This photograph is all about the departure of winter and the entrance of summer. The fresh, ruby-red new leaves on the branches of the horse-chestnut tree has to be the best sight of the hills. They turn me into an excited, repetitive driver who oohs and aahs at every turn of the road…Pepper doesn’t mind, but the girls keep rolling their eyes while I keep exclaiming! Luckily for them, the red leaves turn into mundane, marvellous green foliage, and that is the signal for birds to begin their singing, mating and nesting routine.
Morning walks have a musical background with scores of unidentified bird songs and scales in the air. I have chosen to just enjoy the orchestra and leave the individual singers in their own space. Its nicer that way, since there these other souls vying for my attention and affection.
Our doggies have recovered from the surgery and are back to being their usual noisy, frolicsome selves. I removed the stitches last evening with some amount of trepidation (my side) and lots of terror ( dogs side).
It was not easy, especially for our lady Bruni, who has been the prima donna in the entire adventure. She trembled and quivered before the surgery, wailed and howled during the recovery period, stubbornly refused medicines in her food, and now, almost jumped out of her skin while I cut the three sutures. Her traumatic days, starting from watching the leopard take away 4 of her pups, are finally over!
My traumatic days are beginning…in the next three months, the road will be full of cars and 4WDs, blaring music and excited squeals, bearing tourists and travellers who will throw trash on the road, spill out to take selfies and pictures, and search for shopping places and malls.
Though the calm and peace is shattered, though the mountains vanish into the summer mists ( you can just see their outline in the picture below…that will disappear too), though there are brown hill slopes with tinder-like pine needles and though there are cars and people at every patch of land, summers bring prosperity and progress to the hills.
Roads get repaired, taxi drivers clear off car loans, hotels and restaurants fill their rooms and tables, and shop keepers are busy with customers. There is a buzz in the air and local “issues of the irksome nature” are shelved till the monsoons. Right now, its time to handle tourists and travellers , and everything else can wait!