Our boat gradually floated through the narrow strip of blue water, that had lush green sloping banks on its either sides.
The tree-leaves above were moist with the drizzle that had just stopped and, forming a canopy over our heads, they made drops of water grow at their tips time and again which, coming through the moist and cold air thenafter, fell on the water body with a few ‘plop’s.
Our boat had almost stopped, and the small fishes peeped their heads out of the stream water, getting curious to see who had come in the long uninhabited land of theirs!
We left the boat and stalked to a tree side that had green bushes all around it, ..having lustrous leaves, yellow flowers and white butterflies.
We sat down on the wet grass and as we did, the trees above our heads dropped a few scarlet petals on our laps...
It was a peaceful afternoon and the clouds covered the sun, generating a quiet mood of understanding among all the nature elements, which sang different chords of silence in a harmony.
I plucked two grass blades from earth’s bosom and, knitting them together in a butterfly form, presented the pair to her. Her eyes desperately tried to hide the vulnerable thrill that they had in them, and turned to the distant greens.
A squirrel appeared and looked at us with curious eyes, and perhaps after realizing that we were no more than two living things, who called themselves ‘natural’, decided to bring us two nuts.
Next the rabbits came. And they grew very happy to receive those nuts from her.
A small bird suddenly stopped its flight to sit down on one of the bushes, and sang us a song then.
“They are repeating themselves!”, I exclaimed.
“Yes”, she said, “perhaps only to ask us to look at them in a different way.”
I remembered the last time we came here.
We had had a fight and though it was a small one, it took its toll on us.
We never managed to be good to each other.
The boat had jammed itself in the pond weeds and irritating water drops continually fell on our heads. We picked a spot and sat down. A few annoying moths skipped and hopped through the heavy air, disturbing the peace of the atmosphere very much. The sun was out. The grass was damp. And everything was bleak.
A squirrel had rushed over my legs and had left a few nuts on its way, at which a few rabbits looked at, with blank eyes, as they silently and carefully peeped from the greenish bushes.
…They never came to us as we were too busy thinking how to please each other. They were afraid of our Unnaturality.
The bird too flew away stopping its song midway, as if suddenly realising that it would be futile to sing to two people, who failed to understand each other, a pure song of nature that was otherwise so intangible!
…and finally, when we had got up that day, we found the scarlet petals lying withered on the ground, crushed under our own weight!
We were looking at the same direction now.
And I broke the law first and looked at her.
Her face had a strange peace bestowed upon it, and her dreamy eyes were looking at the distant greens with complete concentration.
The wisps of her hair were moistened by the still, wet air and her posture was lazy.
She turned towards me and smiled.
I smiled and dropped my eyes and said nothing.
And then she whispered to me three words.
“Green has shades!”
I cheerfully nodded.
Indeed, … green Had shades.
Every colour had shades.
Light and deep; bright and dark. And the world around us had the same shades too.
We only had to pick the right ones.
