I often have wondered why the same road or locality looks different every time I take a stroll. The subtle changes my mind registers most unmindfully may be merely my figments of imagination, but I do find them different depending on my moods and time of visit. I love walking. And, that too, alone. Sometimes, the busy street of my city provides me immense pleasure as I just walk through the thoroughfare. I see faces, unknown, with different expression etched on them while some of them look impassive. I love watching the few green trees that still have survived the smoke of the city providing dollops of freshness in the overall greyish pattern.
The verdant patches on the road-dividers change themselves with the seasons with almost none to appreciate their beauty. However, I couldn’t help myself but be appreciative to the bejewelled leaves with lustrous water droplets on them during the monsoons. The same bushes look emaciated in the summer. During this time of the year, in winter, they are fragile; with an aching beauty of their own. I clicked photos of those delicate, fading beauties because their charm enhances when I see through the lens.
Quizzical faces of pedestrians hit me. I can clearly read what’s written there! “Oh! What a klutz! Lady, have you lost your mind? Clicking pictures of the dry leaves?”
I can write a dissertation on my predilection for the tiniest, most negligible beauties of Mother Nature, but, I just smile meekly at those faces and continue walking …….my own journey, without a beginning or a destination.
Love the way you look at the world. I wrote something similar, maybe you like it: https://hikeminded.wordpress.com/2016/03/04/why-i-hike/
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Thanks for reading and sharing the link… 🙂 It’s always a pleasure to meet like-minded people on the blogosphere… 🙂
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Very nice!!
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Thank you… 🙂
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Beauty is often found in the simplest of things. And the camera indeed helps us to focus on the beauty. Lovely pictures, and prose Maniparna 🙂
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I second you, Kiran. Thank you so much… 🙂
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Absolutely loved this pot, will recommend you to read,’walking’ by Thoreau
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Just downloaded the pdf…thank you… 🙂
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You have made this walk so beautiful! Lovely pictures! That walk had all the seasons of a leaf.. 🙂
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Beauty of small things, they are differently beautiful in every season… 🙂
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Finding solace in the midst of crowd is a feeling unmatched. I can so relate to this! Amazing pictures!
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Thanks, Farroq 🙂 happy to know you could relate to this… have a great 2017 ahead… 🙂
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Ah! the beauty in simple things.
Enjoy this season and every season of the new year. Have a lovely 2017, Maniparna. 🙂
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Thank you so much. Wish you too a great 2017 ahead… 🙂
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It is amazing how sometimes a walk can trigger so many thoughts and emotions. Enjoyed reading this one.
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True that…a simple scene or a mundane walk can play the muse at times… 🙂
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Beautiful words Maniparna! This is a gentle reminder to all of us to appreciate our environment which we usually tend to forget.. 🙂
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Glad the message resonated with you 🙂 Thanks a lot for stopping by…
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One who is focused on the beginning or the end of destination fails to enjoy the ride – the onlookers are actually slumber -walking …. they fail miserably. The beauty you have captured is like poetry – I don’t know which one I loved more – the visual one or the one in words….
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Rightly said, Sunaina…we can not enjoy the journey when we are too concerned about the beginning or the end. Isn’t it the same with the journey of life?
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Interesting analysis.
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Glad you liked it….
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The similarity in our thoughts/findings/emotions stuns me…only I couldn’t have expressed it as beautifully, I know that!
I too love walking and that too alone 🙂 and often change my route if I spot an acquaintance on my way..
I loved your write, Maniparna 🙂
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I’m so happy to know your thoughts, Amitji. I think Mother Nature plays a great role in our lives…she has lessons for us in every step of life, even in her smallest creations 🙂
Changing route spotting an acquaintance… hehe…have done that a number of times… 😀 😀
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I am on the same platform as well as on the same wavelength with you in this regard Maniparna Ji. I love wandering through trees, grass, leaves, sylvan flowers, bushes and pavements of soil. Solitude energizes me and makes me a better person by reflecting and talking to self. I simply adore this post and have fallen in love with these photos.
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Thanks so much for these words of appreciation. I’m glad to know that so many like-minded friends are out there who really enjoy the solitude amidst Nature. Mother Nature is amazing…she can make and she can break…both in the blink of an eye… 🙂
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Loved reading this well written post and meaningful pictures! I could very much relate to it, as I also do that all the time. Wandering around and seeing beauty in crampled, faded, going or gone things…and also clicking pictures of dry fallen leaves 🙂 …with “Oh it was fresh not long ago!” kind of feeling. The bitter truths of life…and it is this mortality of life that makes us sad, isn’t it?
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That’s actually the feeling, Alka. You have gotten it right! That something was, live and breathing a few days ago, and now, lying aside, crippled and crumbled- portrays a wonderful analogy to life.
Thanks for this wonderful comment. Wish you and your family a great 2017 ahead… 🙂
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I also love walking alone amid the greenery, clicking photographs. I guess solitude helps us to appreciate our surroundings much more. Enjoyed reading the post. And those photographs are beautiful dear 🙂
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I agree with you. Solitude helps us to introspect and understand things better… 🙂
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बहुत बढ़िया।
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Shukriya… 🙂
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all that glitters attracts us a lot but sometime we forget that glittering does not mean beauty, beauty can be found and felt in small things also.God to know your view and thought.
