Tag Archive: friends


Some of the BULBs (Bangalore Urban Lady Birders) decided to meet up for lunch at Halli Mane on Sankranti Day:

140113 halli mane front

The decorations were beautiful…

made of palm fibre:

rope decor 140113 halli mane

made of palm fronds:

140113 halli mane  thoran

 

This is the menu, as displayed on the board:

kharabUjatha rasa (Musk Melon juice)
eLLu–bellA-kabbu (Sesame seeds-jagger-sugar cane)
hesaru beLe pAyasA( Mung dal payasa)
mAvina midi uppinkAyA (Maavadu, small mango pickle)
chOLada kOsambari (Salad with corn and grated carrots)
moLagekkALu, dAdimba kOsambari (Salad with sprouted green gram and pomegranate)
Alu gaddE palyA (potato curry)
dondekkAi, gOdambi palya (ivy gourd, cashewcurry)
mAvina kAyi chutney (mango chutney, not sweet)
sihi pongal (sweet pongal)
khArA pongal (savoury pongal)
avarekkALu usli (preparation with winter beans)
avarekkAlu bAth (rice with avarekkAlu beans)
happaLA-sandigE (appaLAm and vadAm) (the appalam or paapad was made from jackfruit)
avarekkALu gasi
annA (rice)
thOvvE-thuppA (dal , ghee)
thiLi sAru ( clear rasam)
shuntthi thambuLi (ginger paste)
amatikkAyi gojju (hog-plum gojju)
kumbaLakkAyi majjige huLi
guLLa huLi (Udupi brijal sambar)
mosaru (yogurt)
kobbari hOLige (coconut pOLi)
bALe hannina rasAyana (ripe banana custard)
avarekkALu masAla vade
avarekkAyi hayagrIvA ( a thick gravy preparation)
bharathA
bhAvanA shuntthi (digestive; ginger with sour tones)
bALe haNNu (banana)
ele-adike (betel leaf and supAri)

The leaf looked like this, when I had to start eating, as I had to finish some of this before the next few courses:

leaf 140113 halli mane

At this point, 18 of the 30 items were on the leaf. And at the end, the leaf had to look like this:

empty leaf 140113 halli mane

Here are all of us, kindly clicked by a fellow-luncher:

group 140113 halli mane

 

This is for every fellow-Indian (especially Kannadigas) who cannot have food like this when they feel like it….I thought of each of you!

QuizFamilies: December quiz, 161212

Click

here

for the FB group.

Here’s my report on a monthly quiz group that I joined in 1992, and which is still going strong….

2 161212 qf

Hi Everyone!

I must say, the one word that is most misused in QuizFamilies (after
the word “Basically”, which we use while we grope for answers that
may, by some random chance, be correct) is…”sitter”.

When any quizmaster, mistress, King, Queen or Knave tells you, “This
is a sitter” …whether he or she is talking about the question or the
quiz….DO NOT believe the words. It takes quite a while for the real
lollipops to start appearing, and then, ofkose, they always go to
Other Teams And Not Your Own.

A great case in point was Socro’s initial announcement, that he’d put
together the quiz in the last 12 hours, so it would consist of
“sitters and supersitters”…so many of his koschins went unanswered
by everyone, that he had to “re-run” them, so much so that I hereby
dub the December quiz the “Rerun Quiz”.

I am including the koschins here, so you can judge either the
toughness of the quiz (or the Ignorance Quotient of our group) for
yourselves. (I will be sending the audio round, which was actually a
crossword, separately.)

Let me just fill you in on the stuff apart from the koschins. The
teams were named “Happy”, “Sneezy”, “Grumpy”, and “Sleepy”, and much
hilarity ensued as we tried not to look happy or grumpy or sleepy,
according to which team we were sitting in! Little Ameya had a great
explanation for the connect on the team names: “It’s various ways of
holding our face”….great answer, Ameya! Our witty repartees are
coming from younger and younger people!

Our wit (if one of you cracks a good joke, and I am in the room, I am
entitled to say”we” are witty!) is renowned…just after the “What is
the second full moon in one month called?” (Blue Moon) question,
someone objected to “What is the name of an area of Venice, which is
now used generically for such settlements?” question (Ghetto). Raghu
quipped, “What’s your problem? We get an easy question once in a blue
moon!”

