When I was a kid, me and my cousin used to spend our vacations at my grandparents home. My grandparents lived in a village with more than 2 acres of land surrounding their house. The house was built spot in the middle of the land. The road, or lack of it, leading to the house was quite narrow and you could say it was almost a ditch. But once you were past that narrow walls, you entered a wide open space, a magical land. Countless days were spend there exploring, climbing trees and hills, excavating for hidden treasures, even hunting lion! You really should read my cousin’s account of that particular adventure. I could go on and on about the adventures we had, but I just wanted to let you know how isolated a place it was.
There was a time when we didn’t have television there and by nightfall, we would have had our bath in the river and my Grandmother would get us to pray, (the entire Rosary!). Once that was done, we probably would have food, and then it would be time to talk, play, and do anything that would allow us to pass time. Sometimes I used to sit outside, doing nothing. I would listen to the sounds, I wish I could say it was the wild, but it was mostly crickets. There were the sounds which I could not identify, a bit eerie, but somehow comforting.
In the morning those sounds faded away, the warm air replaced with a slight chill, grass sprinkled with dew and the birds singing. When I think of it, each part of day had different sounds associated with it.
I was thinking about the sounds that we hear every day, because of this post and that made me think of the sounds that we don’t hear, at least the sounds that I don’t hear. I miss the sounds of nature. Even at night, the city drowns out the sounds that are natural. And I miss silence, I can’t remember the last time I heard nothing.
This post is not about the sounds I like, but the sounds that I miss the most.