As my daughter grows up, I often wonder what are the lessons I want to teach her to survive this big, wide, bad world. The obvious aside, I want to teach my daughter to respect, love and fear the world around us. The flora and fauna. The rivers and streams. The dull browns and the vivid violets. The scary snakes and the scaly fishes.

I make sure, we take time to explore the world around us. We marvel at the beauty and gawk in amazement. Most of our travel revolve around nature (not surprisingly). I try to show her than teach her. I am not sure if I am doing a good job but I am sure trying hard.

I caught her talking to the waves just like I do

We talk about pollution of the air and water. I wish I could explain it better to her. Tell her the scary side of the story. The reality of the sinking world. The disappearing species. The warming oceans and the extreme hurricanes. The toxins that are a part of our food chain. The unsustainable lifestyle that we embrace. Maybe it is the environmental engineer in me freaking out. Maybe it is the mother in me wanting the best for my little one.

When my daughter all of 4 talks about the problems faced when we cut trees, my heart skips a beat. I think I am getting there. Maybe the future won’t be as grim as predicted. Maybe there are other parents like me teaching the future generations to love, appreciate, enjoy and protect the world around us.

We spent a few days in Covelong, a small fishing village a few kilometers south of Chennai recently. The place screamed nature. We spent hours walking along the shores watching plastics  wash up the shore along with shells of all colors and shapes, fishes  – dead, dying and rotting, migratory birds – egrets and storks and pelicans, offerings – bananas and flowers, leftovers and fragments of our daily existence. Each piece that did not belong on the beach was unfortunately a part of my daily life – wrappers and bottles, abandoned footwear and yesterday’s leftovers still wrapped in plastic.  It was sad but this was one of the cleanest beaches I have seen in the Chennai area.

The bottle has no place in the waves and sands. It sustained some of the most colorful lives I have seen

We spoke about beach cleanups and made an effort to leave behind nothing but footprints and secrets. The waves and wind carried our laughter, tears and secrets. They are still travelling while we are back to our routines – our rather toxic existence. We took nothing but pictures. Pictures to remind us the beauty of the world around us. Pictures that are a poor substitute for the feeling of the warm surf on our feet. Pictures that remind us of the sun on our faces, the wind fluffing and ruffling our hair. The joy of togetherness. The beauty all around us.

The lone banana

Warm water on my feet, the wind on my hair, the sun on my face and happy sounds all around – my idea of living life at the fullest

This entry goes to the NaturesFriends contest at Indiblogger sponsored by Kissan