The Colour of Joy
Words & Images by Priya Mallic
Photo Essay | Issue 02
Nature is a constant reminder of all that is beautiful in this world. And spring is, perhaps, the best time to revel in its myriad hues.
I have always been enchanted by nature. Flowers, especially. In almost all my childhood pictures, I see a precious bunch of wildflowers clutched in my hand or fragrant jasmines adorning my hair. Now, years later, I prefer to claim their beauty by simply photographing them.
Older now, I yearn to travel to places where flowers grow in abundance. Like the Lavender routes in Provence, the rolling hills of Baby Blue-Eyes in Japan, and the sunflower fields in Tuscany. The seas of Tulips in Holland, the endless meadows of alpine flowers blanketing the Himalayan valleys, and closer home, the Kas Plateau, which comes alive during the Monsoons. However, the harried everyday has a way of postponing dreams to a distant someday.
Maybe I'll visit some of these places in the coming years - and that's a lovely thought to hold on to - but life carries most meaning in the here and now. Which is why, on a whim today, I packed my camera and lenses and took a leisurely walk inside my apartment complex.
It was a crisp spring morning and I stopped to click pictures of the flowers I hurry past every day, without a second glance. These aren't the exotic blooms of my wish list, painted in the vibrant colours of my dreams; they're ordinary blossoms on an ordinary day…alluring, yet lacking the magic of distant, foreign lands. But they're charming in their own way, affording just as much joy and harmony to those who take the time to stop, look and appreciate nature's bountiful gifts.
Perhaps there's a message in all this somewhere. Perhaps nature itself shows us that the happiness we seek is right here, around us...within us. Not in a different place, a different time, or contingent on a different person. And that although some joys may be stored in the future, happiness tastes best when experienced in the present.
Living one day at a time, with a cup of tea in one hand and a cookie in the other. Priya is a compulsive tea drinker, daydreamer and procrastinator. Her other, not-as-interesting avatars include freelance writer and hobbyist photographer.