Recently, I had asked my friends for ideas to get on with some light writing. This prompt was one that I wouldn’t call ‘light’ in terms of a write-up but it’s definitely a delicate materialisation that has lightened my heart over the course of the past few months.

I hope I can say this on behalf of everyone I know, love, and people, in general, around the world, that the view we hold of nature today – during this apocalyptic pandemic – is from a few steady rungs higher than where it used to be. Reverent, for lack of a better word. Or renewed reverence, should I say, for those who had long ago embraced nature and live in tandem with it.

The way nature has come to flourish since the world came to a halt some months ago, has been astounding, to say the least. It’s sad that a tragedy of such magnitude had to take place for nature to play before us in its full glory, when such resplendence should never have stopped being a part of our daily, ignorant lives. Scenes of wild animals wandering public streets, exotic birds seemingly appearing from paradise, and extinct species of creatures being spotted again after decades, have rendered us speechless. On the marine front, crystal clear water showcasing a brilliant ocean bottom and the mesmerising aquatic life thriving on it, has left us all gaping. Much like those fish savouring an unusual kind of freedom in their oceanic world. Why are we surprised, though? Is it because we, humans, have always considered ourselves superior to all other forms and creations of nature that we failed to see how our claims of self-sufficiency have only left us thoroughly deprived of a life that could’ve been heavily enriched by the various elements of nature? Were we (or are we still) too proud to admit that we would be nothing as a species (including our ‘supremacy’) if not for nature being an indispensable part of us? Nature gives and nature takes. The sooner we apprehend the balance between these two broad exercises, the less contentious and entitled our lives shall be. Doesn’t that sound like peace? It does, to me.

As we are progressing through this pandemic, nature, in spite of all its trials and tribulations, has kept us enraptured. Our admiration, empathy, respect and a sense of belongingness has only grown with it. We spend our evenings watching sunsets and come back to the night sky which is limpid enough for a starry show. We go to bed, happy and sated, only to wake up eagerly in the mornings to the chirping of birds most of us weren’t fortunate enough to hear until now. We soak in the fresh air a little bit more while remembering the rainbow we saw a day before. That’s an imagery we only used to find in poetry. Living vicariously through a poet’s eyes is minuscule compared to what we are witness to on a regular basis, at present. It is rewarding. Breathing air free of pollutants is a luxury urban-dwellers never thought they’ll have. Beholding an unobstructed panorama of snow-capped mountain ranges, so far into the distance and so deplorably and eternally hidden by city life and all that’s an inescapable part of it, from the terrace of our urban homes, is a marvel that has dumbfounded many. Such unimaginable pictures painted by nature has evoked unexplainable emotions and thoughts in all of us. We’ve been blinded for so long by our own actions and inactions that ‘privilege’ has taken a new meaning today.

Doubtless, our lives have been affected adversely through a series of natural calamities, of late. But it has only served to reinstate the belief that nature always balances itself. Even the pandemic feels like a balancing act, at times. Perhaps not of nature directly, but the Universe? We’ll never know. I’m often reminded of how the ocean washes ashore litter and debris from its waters onto its beaches from time to time, as if saying “Here, take back what’s yours. Let’s keep our belongings to ourselves, shall we?”

Quite noticeably, the flip side paints a dismal picture. The situation is rather different in rural areas particularly, where a major section of people rely solely on nature for livelihood, thereby, survival. Concurrent to the persistent issue of exhaustible natural resources, reports of wildlife poaching, illegal mining, deforestation and land-grabbing have threatened conservation in no small way. Our failure to protect nature in one regard while luxuriating in all that it offers in another, will be a sad paradox.

~ When we see ourselves as part of nature, we’ll understand that saving nature is really about saving ourselves ~ are some of the most poignant words I’ve come across in my short life. It’s pretty much the synopsis of everything we must understand about our planet and its invincible naturalis mundi. It’s unshakeable, beautiful, generous, terrifying and all-pervasive. It’s heartening to see how far we’ve arrived in acknowledging, accepting, befriending and kneeling before these facets of nature, in recent times. The hope – and the actions towards realising it – that this refreshing, newly forged connection and compassion between us and the natural world enveloping us, remains and roots itself deeply in generations to come, must be alive in each of us, long after this pandemic has passed. After all, nature is the only dauntless force that has not only bridged our differences as a species, but also effectively humbled us over and over again. And it’s here to stay.