Being Sunday, I was a little free and lazy. Do not ask what I do on such days. I simply enjoy doing nothing seriously. Since I did not wish to sit at home and get even more bored, I remembered that yesterday I had received a message, or rather, a picture from Gineesh, who works at Mathrubhumi Books.
He knows me as a person who is mad about books. For him, I am a good customer. Whatever he suggests, I buy. Naturally, he likes me as a customer. By the way, he must have been surprised when he opened the new arrivals section and saw my autobiography among them. He immediately sent me a picture of the book. That was enough for me. I decided to drive to Kochi and buy a copy.
In the morning, I took the car and drove casually. The road was very narrow. After the rains, a lot of grass had grown along the roadside. Suddenly, I slowed down after noticing a snake crossing the road. I stopped the car and waited for some time.
Without thinking much, I even honked like a fool, despite knowing very well that snakes cannot hear. They only sense danger or the presence of something through vibrations. At least, that is what we have observed about them. If this understanding is wrong, then the snake itself will have to come forward and amend the statement, which may never happen.
After some time, I stopped honking and simply waited. Anyway, I was in no hurry. I sat there quietly, observing it. Since there was no movement, I thought that it might not even be alive.
After a while, a dog came very close to the snake and stopped walking. I assumed that he would solve my problem by attacking it. Instead, he simply stood there without moving. My waiting continued, and the dog remained on the other side of the road.
A few moments later, the dog suddenly started running away, but clearly not because of the snake. That was when I realized something interesting. The dog had not even noticed the snake’s presence.
I was surprised by this realization because, under normal circumstances, both animals are usually aware of the presence of another creature nearby. Yet, both seemed completely unaware of each other.
I understood this only when the dog ran away. The snake also moved at the very same instant. Within a fraction of a second, both disappeared in different directions.
As I resumed my journey, I could not stop myself from relating this incident to our own lives, especially to the younger generation.
When they have a phone in their hands, they completely forget the presence of everyone around them. Physically, they may still be sitting in the room, but mentally, they are somewhere else. They do not notice sounds. They do not notice people. They do not notice the world around them.
Then I corrected myself.
Perhaps this is not just about the new generation. Maybe all of us have slowly forgotten the world in which we actually live. We are surrounded by people, trees, roads, rain, and countless small moments, yet our minds are elsewhere. It is both painful and pathetic.
Finally, I remembered reading somewhere that when we experience something continuously for a long time, we slowly become a part of it.
Imagine a person who does not enjoy music. Suppose, not by choice, he listens to music every day for years. Gradually, it becomes a habit, and one day he starts loving it.
In the same way, if two people who do not love each other are forced into marriage, there is always a possibility that, after spending years together, they may become attached to one another. Perhaps it is not love in the beginning. Perhaps it is simply familiarity. Or maybe attachment itself grows out of habit.
We begin to like people merely because we keep seeing them.
Then a strange thought crossed my mind.
If human beings change because of their surroundings, then nature must also be changing by observing us. Perhaps our habits are becoming its habits. Perhaps our restlessness, our distractions, and our carelessness are slowly influencing the world around us.
Maybe nature, too, is leaving behind its old blessings by copying us.
Who knows?
Super story.