Wednesday, October 13, 2010: Tranquility Now!

Following the presentation and a meeting with several of the Centre for Environmental Education’s (CEE) project heads we were given a tour of CEE’s main campus located in the heart of Ahmedabad. The campus was a sharp contrast from the city. Everywhere I looked there were tall trees, lush vegetation, and beautiful fields of green grass. The sound dampening properties of the verdant greenery made it hard for me to believe that we were still surrounded by the city on all sides. The peacocks, monkeys, and other animals further contributed to the illusion that we were deep inside a tropical rainforest rather than at the heart of such an overwhelmingly busy city.

The change in environment was certainly a welcome one for me. My sense of self-identity was already perturbed by the urbanized nature of my daily surroundings, so being able to escape from the buzz of city life gave me a few welcome moments to refresh and centre myself. The tour very much provided me with a touchstone for home: the smell of the vegetation, the whisper of a cool breeze rustling through the leafy canopies, and the relative silence of my surroundings provided me with a sense of peace and tranquility that I thought would have been impossible to find within Ahmedabad. It was very much a touchstone moment that linked me to home, and served to brighten my mood considerably for the rest of the day.

The contrast between the natural surroundings of the CEE campus and the daily hustle and bustle of life in Ahmedabad also forced me to acknowledge how alive and vibrant both worlds were. Coming from the West Coast, I generally restricted myself to using the descriptor “alive” when speaking of the natural environs that surrounded me. However, the jarring contrast between the CEE campus and the streets of Ahmedabad forced me to broaden my horizons and acknowledge that the city too was very much alive. It lived, breathed, and had its own unique pulse and rhythm. While I still found the city to be somewhat overwhelming, I found that this acknowledgement allowed me a degree of understanding (and with it, a certain respect) that I hadn’t felt for Ahmedabad before.