It takes a long, long time to see the desert...- By Nayana Gadkari
![Image](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSIW7Yu3s3EO7GV2Hd6hA1SrDwigG_qzJEQOjX4_KTq6x4oLlE7k1sGrIttBixEm6Nb4-Z35ZhlqPRzRvJ-j_qeOgVIRKMoxKojXI9SLvdVqLboOdS3FGaUJsI62bvlm2zMXjP6sC1056ANhxB_i1CLwV88HB8MtRQv6o5CvkGXpvZYWieAbtPjlh7/s320/IMG-20230407-WA0009.jpg)
Decades after I first learned of them during a geography lesson at school, I had a chance to see the mighty saguaros in person in Arizona. There they stood, tall and undefeated, giving the literal “fuck you” to the world in that barren Sonoran Desert where nature had decreed not much would grow, let alone thrive and rule. The feeling of awe beggared description. This was my second visit to Arizona in as many years; this time, I went specifically to see my saguaros. I didn’t have my fill the first time; the desert was calling, and I needed to go. When a visitor goes to the Sonoran Desert in spring, one isn’t quite prepared to see the frenzy of life bursting out defiantly out of every crevice, every rock. It is almost as if everything capable of producing life wants to bloom wherever it is, utterly oblivious that it is splashing around this vibrancy of bright colors in an otherwise less-than-hospitable stark desert. They say in life, you always arrive where you need to be, not partic