LUNCH WITH LORNA DOONE
A long time ago, when I was a young girl, I happened to read a novelette titled Lorna Doone. The thrill of reading the said novel was doubly compounded since I had sneaked the book off of my cousin’s study table.
The story was that of a young man who falls in love with the daughter of a gangster who hid in the hills and the young couple would secretly meet in a green grassy bower. The word bower brought up visions of a saucer-shaped depression with sloping green, grassy sides interspersed with flowers.
This describes, to a T, the little park outside where I work. It is a little depression, with sloping grassy sides and hundreds of tiny flowers interspersed in the grass. I always wonder how the flowers bloom equidistant to one another. Is it the skill of a consummate gardener or the wonders of genetic engineering?
I tend to eat my lunch here most days sitting on the steps, book in hand. I love to hear the bees and feel the sun warm on my shoulders while I am lost in the story. I once had a humming bird grant me the rare privilege of watching him while he ate (or was it sipped?) his lunch. He was so close I stopped breathing for fear of scaring him away. Another first, being able to watch a humming bird right under my nose.
My bower has had its share of romantic couples too, only these are ones trying to snatch a shared moment together in the middle of a busy day. I guess their bosses would do very well for Lorna’s tyrannical father. I do sometimes berate myself for intruding, but then, I was there first and that should count for something.
Today was one of those days when I simply had to get out of the office, so I collected sandwiches, book, a bottle of water and off I went. I made myself comfortable on one of the lower steps and was soon lost in the story of charging horses, princes and beautiful princesses just waiting to be rescued.
I had just gotten to the part where the princess was about to swoon into the prince’s arms, when something went whoooooooooooosh overhead and then landed with a thump. I nearly fell off of the step in fright. Had one of the horses in my book come to life? I looked up fearfully to see a cyclist, helmeted and padded to within an inch of his life, standing there with a foolish grin. I am still trying to make up my mind what made me madder, the loss of the romance, or the foolhardiness of some people.
The story was that of a young man who falls in love with the daughter of a gangster who hid in the hills and the young couple would secretly meet in a green grassy bower. The word bower brought up visions of a saucer-shaped depression with sloping green, grassy sides interspersed with flowers.
This describes, to a T, the little park outside where I work. It is a little depression, with sloping grassy sides and hundreds of tiny flowers interspersed in the grass. I always wonder how the flowers bloom equidistant to one another. Is it the skill of a consummate gardener or the wonders of genetic engineering?
I tend to eat my lunch here most days sitting on the steps, book in hand. I love to hear the bees and feel the sun warm on my shoulders while I am lost in the story. I once had a humming bird grant me the rare privilege of watching him while he ate (or was it sipped?) his lunch. He was so close I stopped breathing for fear of scaring him away. Another first, being able to watch a humming bird right under my nose.
My bower has had its share of romantic couples too, only these are ones trying to snatch a shared moment together in the middle of a busy day. I guess their bosses would do very well for Lorna’s tyrannical father. I do sometimes berate myself for intruding, but then, I was there first and that should count for something.
Today was one of those days when I simply had to get out of the office, so I collected sandwiches, book, a bottle of water and off I went. I made myself comfortable on one of the lower steps and was soon lost in the story of charging horses, princes and beautiful princesses just waiting to be rescued.
I had just gotten to the part where the princess was about to swoon into the prince’s arms, when something went whoooooooooooosh overhead and then landed with a thump. I nearly fell off of the step in fright. Had one of the horses in my book come to life? I looked up fearfully to see a cyclist, helmeted and padded to within an inch of his life, standing there with a foolish grin. I am still trying to make up my mind what made me madder, the loss of the romance, or the foolhardiness of some people.
posted by newatthis at 3:53 PM
2 Comments:
right, you of all people should be jealous!! i would have gladly exchanged that for a chance to party at the beach in kannur!!
reminds me of beautiful parks with lot of tall beautiful trees and all green around .......like the one we see in movies.......Oh how i wish we had similar parks in b'lore. That's the only thing that i miss in India......:(
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