Lingering around

The air feels light. Unburdened. Almost like being happy, moving around curiously, rustling everything in its wake. Unshackled.

The birds catch the drift. Fly around merrily. Noisily. The Sun birds are busy tasting some wild flowers. They are choosy. The parakeets are a raucous bunch. They seem to be eagerly discussing the arrival of the mango fruit. Almost beseeching the trees to bear fruit soon.

The silver oaks bask in the twilight, catching the fading bits of the sun as it goes down, as they wind down for the night. A 4-wheel drive lazes around in the driveway, shadowed under a fig tree, having hardly moved the whole day.

A hazy smoke rises up in the densely green hills in the distance. Evening chatter is all around, the farm workers back in their homes, children milling about, women folk enjoying a leisurely hot cup of coffee.

I sit on the steps of a bungalow of the Balur Estate, near Chikamagalur. One of India’s first coffee estates. Happily taking in all the sights and sounds. Almost like a voyeur. Spring is in the air. Summer still a few weeks away.