Good morning friends
Yesterday as I was coming home by Metro in the afternoon around 1 o’clock, I realised that the summer heat has already started. It was very hot, the sun was beating down and I had to walk from the Metro station to my house for about 7 to 8 minutes.
After crossing the highway, there is a patch of road where there are no trees. All the beautiful trees on this road have been sacrificed during the road widening or the Metro work. In this patch, I could actually feel my skin burning from the sun rays, so I was trying to find shade to protect myself from the heat. Along this road, there is a large commercial building with a tall wall surrounding the building. The wall was casting a shadow on the road so I thought of walking in the shadow to get some relief. This wall has pieces of tiles stuck to it as part of decorating it. When I walked in the shadow of the wall, I found to my surprise, that though I was walking in the shade, that particular area was even hotter than the road. The tiles seemed to be emitting heat out of them. Luckily, this was a very small patch and as I turned into the lane leading to my house, I could feel myself cooling down just looking at the trees and being in the shade under the tree. And there was a major difference in the temperature under the tree and under the wall. As I walked under the tree, I felt cool, I could even feel a pleasant breeze caressing my skin.
Halfway down the lane, there was another wall casting a shadow on the road, as I walked in the shadow of this brick wall I was surprised to note that there was no heat radiating from this brick wall, unlike the wall with the tiles.
I was thinking about this phenomenon of shades and the difference in cooling even after I reached home. And I realised that the shade of each object differed greatly…..probably according to the peculiar characteristics of each object. The living tree and its shade was cool and welcoming and provided a great respite from the hot sun. It was as if the tree was absorbing the sun’s rays and converting them into coolness. Under the tree, you could almost feel as if the tree is trying to protect you from the heat, helping you to cool down and recover from the onslaught of the afternoon sun.
Under the wall with the tiles however, the experience was absolutely different. Though the sunrays were not directly touching the skin, there was no coolness. In fact, it felt as if the wall was radiating heat.
The brick wall did not have any heat being radiated from it. ( ? probably because of the porous nature of the bricks )
I thought to myself, the shadow that an object casts depends on the inherent nature of the object. The shadows of inanimate objects like the tiled walls radiate heat which they have stored within themselves. The brick wall probably has some moisture inside and so its shade is a little more inviting.
The living tree, on the other hand, was trying its best to protect people from the heat. It seemed more loving, more inviting and more cool and hence more comfortable.
Isn’t it the same with people? There are people like the tiled walls who are full of negative energy, negative emotions like anger or hatred or sadness and when you are around them, they seem to be radiating these emotions. Sometimes, you may get enveloped in this negativity and may start feeling negative yourself. Obviously, we try to avoid such people, right ?
And some people are like the trees …full of Love and Joy and Peace….. and what’s more important is that they have an urge to give, to share what they have, a desire to help others. And we always feel very nice in their presence and wish to spend a lot of time in their company.
As I was pondering over this, I thought to myself that I would certainly like to emulate the tree which is always giving, without expecting anything in return.
What about you ?
Love,
Anjali Bhatawdekar
