Bending rules to explore.....

One sees interesting photos , sometimes simply by chance, with interesting comments.

Have a look here .

And sometimes one sees similar attitudes in the trees and the society . In the land of greenery, coconut and areca nut plantations, and the brilliant coastline : Kokan. Where , like everywhere else, the youth are exploring other worlds.....

Grateful to Shri Atul Kulkarni for allowing me to use this photo in my post...

(My comments , as before, first in the King's language, then the Queen's....:-)


(photoby Atul Kulkarni)
एक काळ असा होता,
सगळे नियम पक्के पण सोपे होते ....
कोकणच्या हिरवाईत ,
सनातनी माड ताठ कण्यांनी
हिरवी पगडी सांभाळत
सागराकडे डोळे वटारून बघत
उभे असायचे,

पाटाचं पाणी
भाजीपाल्यात कौतुकानी वाहायच,
विशीतला मुलगा भिक्षुकी संभाळायचा
आणि
तेरा वर्ष्याच्या बनूच लग्न
रत्नागिरीच्या पटवर्धानांकडे ठरलं,
म्हणून वाहिनी हुरळून जायच्या ...

आता माड म्हातारे झले,
काही वाकले, थकले,
काही मुलं-मुली
वेगळ्या वाटेनी समुद्रा पल्याड
जायच्या बाता करतायत ,
स्वताहाच्या हिमतीवर
वाकून वाकून बघतायत .......
आणि एक वयस्कर माड
सुपारी बाईंना
सुस्कारा टाकून म्हणाले ,
" पूर्वी देशावर जायचे,
आता परदेशी जातात..
कळलं न ?"

Time
was when
life was
about simple rules.

Conservative
coconut palms
stood
ramrod straight,
intensely
gazing
at the
perennially
waving sea,
their palm fringed
headgear,
intense in dignity .

Back home,
the mountain springs
continued to gush
in innocence,
through the homestead,
fussing over the vegetable patch;
the twenty something
young fellow
searched his way
through
his fathers footsteps,
and
the lady of the house
exulted over
the fixing
of
a great match
in Ratnagiri,
for Banu,
the 13 year old
marriageable daughter....

Today,
the coconut palms
bend in a tired
helplessness....
the children talk about
new lands
and new paths,
often
leaning
across the ocean
visualizing new worlds.

And the elderly palm,
nudges the
slightly bent
areca nut tree,
sighs,
and says ,
"Listen !
Life is unchanged.
They all go,
eventually;
earlier it was inland,
and now
it's always beyond the seas,
Ok ?....."