The fairy glade

Third day in the same forest. It would get monotonous now...

Hair as black as ebony, lips as red as blood and skin as white as snow! Surrounded by little men, she walked 
like an elegant deer with her neck held high, letting the wind kiss her face. She was no Snow White with her 

seven dwarves, she was just a kindergarten teacher with her charge of two year olds!

The little children, all clad in waterproof overalls and equipped with a pail and spade instead of pick axes, 
stamped in all the available muddy puddles. Some of them knelt in the mud and scooped up the wet clay into their buckets and carried them to their building site to build a castle. ( The Germans start as engineers from an early age!) good thing the mothers were not around- surf or no surf the mess these tiny tots made would turn any hausfrau's heart!

I stopped for a moment ( for I had time to stand and stare) and greedily took in the video of unfettered joy into 
my subconscious. They looked at me curiously. The boldest of them walked up to me, wiped his hand on a little towel tucked in his pocket and put it out towards me. To say I was thrilled would be an understatement! My heart turned a somersault and I picked up the still dirty hand without hesitation. He talked to me in a burst of  
speech and I spoke back as if I understood everything! Then Snow White came to my rescue and spoke to me in English.

I learnt how she rescued these kids everyday from 
their harassed working mothers, to let them feel the joy of freedom and allowed them to do what every child wants to do. Soon they would go back to the school and get cleaned up and be presented to their 
mothers, scrubbed and clean as little angels. A little drowsy and with less energy so that the mums would  have time to recuperate to face another busy day at  home. 

It was time to say "Auf wiedersehen" and I continued on my walk with the picture of the little ones and 
Snow White ( her name was Anke by the way) etched in my memory. 

The woods were dark and deep. The promise of 
sunshine in the morning was fading fast. I had lost some time playing with the children so I increased my pace and followed a new road. This was away from the main road. Soon I was deep inside the forest. The 
tall trees with their leafless branches brooded over me but they were like kindly guardians rather than menacing devils. Spring was trying hard to make its presence felt . The dry stalks were pushing forth green leaf buds, the tiny grass flowers were nodding at me and though I could find no birds around, there were lovely man made bird houses hung high on the trees ( I wonder how they reached so high on the slim trunks!) 

I walked with my head up at the sky, looking up at the interweaving arms of the branches. Occasionally a biker 
or a jogger would pass by, but they were in their own world and only the swish of the tires or the thump of the  running feet would warn me that there was someone behind me. The absolute silence was so therapeutic that I pondered on the possibility of just sitting down on the  fallen tree trunk to soak in the ambience. 

The road was never ending and I had to decided on a point to turn back. Every step I took forward, brought me 
into a microcosm of a new world- complete and perfect! My greedy parched heart did not want to miss out on any experience so I walked on.

Suddenly a shaft of sunlight cut through the darkness of the woods and streamed on a clearing in the forest. There were two beautiful black trees covered with white blossoms. The whole area was filled with dark green moss which were sprinkled with the fallen white flowers. A few magpies with their tails up in the area trilled their songs. My God! What a setting it was! I wished I was Rapunzel sleeping under the tree, letting the soft 
flowers caress me as I listened to the songs of the birds, maybe I would weave the flowers into my long hair! I wished there were a few rabbits peeping from their burrows to complete this picture of my fairy's glade.

My walk was now complete, the almighty had given me a perfect gift to take back for the day. It was time for 
me to go back. I took in great gulps of air as if to save this wonderful picture in my hard drive. I literally spent five complete minutes to grasp at this experience and turned back with a satiated heart and energised mind, to a life now so filled with magic. It now started to drizzle....

We all need a little bit of the fairy tale and magic to spice up our monotonous lives. The important thing is for us to realise that it is always around us and it is in our hands to scour and dig and discover the enchantment!

A walk in the forest.

A late, lazy breakfast- going to and fro from the buffet table, asking for omelette without bacon, sipping coffee... In short a breakfast where I did not have to worry about the menu or it's ingredients! Naturally this led to that full feeling. The sun was peeping through the clouds, "so why not?" Said the heart to the mind and I decided to prepone my walk at twelve to ten!   
 

