Part IV: Rising Again

Ram

Have you ever lost something so big… it felt like everything burned down?… Arre, stay with us. Today, nature shows us how to rise again.

Ram

Namaste dosto! Welcome back to Hey Nature. I'm Ram. Today we open Part four of the book. Hey Nature: 100 Gurus Hiding in Plain Sight. By SuRa Mukkavilli. Part four is Rising Again. Bouncing back after loss, drought and shock. And Priya is with me. Priya!

Priya

Hello, Ram. This is the biggest Part. Sixteen lessons. And maybe the most needed.

Ram

Sixteen! Okay. Last time, you left me with grass after a fire.

Priya

Yes. Picture a hillside after a summer fire. Black. Smoke still in the air. Nothing alive.

Ram

Sounds like the end.

Priya

It looks like the end. But a few weeks later, after the first rain… the black is pricked with green.

Ram

How? Everything burned.

Priya

Not everything. Grass keeps its growing buds low. At the ground, or just below it. Tucked away. The fire burns the leaves above. But the buds survive.

Ram

So it grows back from what the fire couldn't reach.

Priya

Exactly. That's why grass is among the first things to turn green after a fire.

Ram

Hmm. When I lost my first job, it felt like everything burned.

Priya

But what was kept low? Your skills. Your values. The people who love you. The fire never found those.

Ram

The fire took the leaves.

Priya

It never found the roots.

Ram

Okay, that one hit me. What's next?

Priya

A spider. At dawn, a garden spider's web shines with dew. By evening, it's torn and sagging.

Ram

Wind. Insects. Kids with sticks.

Priya

All of them. But come back the next morning. A perfect new web is there.

Ram

A new one? Every day?

Priya

Many orb-weaving spiders take down the old web, often by eating the silk. Then they spin a whole new one. Often every single day.

Ram

Eating the silk? Why?

Priya

To reuse it. The silk is protein. They take in what's left… and build again.

Ram

Wait. Isn't the spider one of the Avadhoota's gurus too?

Priya

It is. The Bhagavatam names the spider among his twenty-four teachers. When our work gets torn, we mourn it for too long. The spider learns from it, and builds again.

Ram

Eat the old web.

Priya

Spin the new one.

Ram

Okay Priya, but what about failing? Not losing. Just… failing. Again and again.

Priya

Then let's meet a tiger. Dusk in a dry forest. A tiger bursts out of the grass. The deer leaps away… and it's gone.

Ram

Oof. Embarrassing.

Priya

The tiger stops. Breathes hard. Then turns, and walks calmly back into the shade.

Ram

No drama?

Priya

None. Even tigers fail far more often than they succeed. Most of their hunts end with the prey escaping. So they rest. And they try again.

Ram

Most hunts fail? The tiger?

Priya

Researchers widely report it. We often treat one failure as proof we're not good enough. The tiger fails most of the time… and it's still the tiger.

Ram

Wah. I'm keeping that one.

Ram

Okay, quiz time. Be kind.

Priya

Always. When you touch a touch-me-not, its leaves fold shut. Do they stay shut?

Ram

I hope not. I used to do that all day as a kid.

Priya

No. Within minutes, the leaves open again to the sun. A closed leaf can't feed the plant. Fold when touched. Open to the sun.

Ram

Nice. Next.

Priya

What comes out of sugarcane when you crush it?

Ram

Easy. Sweet juice. My favourite roadside drink.

Priya

Right. The cane stores sugar in its stem. Pressure shows what's inside. Under stress, some people turn bitter. Some turn sweet. What comes out is what was stored.

Ram

Hmm. Last one.

Priya

Low tide in the Sundarbans. The water pulls back. What does the mudskipper do?

Ram

Wait for the water?

Priya

No! It's a fish that walks on the mud on its front fins. It breathes through its skin and mouth, as long as it stays moist. When the water leaves… walk.

Ram

A walking fish. Nature is showing off now.

Ram

What else is in Part four?

Priya

Bamboo that bends low in a storm and stands again. A peepal that grows from a crack in a fort wall. A calf that stands on shaking legs. And a shami tree that stays green in the desert.

Ram

Okay, I need all of those. Priya, sum up Part four for me.

Priya

Keep your roots low, like grass. Rebuild every day, like the spider. Miss, rest, and try again, like the tiger. And when the tide goes out, walk.

Ram

Nice. But how do these stories actually help us rise again?

Priya

Each one shows a different way back. Grass shows what loss can't touch. The spider shows how to rebuild. The tiger shows that failing is part of the job. The touch-me-not shows how to open again after hurt. Rising again isn't about never falling. It's about what you do next. And you can choose that, every time.

Ram

And one thing to try today?

Priya

Think of one thing you lost. Then write down three things it didn't take from you. Those are your roots.

Ram

Love it. Next time, Part five. Building Well. Making with care, foresight and skill.

Priya

We'll start with a banyan tree. Its roots hang down like ropes, and become pillars. Do you grow first… or build the support first?

Ram

Thank you, Priya. And thank you, dosto, for listening. All sixteen lessons of Part four are at heynature.in. Till then… fall if you must, and rise again. Your next teacher is closer than you think.