Coincidentally just today morning i shared your posts of Instagram(some pics are there which you have shared here) with my sister.
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Rightly said. Beauty can be found in small things as well.
Oh…that’s so kind of you to share my pictures with your sis… thank you… 🙂
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Loved the read and the photographs!! And wishing you a very Happy New Year!!
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Thanks a lot, Sumith. Wish you a wonderful 2017 ahead… 🙂
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Beautiful!
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Thank you… 🙂
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Loved the pictures and the feel they reflect
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Happy to know that… 🙂
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Such a great expression of gratitude. Thank you for this reminder! 😀
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Glad you could connect with the post…Thanks, Chevy… 🙂
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Preciosas fotos. ¡Feliz año, amiga! ❤
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Glad you liked… Thanks… 🙂
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You capture the beauty in things others do not see. Your gifts of words and photos remind us all to appreciate wonderment in all things. Superb work, Mani. 🍂🍁
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This made my day! ❤ Actually, when Mother Nature herself is the muse, one is bound to be a poet… 🙂
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wonderful 🙂
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Thanks, Joshi… 🙂
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Interesting !!!
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Isn’t it? 😀
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Beautiful post, Maniparna
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Thanks, Derrick…and sorry for the late reply… 🙂
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Wowow… now this has given me a idea too.. One of the things i have started doing is to Walk to my gym early morning instead of going in a car..
You see so much as you walk… beautiful pic’s and equally beautiful thoughts .. 🙂
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Wow! That’s indeed a great thing to do. I love to walk…:-D
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walking alone in the midst of a greenery or even a crowd, lost in thoughts, is a bliss, no..just living in a relaxed environ, without worries atleast for a few moments
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Exactly, a few minutes amidst the greenery can refresh the mind for hours…
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There’s that nerdy artist, blocking foot traffic. That tends to happen to me in the city. But even in an urban setting, the changes of the seasons are obvious.
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You are right. The change is visible even in a busy city…only we need the eyes to observe… 🙂
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Beautiful 🙂
Greetings
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Thanks, Rupam… 🙂
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This is so beautifully written and I love the words that you used!! Thank you so much for sharing 😀
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So happy to know you loved the piece…thanks, Shree… 🙂 ❤
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There is poetry in those pictures and reflections…a poet likes to walk alone…with myriads of thoughts that keep pace with the gait! A walk in the woods is indeed as refreshing as you have suggested here!
Wishing you a wonderful 2017 dear friend. 🙂
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Thanks, Balroop. You are right, poetic lines do take birth during those moments as Mother Nature plays the muse.
Wish you a great 2017… 🙂
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Beautiful and personal piece Maniparna – made me want to be walking and clicking pictures happily. I think you are correct with you reasons why a common walk can bring us some delightful surprises at times 😊. Thanks for making me think this morning and for the pics of ‘dry leaves’. 🙏
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Thanks, Andy. A solo walk helps us to introspect. It also helps me to roam about aimlessly…:-D which perhaps will not be possible with a companion… 😀
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most times I find a little bit of personal time makes me a better person to be around 🙂 Have fun walking and thinking Maniparna 🙂
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Absolutely. It happens with me in the same way…
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Inspiring to hear that you do what you have to do, for people will keep talking. And, I have to agree that one does find happiness even in the smallest works of nature and that seeing through the lens just adds to the beauty. 🙂
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Exactly so. Clicking pictures is a hobby that enhances the creativity and, for me, Mother Nature is an endless source of inspiration…. 🙂
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Rightly said! 🙂
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aha…beauty is in the eye of the beholder…thanks for making us See 🙂
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So true are the words. Thanks to you too for stopping by… 🙂
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There is a lovability about your musings, Mani, even if it pertains to everyday ordinariness. And what makes it appealingly so is the freshness of your thoughts where withering summer suns and greening monsoon rains attain poetic sublimities. It may be interesting in this context to also appreciate that within we are just the same matter seamlessly connected to the world of matter without. Forms as perceived wither away the moment the matter within lose their interconnectedness.
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I just read your latest article and, now I’m seeing this comment in a different light. You are so true about the interconnectedness, the foundation, the oneness.
Thanks so much for the comment….:-)
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Beautiful photos and thoughts. One of the (many) wonderful things about walking is that it allows us to slow down and notice small but important details. Even a familiar landscape has it’s many changes, and we also change in subtle and not so subtle ways from day to day. Nature allows us to reflect on the changes in ourselves. Thank you for the thought provoking post.
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You are right. Nature makes us think about the changes we have within, but often we fail to notice. That is, perhaps, because we take ourselves too much for granted.
Thanks to you too for stopping by… 🙂
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Poetry in the disguise of Prose.👏
Maniparna! Happy New Year.
Shiva
😃
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Thanks a lot. Happy new year to you too…in advance… 🙂
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The pictures are simply stunning! Your words make the otherwise dull and mundane road appear so beautiful. Maybe the next time I will appreciate the surroundings better, while walking down my street ! 🙂
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I’m sure you will. Thanks so much, Radhika, for the warm words of appreciation… 🙂
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Beautiful…! The things you see when you go on a walkabout at your own time 🙂
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Yes, Andy…. musing through the lens…hehe…:-D
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Perfect! 😃
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😀 …
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