                                               

Put on my waterproof coat (in case it rained!), scarf, boots... Some money and my cell phone (working one) in one pocket and my normal cell which doubles as my iPod in the other with my headphones in the other pocket. Took my gloves too and walked out of the warm confines of the Hotel into the street.

The cold blast hit my face and even with my glasses to protect my eyes, they started watering!Bracing myself with bullish body language I proceeded towards the road which would lead me to the Eilenriede forest. Two days ago I had been there and found it lovely. We had discovered a cafe which served gluhwein .I had been with Junu and hadn't actually mapped out the area in my mind. Anyway I thought I would walk till the forest cafe, treat myself ,sit for sometime and then walk back.

I waited at the traffic lights even though the road was empty! How impatient we are when we are at home to jump lights! Sigh! Crossed when it turned green took a picture of the majestic stag before I entered the forest. Right at the beginning, there was a fork in the path and I, like Frost took the road least travelled on. The head phones were squished into my ears, the music loop was selected and away I went. 

There were a few mothers with prams, a couple of joggers, a group of kindergarten children with their teacher splashing into all the puddles and one single beautifully dressed woman in high boots! She looked at me suspiciously and purposely walked slowly so that I would overtake her! I did and smiled at her in amusement which she returned with a grim smile. I traipsed deeper into the forest. Two policemen ( one was a woman) rode by on a pair of magnificent horses, talking nineteen to a dozen without paying any attention to me! Soon I was absolutely alone, I couldn't even hear the cars anymore.. If you wanted to define blithe, you should have taken a picture of me today!

The sun was warm on my cheeks, the wind had died down and I had left civilization far behind me. The green trunked trees with their leafless branches enticed me to go forward. The little yellow, pink and white grass flowers that bedded the foot of these large deciduous trees reminded me of all the fairy tales that I had read. The only thing missing to complete the picture was the mushroom and toadstool!

I walked on. The meandering roads, the birds chirping, and the rustle of the dry leaves and scrunch of the wet leaves were my only companions. I must have walked for about forty minutes by now when I came near a dry stream way with a small wooden bridge, I tried to wrack my brains on whether I had seen this before. I decide to turn back and was met with too many forks on the road and I obviously took the wrong one! And loitered about in unknown areas. Chiqui had warned me about getting lost like Hansel and Gretel the night before... Was I lost? 

The sun hid behind a cloud, the rolling clouds brought with them wind! The wind had picked up speed, the cruel and cold thing was whipping against my legs. The nose was frozen by now, I picked up my walking speed. I wasn't exactly panicking but I was definitely worried. I shut off the music to think clearly.... I must find a main road then it's simple ...just take a taxi back to the hotel or I could phone up hubby dearest at the office and tell him I am lost in the forest and get a search party organised! But both these would smack of the failure badge so I trudged on. It was getting overcast by now, the rain was imminent and the wind had started a plaintive whine in my ears. I picked up speed. The heart was beating faster. I took off my gloves as I was feeling  hot and dropped one of them too. Did not realise it for five minutes then walked back to pick it up!

There was a lovely wooden bench, I took a deep breath and sat down on it. It was now an hour after I had left. I had told Mickey I would be back in two hours so she wouldn't be expecting me now. I took deep calming breaths and took stock. Direction wise I was pretty sure that I was in the right direction for getting back I looked desperately for any kind of landmarks but there were only tall trees everywhere!

I gave myself fifteen minutes to walk on and if I couldn't find any signs I would use the phone. The jauntiness of my past one hour was missing as I plodded on determinedly ahead. Within five minutes I sighted a car and a main road. I felt secure, civilisation was back! I walked on .... In ten minutes I espied the entrance to the zoo and now I knew  I was on the right track ( I had taken a whole round of the huge forest!) . The heart rate was now normal and all though it was dark, I was no longer feeling hot ! I walked ahead and saw a ramp I had noticed the day before and soon the statue of beloved stag came into view and hey presto! Like magic, I was on home stretch :)

Those ninety minutes of my life was a small microcosm of an entire lifetime. The joy, happiness, fear and insecurity and myriad other emotions that flitted across my conscious and subconscious taught me to value every precious moment of my life. From now on I hope I am able to treat every obstacle in my life as trivial and I hope to convince my self that there is nothing such as the end of the world. I hope to go for many more such walks in my life and come out triumphant and happy.