Wrinkles, whorls and The Fountainhead

When I set out for a walk, I usually have my head in the clouds of green. The gentle cascade and sway of the Indian laburnum, the delicacy of the saw-like neem leaves, the heady fragrance from the picturesque cannonball tree, the unexpected bursts of pink on green from gracefully climbing bougainvillaea and the umbrella-like canopies arching overhead—rain trees, gulmohars and copperpods.

I can get lost for hours, watching the play of light and breeze in the greens. Then there’s that particular yellow-green sunlight that filters through leaves and the lash of rains that makes the green pop from the deep browns of rain-darkened trunks of trees.

<a href='https://www.freepik.com/photos/tree'>Tree photo created by wirestock - www.freepik.com</a>

Oddly, my fascination with trees started with Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. I was a teenager when I read it. I don’t remember much about it, except it gave me a headache even though I was drawn in by the compelling story of the individualistic Howard Roark. Rand’s disturbing look at relationships aside, The Fountainhead was one of those books that made me look at the world in a different way.

Image Courtesy  - Danie Franco

What remained with me, after the reading, was the primacy of function over form. This in turn, made me aware of and appreciate the beauty and strength in age—deep wrinkles on the faces of the elderly and the whorls on the barks of old, old trees. For days after, I would be absorbed in wrinkles and whorls wherever I looked—their grandeur and their grace. It was a humbling experience filled with the kind awe I'd feel if I were looking up, alone and tiny, at a vast, open sky studded with millions of stars. I was captivated by the mystery of time held in those whorls and those wrinkles—of what they had witnessed, endured and overcome.   

This enchantment deepened and sank into me over the years. Looking at trees brings me a soul-deep peace and joy, an echo of that first sense of wonder. It has also left behind a lasting regard for whorls and wrinkles alike. 😊

<a href="https://www.freepik.com/photos/tree">Tree photo created by wirestock - www.freepik.com</a>