This is from Ruskin Bond’s diary
which states about the silent miracles of nature. The diary starts on June 24th. It is talking about the first day of monsoon
mist. When the mist starts, the birds
will fall silent and everything there looks as if the whole place has been
covered with a blanket. The trees which
have been ringing with the sound of birds have become deathly still. All this
makes the mist look melancholy. In this
weather, Biju was calling his sister and she was able to hear him but could not
see him.

June 25: The climate was too cold
it was warm and the cobra lily was the first one to let out its head. This season stole the privacy that the mist
gave. When a school boy asked him to
describe the place in one sentence, he said, “A paradise that might have been.”

June 27 : Brought visitors like
leopard and leeches. The leopard first
takes a dog and then it tries to take Biju’s cow but his mother chased away
with her high pitched scream. The author
was willing to donate some blood to the leeches. The author then talks about scarlet minivets,
the female has yellow colour and wherever on the tree, it looks as if that
branch has been adorned with a jewel. It
always remained silent so most of the time, it would go unnoticed. But these
are driven away by a pair of drongos who were unnecessarily aggressive. There is also a creeper climbing high on the
oak tree and while climbing it eats the insects and because it is raining and
warm there is no dearth of food for the birds.

Aug 2 : It had been steady
downpour of tropical rain and the author feels one with the rain though it
doesn’t let him sleep and inspite of it making
the tin roof to leak, he feels nice to feel the sound of the rain on top and
silence with in.

Aug 3: The sun has come out. A
woman is seen chopping up sticks, a cow has come out grazing and its bell is
heard. A crow is cawing on an oak
tree. A beautiful song of whistling
thrush emerges like a “dark sweet secret from the depths of the ravine.”

Aug 12: They have continuous rain
for 9 days and no one was able to come out.
Few who had work carried umbrellas.
As it was raining, it was not cold but otherwise, everything was wet and
soggy. It was filled with flowers like wild balsam, dahlias, begonias, and
ground orchids.

Aug 31: the rains have come to an
end; this is explained with the flowers and plants. He could see cobra lily seeds turning red; he
could visualize fern becoming yellow. As of now, they are firm, green and
upright. Ground orchids, mauve lady’s slipper and white butterfly orchids are
blooming brightly. Snakes and rodents
have come out and filled the roofs, attics and godowns. When a “shrew” comes inside the house, the
children gets amused but no one was allowed to kill it because it was felt that
it would bring money. This becomes true
when the author gets a cheque.

The author writes on October 3.
Now there is snow and winter rain. After
the “hailstorm” the whole place gets covered with beautiful golden light.

Jan 26 : The author is feeling
lonely because of the climate and of his friend who had given him company for a
short period. There was complete
silence. He could hear the sound of rain
on leaves, lemons and on roof. There is
mist and there is heavy rain throughout.
The trees have gone grey to add to his melancholy.

March 23: winter season ended and
hail storms started. It helped the sky
to clear and rainbow to be formed.