this figurine in this unusual place and for sometime they kept staring at it as if mesmerised, before retreating and joining the others who were calling out to them.

As soon as the kayak was out of sight, the being on the lotus leaf, opened his eyes. He did not like getting disturbed, but once in a while if a human entered his sanctuary, they never left without getting a gift from him.

The girls returned back to India and for many days they kept seeing dreams of entering the green inlet and the figurine. It seemed that they were transported into a magical world again and again. Unknown to them, the experience had changed them profoundly. Ridhima, who was a nature lover, started discovering that every blade of glass, each flower and leaf, pulsates with an energy, the same that she had discovered in the inlet. While Meera realised that she was afraid no more of things that she could not identify with, and in time also understood that nothing was actually alien in this world, there was a seamless uniformity which pervaded everything.

The gift had come to pass.