Friday, May 16, 2008

Gulmarg Remembered: White Days, Clean Heart

No separation
white peaks merge into white skies
Gulmarg Winters.

Our days in Gulmarg dawn daily with crystal whites of glittering peaks under dense overhanging white skies. Deep, dark, forests, ancient and mysterious, add swathes of chinese charcoal to these dreamy scrolls. One looks in awe for the artists' stamp, red, oval, calligraphed, at the bottom of the picture window... a picture this perfect, pure, colorless, just a flourish of a masters' brush - eternally perfect, eternally changing.

Deep silence pervades my world punctuated by soft murmured voices, crackling of pine in the Bukhari, a sudden scream of a kite swooping down in a hunt. These days of beauty and quiet are rare gifts in a life- any life. In these days of quiet renewal, new friendships are formed, new ties forged, bonds connect strangers of just days before....human affection and warmth cocoon my days with love and security-my kids laugh with their new found friends, their cheeks turn plump and rosy in these winter days of plenty-food, play, love, warmth. Cobwebs of previous life are now swept aside, cares unburdened, and heart re-awakened in wonder of nature, beauty.

No comments: