The Lake

Treading up to the mountain top, I managed to make a place for myself to stand. Beneath my feet, rested a becalmed lake, like an ice cream in a cone. It was lulled to sleep in the cot made by the valley. Allured by its naïve, ingenuous, childlike innocence, I glided down the mountain slope.

 The zealous zephyr thrusted me closer to the lilting lake. Inching closer towards it, in awe, as it beckoned me, I was impeded by a measureless veil of clouds momentarily impeded my path, acting as a celestial curtain-as though telling me to keep back. But my guardian gale spoke on my behalf, unveiling the lake once more for me to behold its quintessential beauty: peerless, matchless and pure beyond comparison to that of an Aranmula mirror.

Distracted, by those around me, I noticed it wasn't me alone who had been enthralled by the charms of the lake but a throng of others who had been entranced in a way that they stood spellbound since an infinite period of the past, when I wasn’t even aware about pure and primal beauty. Their mesmerisation had been over the years laminated on the lake as a stamp of their unwavering, loyal, and devoted admiration to the lake. These were none other than the avid Ashwood trees. A potpourri of floral fragrance of lilies, lavenders and bird of paradise percolated through the air tingling my olfactory senses. As I rejoiced the floral freshness, my eyes beheld the colour pallet- orpine purple and cherry blossom pink flowers of the willow tree garlanded the jade-green grass, marking the lake's territory. The two willow trees on either side bowed to the lake and were also the caretaker of the bonsai that grew in their shade.

Rings of chrome yellow roses and rapture blue lavender strung into a necklace for the lake; to complete the ornament set of the lake, bracelets of floss pink suede soft lotuses wristed it. Sentinels of this transcendental territory were the pre-eminent, prominent and priestly, pine groves. These formed the outermost layer of the three concentric layers of trees, all of which were nestled in the valley.

Not only were the pines furthest from the lake, but most closely nestled in the surrounding mountains, in whose lap, played the whole landscape. These grandparents smiled through each of their wrinkles on the face. On the other side of the ranges, rose the Sun mildly shining its melon-orange rays just enough to prevent the landscape from freezing. Benevolently, it took great care not to send tendrils of light arrowing at the still and serene surface of the lake rather spread its blanket of warmth to nurture life on the lake’s surface.

Under this blanket of warmth, quacking the ducklings followed the duck to the lake. Such was the benign nature of the lake that it had accepted a wooden pier jutting right into it with open arms. Overwhelmed by this hospitability the wooden pier had too adopted an amiable nature for herons to relish their prey on.

Rolling my eyes further, I spot a woody tree to rest my back. Hardly, had I unwinded with the help of velour soft grass, then I was welcomed to an outbreak of clamorous buzzing sound of a swarm of dragonflies hovering on the lake attracted by its silver glint. A plump, orange-dappled fish suddenly shattered the lake's seamless surface. It snatched the dragonflies by surprise before plopping back into the depths, leaving only ripples and a quieted sky. Though it creased the lake 's surface, it relieved my twitched skin of the touch of a dragonfly akin to a carpet brush

The elixir, cold, reinvigorating feel of a raindrop that fell straight onto my eyelash reminded me to return. I slowly closed my eyes encapturing every stimulus in the lens of my mind to create an album of memories and a wish to revisit this rhapsody pool of bliss and paradise!!