Transcend

Alien Nickerbean

With weeks left to go, I write down a synopsis of the last months, to help me sit at the desk with paints and brushes to try my best translating it visually.

These are strange times.

The travel I planned to end this journey with, lies dormant to a force beyond my control.

It has dictated each day, for all of us.

And now, without a proper road map or a plan in hand, I am calculating today as the day I stop writing.

There is a pile of Ninety Archival sheets finally in my hands.

Carefully chosen and to be worked on.

It is time.

 

The repository consists of what I witnessed and experienced. What I understood and contemplated. The unexpected. How I responded. A heightened awareness of myself.

My reactions and behavioral patterns for the past months have many a times surprised me.

I am aware that I settled into spaces seamlessly and jarringly, both.

Harmoniously and disruptively.

In turn, there were diverse reactions of tolerance and rejection at my entry and presence.

 

I discovered that unlike the person I thought I was, I altered myself and would try to blend inconspicuously. I was surprised at how far my limits would stretch in an alien environment, trying to belong. Most times, I tried not to draw attention.

There were moments I had to be silent of my ideals and convictions.

I compromised and held my peace.

Would I have reacted the same way if I belonged to a group greater in numbers begs the question.

Assimilation warrants homogenizing on most counts.

And most times I did, unwittingly.

 

On the move, each day brought its challenges. I had to adapt and be fluid. 

More importantly, have a sense of humour.

I had to be open to the surrounding mindset; shed my pre conceived notions and theories and start from ground zero.

It was a constant on-the-guard, watchful, exhausting existence; being a stranger for months among different communities and on the move.

 

On the other hand, even in the slightest way, those around me engineered and reworked themselves to accommodate something new - me and what I represent.

 

_____________

 

In most instances human translocation cannot cause the complete upheaval of a solid state.

Alternatively, a species migration, even in minute scale can have a larger impact on the balance of an ecosystem as it is governed by different natural laws.

But the acceptance of humans and species both depend on the receiving Ecosystem and community; to which level, adaptation or any disruption may occur.

 

It is a paradox, the urgency of saving the honeybee, considering it was an alien species brought into the New World in the 1600s and there is no study or record of what it displaced nor the invasive nature of it.

 

Then a more balanced and pragmatic view of species/ human spread is paramount and it could be that a clear cut approach to conservation is futile; a pluralistic perspective is the way forward.

 

Perhaps timely agitation IS needed to revive a flagging system or a society on the decline and less dynamic.

To revive, restore and rejuvenate for more efficient performance or simply, survival.