Kala Ramesh
Sanctum Sanctorum
Why did I always love to visit my aunt’s place? I was six years old then. My uncle hardly talked to us. He was a professor if that explains anything at all. My aunt’s place lay within the sprawling campus of the Indian Institute of Technology, which was part of a densely forested area in Chennai. I would open their back door and the deer—spotted, plain, the ones with antlers (later I came to know they are called reindeer)—were all there—calm and peaceful creatures, nibbling the grass. I was in thick woods, but safe because of the wire fence guarding my aunt’s backyard.
Years later I visit a deer sanctuary and my past keeps flashing back. A board says Shinrin-Yoku—Forest Bathing. I’m intrigued. I look around to see if anyone is there to tell me more about it. Nobody. I find a cosy nook and begin my search on Google. Shinrin-yoku is a bridge that connects us to the natural world, we could even say—to the world within us.
a falling leaf twirls the silence who am I
Remembering Guru Ramana Maharshi’s line, “You may call a tree a standing man, and man a walking tree.”
stillness in the breathing pine forest i remove my shoes
About the Author
Kala Ramesh is a renowned pioneer in the field of haikai literature in India. Her 2017 book Beyond the Horizon Beyond was awarded a Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize Certificate.