The ANSWER

I was bought up as a single child. Life was happy anfar- fetched dream for me as my house was situated inside an estate secluded from neighbours. Once, I even remember asking my grandmother for another sibling to give me company. Music was one thing that I adopted in my life to overcome my boredom and bring back the colours in my life which was slowly starting to fade away. The abundance of silence created a perfect ethos for me to fully immerse myself in music.

d full of colours. But slowly, boredom crept into my life. As I entered the age of ten, I felt an urge to hang out with more friends because I noticed that a lot of my friends found happiness in doing so. This was quite a

But, did I find the answer to the question that was haunting me? The question that would answer the meaning of my life and existence. I was close, but not right there.

My dad was a great bird watcher and a nature lover. He tried a lot to bring up the interest in me but I never even tried listening to him. One day, during the season of summer showers when we get down-pouring rain in the afternoons, I was coming back with my dad from Sulthan Bathery (a nearby town). We entered the gate and slowly proceeded towards my house through the ‘kachha’ road. Without any prior warning, my dad hit the brakes. I jolted up from the seat to see if something was happening. I noticed nothing and asked my dad what was going on. He looked at my eyes and then pointed towards a group of birds bathing in a mud puddle that was formed during the summer showers. It was a mix of the colours-blue, yellow, brown, and some other colours which were’t clear to me. That was really an ecstatic moment. Even though I couldn’t identify any one of them, I thoroughly enjoyed the site of them having fun.

 My dad noticed the spark in me as I was indulged in the beauty of the birds. I felt more connected to nature as he started taking me for bird walks from the next day. On that day, it felt as though I had gotten a little more than just the answer; I finally knew something that gave me peace, and has been giving, until today.