What? Why? How? When? Where?

A busy morning in my world. Too many things to do, very little time to do it all. A viral infection dampened my spirits for a while but now I am back to doing what I like doing best – writing and reading! It is 10:00 AM here. Much has happened since I woke up but now I decided to take a moment to just sit and read some of your work. And somehow, I found the inspiration for this post.

I am sitting in my favourite spot at home, right next to the plants, breathing in some fresh air and occasionally looking around to see what the neighbours are upto. And suddenly, I see a wasp walking on the tender branch of my adenium. I wonder what it is upto.

My scientist mind tells me it is a scout. Wasps, like bees send out scouts to look for food and for suitable places where they can build their nests. Interesting beings, these wasps. However, today I am intrigued not by its scouting behaviour but its ‘curiosity’!

What is it that the wasp must be thinking? Did it come here looking for something in particular? What did it make of what it found? Did it enjoy the sight of this plant with its bright flowers? Did it enjoy walking on the winding branches? Did it take a moment off of its busy day to just sit and look around? Did it also wonder about who I am and why I am staring at it? Did it wonder about why the flower was pink while the rest of the plant was green and brown?

A pigeon just flew by and decided to quench its thirst (we keep a tiny pot filled with water for birds because the temperatures are soaring high in this part of the country). After drinking a few mouthfuls, it flew and sat on a pot. It looked around. We exchanged a glance and a smile (well I smiled, it just stared). It was distracted momentarily by the sound of plates clanking at the neighbour’s. It again looked at me. And then it started poking the soil and eating something. I have seen this happen before and always from this particular pot only. I know not why! I have examined the soil in the hope of finding something peculiar about it. No luck. Nothing that the eye can see. But I continue to stare at it. Once it has eaten its fill, it looks around. It spots the wasp but just stares at it. And after a little more water, it flies away.

Did the pigeon wonder who I am? Did it wonder what I would do to it? Was it forming its own judgments about how I looked or what I thought or why I stared? How interesting is this!

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Now I am suddenly thinking…what would we be without our curiosity? Would life be the same?

We are all born with so much curiosity within our minds. We are curious about people, about colours, about things, about animals, about behaviour, about reactions, about sights and sounds and smell and everything we can perceive. But as we grow up, curiosities are often replaced by judgments and fear of the unknown. Strange what ‘growing up’ can mean!

“Children are remarkable for their intelligence and ardor, for their curiosity, their intolerance of shams, the clarity and ruthlessness of their vision.”

Aldous Huxley

Featured Image Picture Credit : www.microscopemaster.com

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What are you curious about today? Have you noticed something new around you – a behaviour, a smell, a sight, a sound or a feeling within yourself? Do you know why the pigeon would eat soil or whatever was in the soil? Share your curiosities with me through your comments…

 

 

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