What does it feel like to emerge from a storm? To get out on the other side.

What do we see in the calm after a storm?

It’s been a couple of days since Cyclone Tauktae crossed the city of Mumbai. Taking a walk this morning seemed like a new world was emerging. The surprise as well as expectation you feel at seeing the fallen debris of leaves, twigs, flowers and branches.

The trees that have shed decaying branches weakened by months of mushrooms growing on them. Flowers that have been torn from the trees lying calmly on the ground.

Portions lost to become someone’s breakfast. Ants relocating from flooded homes to rebuild their lives.

A million little trees grow under every tree as seeds lying deep in the ground wake up to the call of the rain.

Vines hug the trees closer and climb faster. New homes come alive with house guests is in fact a scurrying in the aftermath of what began as a storm.

Art that captures the little things everyday is a small reminder of the times that we live in. Where every memory is tied to the collective pain.

The one thing children always remind you of is that the joy is in the small things, the mind forgets the hours but the heart remembers the moment.