As Clouds Roll By....

These thoughts are brought on by a short visit to Shillong over the past mid-week. After a hot, humid and generally ‘in your face’ 3 months, it was pleasant getting away into the mountains. I was put up in a comfortable but secluded guest room, away from the hub of the rest of the station – with only an old caretaker for company (throwback to the scenes from old tales). The inclement weather meant the telephone line to the room had snapped, as had the cable TV line. My mobile, at the best of times, showed only the solitary ‘danda’ of network strength. The locale however, was resplendent.

Fragrant rolling pine woods, carpeting the ground with dried needles...wild flowers blooming madly in the undergrowth without any semblance of artificial culture.....stems of plants encrusted with thick moss....early morning clouds sweeping by your feet even as you stood viewing the sunrise over the reaches of the distant slopes.

I was enamoured and moved with a sudden deep desire to stay there forever , away from the mad rush of humanity......writing....strumming....walking...reading. No phone calls, vehicles, smoke and noise....just fresh mountain air and wherever one looked, the colour green.
.....and just then , the other half of this ‘civilised’ brain answers back with a vengeance.
“Dude , its Ryder Cup weekend...you’ll miss the opening 2 sessions of foursomes and fourballs.”
“What if you don’t get back all weekend at all....what happens to the Arsenal-Chelsea game?”
“What about the season ending Yankees-Red Sox series at Fenway with the AL East pennant on the line?”
Further disillusionment followed as I sat down to a frugal dinner of aaloo beans, dal and chapattis – what wouldn’t I have given for a succulent steak and fries followed by some gourmet dessert. The water in the room was a suspicious yellow and the electric voltage at best half of normal.
The experience left me smiling at the irony....I was become too much of a city boy....too dependent on technology....too strongly enmeshed in the perks of civilisation, the ills of which I was often the first one to chide.
Nature v Nurture indeed...nurture had too strong a leash over me to overcome all the attractions nature offered. As I bid farewell, with more than a tinge of regret to that balmy clime.....I was wondering if I could change the words of Jagger n Richards.

It is the evening of the day
I sit and watch the pine woods fair.
Wildflower blossoms I can see
But not for me.
I sit and watch
As clouds roll by.