Geologists confirm that the Stone Forest is over
270 million yearsold. The area used to be an ocean.
During the Long GeologicalPeriod from the late
Permian Period 230 million years ago to 2 million
years ago, the ocean subsided and giant rocks
appeared.
Exposed to rains and winds, eroded by the elements,
the limestone ranges have been shaped by time.
Animals, plants, and even human figurines can be
found here. Some are elegant, some are rugged,
and each is lifelike with its own distinguishing
characteristics.Walking through the Stone Forest,
visitors marvel at the naturalstone masterpieces
and are bewitched by the intricate formations.
The magnificent, strange and steep landscape
creates countless labyrinthine vistas.
There’s a strange kind of calm around those
standing stones.
Although it is said that strong gales sweep out of the wind caves
every 30 minutes. I touch and feel a different cool, a coolness that permeates through my arm all over me. I feel aware of the sudden moments of clarity in those darks and the lights, the lines of the horizon or trees all suspended in perfection, waiting for us to recognize and appreciate that beauty. So much patience! Just waiting there, getting chiseled each day, every moment in to something more beautiful, more serene.
I had visited the stone forest when my mind was confused, cluttered with many indecisive thoughts. At times when we are so confused I know what to do, it is better to let go, and lie still. I sit there and breathe the freshness. The air has a cleansing effect, and the stones have a healing touch. This place helped. First, there’s the grace that overtakes you when you leave your other world and get onto the bosom of nature. I often think it’s more a matter of inhaling than rendering. Then silence meets more silence. These Stones are living beings, and they sit here meditating, growing at nature’s pace, looking at the world moving on its wheels, faster with each century, getting slaved by scientific gadgets, with a growing hunger for control. It is difficult to loosen control, but once I could, if felt better.
New feelings and dramas evolve, often merely with the passage of time. Once the mind got uncluttered, I was able to see logic in better light, I felt my own inner light moving me to say things much wiser that I knew I had in me to say. I knew things will move back into harmony. I felt the stones smiling at me. Why do they keep standing there for centuries?, waiting for us to discover them, to marvel in their beauty?, to listen to their silence, learn from it? Their patience is overwhelming to me.
Milton in his famous book ‘Paradise Lost’ wrote (in reference to god) –
“They also serve, who only stand and wait”.
“Thanks to my work everything’s going well.” (Claude Monet)
SEASONS FOR GIFTS
When asked what I want for Diwali , Christmas, New years , B day, anniversary ( all falling within weeks of each other) I am never able to put it straight. The list I can put together though ( with difficulty) is a list of my stuff that is over, and I may (not necessarily) need it.
By no means I am ungrateful, mind you. I’m thinking that artists are among those who don’t really want to receive too many gifts for the Holiday Season. It may have something to do with the overabundance of joy in our daily lives , or for the constant distraction of our brains, but we artists, by and large, are not into materialism. Actually, this year the only thing that I want is a doodle book, thanx to my latest obsession. That may also be a great way to spend time with my son – me doodling, him googling…aah.
But I digress.
The only thing that I can ever remember really craving for is the know-how to do a decent novel. I would like to be another great writer. For my stocking I want a zapper — perhaps a pill or an easily gulped liquid. Rushdie chutzpah, wodehouse talent, chinaski insanity, Monet joy – mash this stuff in bottles and gift it for me. Pop one just before stepping into the studio, and “Presto,” I’d be the wizard I always knew I was. Actually, I do receive much inspiration from my mentor, and from fellow artists, a few say they get inspired by me. Well, little nibbles of gifts they are.
I totally resonate what Robert says, ‘We don’t need stuff. We need ideas and energy and subjects and motivation and time and lots of other things that can’t be bought and are not sold at Wal-Mart. Happiness is not under the Christmas tree but somewhere in the air above it. It doesn’t stick to traditional dates or statutory holidays. It can sometimes be found on the most ordinary of Thursdays. Sometimes it just blows in like a swallow in December. Sometimes when you want it most you can’t have it. And sometimes you’re up to your elbows. That’s why we don’t need regular gifts. We’re into bigger stuff. And if we need tools or paint or clay or something we just go out and buy it anyway.’
“Thanks to my work everything’s going well.” (Claude Monet)
Forget the books you want to write. Think only of the book you are writing. Henry Miller
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