Today I was reminded of the time I went for a summer camp. It was a 3-day camp, right here in Mumbai. I have so many fun memories from my short stay there.
I recollected one specific moment from that time. We had all eaten dinner and were dead beat from the long, hectic day when our guide there told us to put on our shoes and get ready for a night-trek. Tired though I was, I was ecstatic about it. It was pitch-dark outside and the loud, heavy sound of the crickets and cicadas in the trees was hanging over us. An eerie feeling, yet somehow enchanting. We headed out with our flashlights into the darkness. We were following our enthusiastic, eccentric guide, Eugene Sir, along an unfamiliar pathway. Well, unfamiliar to us. We kept walking for a while (the crunch of dried leaves under our feet, the only sound apart from the night's insects) until we came to a wide road; which was actually built right above an informal leopard-crossing. That's what we had come to see. There were no leopards; we didn't really expect to see one anyway. You needed to be really lucky to be able to. But there we were, a bunch of about 10 kids, out in the dead of the night on a deserted forest road with a full moon above us. In the moonlight, we saw some activity up in the trees. We all lowered our voices and we could hear the chattering and screeching of monkeys in the treetops. They were swinging from branch to branch in groups, or one after the other. We all sat down on the road, put off our flashlights, stopped whispering and just watched. That was probably the most memorable experience from that camp. It was a mixed feeling of wonder, thrill, excitement, awe, peace, calm and happiness. It was so lovely to just sit there in the cool of the night looking up at these fascinating primates. All we could see were silhouettes, but that was enough. I could sit there all night...every night.
I remember thinking of Jane Goodall as I sat there. This is what she did all her life! She sat, observed, discovered, learned and shared. She struggled to win the trust of the suspecting and defensive chimps back in Gombe, Africa; and she did. Although she's faced numerous hardships to achieve what she has today, there's no doubting the fact that she's had one of the most satisfying, fulfilling lives she could have dreamed of. I sat there thinking, "What do I need to do to be able to do this for the rest of my life?".
I didn't want to leave. But of course I had to. Everyone was quiet as we walked back. Even the incessantly noisy boys. This brief encounter with a bunch of restless monkeys, somehow, had a soothing effect on us all. I guess that's what happens when you just sit back and watch nature in the raw; nature at its best.
I knew that day that I'd never be able to work a normal job in an office or lab. I'll need to be out in the open, at one with nature. I just loved that feeling too much. The open air, the unbound surroundings, the trees, the beauty, the animals, the insects, the smells, the simplicity in the complexity. How can I spend my days in a cubicle knowing there's such a wonderful world out there? Sometimes I work myself into a corner just thinking of how to achieve this one ardent goal of mine. I wish there was a sure-fire way to guarantee such a career. It's one of the reasons I want to be a wildlife photographer. It's the best of both worlds! Two things I love the most put together. For now, I'm studying my way up to that dream, and with some luck, I'll get there. I sure hope I do.
I recollected one specific moment from that time. We had all eaten dinner and were dead beat from the long, hectic day when our guide there told us to put on our shoes and get ready for a night-trek. Tired though I was, I was ecstatic about it. It was pitch-dark outside and the loud, heavy sound of the crickets and cicadas in the trees was hanging over us. An eerie feeling, yet somehow enchanting. We headed out with our flashlights into the darkness. We were following our enthusiastic, eccentric guide, Eugene Sir, along an unfamiliar pathway. Well, unfamiliar to us. We kept walking for a while (the crunch of dried leaves under our feet, the only sound apart from the night's insects) until we came to a wide road; which was actually built right above an informal leopard-crossing. That's what we had come to see. There were no leopards; we didn't really expect to see one anyway. You needed to be really lucky to be able to. But there we were, a bunch of about 10 kids, out in the dead of the night on a deserted forest road with a full moon above us. In the moonlight, we saw some activity up in the trees. We all lowered our voices and we could hear the chattering and screeching of monkeys in the treetops. They were swinging from branch to branch in groups, or one after the other. We all sat down on the road, put off our flashlights, stopped whispering and just watched. That was probably the most memorable experience from that camp. It was a mixed feeling of wonder, thrill, excitement, awe, peace, calm and happiness. It was so lovely to just sit there in the cool of the night looking up at these fascinating primates. All we could see were silhouettes, but that was enough. I could sit there all night...every night.
I remember thinking of Jane Goodall as I sat there. This is what she did all her life! She sat, observed, discovered, learned and shared. She struggled to win the trust of the suspecting and defensive chimps back in Gombe, Africa; and she did. Although she's faced numerous hardships to achieve what she has today, there's no doubting the fact that she's had one of the most satisfying, fulfilling lives she could have dreamed of. I sat there thinking, "What do I need to do to be able to do this for the rest of my life?".
I didn't want to leave. But of course I had to. Everyone was quiet as we walked back. Even the incessantly noisy boys. This brief encounter with a bunch of restless monkeys, somehow, had a soothing effect on us all. I guess that's what happens when you just sit back and watch nature in the raw; nature at its best.
I knew that day that I'd never be able to work a normal job in an office or lab. I'll need to be out in the open, at one with nature. I just loved that feeling too much. The open air, the unbound surroundings, the trees, the beauty, the animals, the insects, the smells, the simplicity in the complexity. How can I spend my days in a cubicle knowing there's such a wonderful world out there? Sometimes I work myself into a corner just thinking of how to achieve this one ardent goal of mine. I wish there was a sure-fire way to guarantee such a career. It's one of the reasons I want to be a wildlife photographer. It's the best of both worlds! Two things I love the most put together. For now, I'm studying my way up to that dream, and with some luck, I'll get there. I sure hope I do.
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