There is a piece of uncultivated land adjacent to our building. Land is scarce in Punjab. Every inch is under cultivation. So this piece of land with uneven surface must have been purchased by some builder for construction of high rise buildings. But at present it is as it is. Grass and shrubs are growing uninterrupted in this land. On the opposite end are dense woods where poplar and eucalyptus are growing majestically. Poplars are not complicated trees. This scene is a small fragment of idyllic life which existed in India almost everywhere some years back. As the rural areas are being claimed by the rapid urbanization, the natural jungles are turning into concrete jungles. They are straight with no branches stand like the sentries at attention. The eucalyptus trees have grown so high as to touching the sky.
During day time sunlight seem to play hide and seek with the dark in the woods. Top branches sway in the wind and there seem to something mystical in these woods. Occasionally, a bunch of peahens accompanied by a peacock stray from woods into the grass fields.There is a pool of water into which these days algae has grown and covered most of its surface. Algae is pushed from one side to other when the wind blows. Sun simmers in the water ripples. On the nearby bushes cranes are seen sitting basking in the sun occasionally diving into the water.
Paths have been trodden in the random patterns by the people going towards woods from other end. The earth on these paths have become bald and devoid of grass. The fields are not at one plain, some are on higher plane.
Many a times, sitting at my room, I can hear see a bird sitting patiently on a stone on the edge of a water pool. It is called Little Cormorant. It catches its food in the water. Dives inside the water and comes out after catching small fish. It then sits out with its wings opened for drying them. It keeps sitting for very long times.