The quiz start was delayed for a bit while Ganu went to get
bondas…and these then figured very largely in the whole quiz, with
some of us saying, “So many questions have been re-run, we want a
re-run of the bondas also!”

Socro started the quiz, and the minute he projected his desktop on to
GV (I’ll explain what this was, a bit later), Raghu queried, “Why do
you have so many icons on your desktop?” In fact, Socro started
feeling, with our queries, that the quizmaster was being quizzed
himself :)

GV…this stands for “Ganu’s Veshti”. The hosts not having a proper
white surface to use as a screen, this article of Ganu’s wardrobe was
pressed into use, hung like a Gobelin tapestry for Socro’s Famous
Projector.

We carefully abstained from witticisms on the veshti, but it put me
in mind of the khadi cloth that was used in some rural Gujrati cinema
hall..someone had the brilliant idea of dubbing the khadi, “Gandhiji
ki Dhoti”. Alas, after advertisements such as “Gandhiji ki Dhoti mein
Ek Phool Do Maali” and “Gandhiji ki Dhoti mein Ek Tha Tiger”, the name
had to be changed….

Break was a great time, too. Ganu of DAB (Delicious Alu Bonda) fame,
Hema and Janani, had provided a solid dinner for us. Sevige baath,
curd rice, dahi vada, sarkkarai pongal, and hot-hot masala chai and
filterkaapi….I was looking, and feeling, like a python when break
was over.

Socro’s “audio crossword” was a very innovative and interesting round,
but the quality of the sound had Jayakumar riposting, when asked,
“What is the next word?”…”We can’t even understand the preceding
words, how are we to give the next word!” I have attached a photo of
the crossword…but Socro, you can’t have a two-letter word sort of
hanging in outer space, like that! (Especially because I got it
wrong.)

Socro threw chocolates to those who gave correct answers, but I do
seem to remember some auctioning of leftover chocolates at the
end…..! Thank you, Socro, I had my chocolates as a lovely dessert
when I came home! I don’t normally buy these as I have no children at
home…so the enjoyment was even more pronounced!

Oh….I must mention the Dumb Charades round. We had to find the
author of the book that inspired the movie…and here’s the list:

Sleepy: Ganu: Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice); 2nd round (Hindi
films), Satyajit Ray (Shatranj Ke Khiladi); Sneezy: Deepa: J R R
Tolkien (The Hobbit); 2nd round, , Amrita Pritam (Pinjar…inspired
work by my team mates!) Grumpy: Sravana: Dan Brown (The Da Vinci
Code); 2nd round, Jyothi, Ruskin Bond (Junoon…the only one that no
one could get!) Happy: Janani, Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby…I
must say, all the rest of the teams got what Janani was conveying much
ahead of her team!); 2nd round, Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake) Janani
also did Charlotte Bronte (Jane Eyre) for fun, and she did a great
job!

Our DC rounds are great entertainers, and are surely responsible for
our ending the evening with gales of laughter!

I’ve added a couple of photos from the evening, too…please, all you
QF members, add yourself to the QF group that Sharmila has created. We
can exchange even more jokkus (and insults and info) over that! Here’s
the link:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/408207439247509/?ref=ts&fref=ts

(I’ve posted Sunday’s photos there, too.)

3 161212 qf

Enjoy the lovely cold weather with adhrak-chai, hot soup, toasty
bhuttas, menchina bajji, and anything else….here’s wishing you all
the best for the festive times (or at least, the holidays!) ahead, and
looking forward to meeting you all in the New Year!

Cheers, Deepa.

Navaratri…Dashera…Pujo…

Going around, visiting my friends and also checking out the condition of lakes, I got some images I’d like to share with you.

One of my friends, Hema, has a simple “golu” this time, without the kalasha that would make it mandatory for her to stay home all the nine days and offer worship:

4 hema golu 201012

Here she is, contemplating it:

3 hema golu 201012

Here’s the rangoli she’s done for it:

2 hema golu 201012

and the decorated plate for it:

hema golu 201012

Another of my friends, Arun, helped his mother set up a traditional golu, with the village next to the steps, and all the dolls on them, being symbolic of the universe that the Goddess rules:

Photobucket

Near Konanakunte Lake, I saw this Pujo pandal:

pandal 201012

The images had their faces covered, and would have been uncovered today (Shashti Day):

durga 201012

Already, trade and commerce had begun, with a little girl selling mud lamps:

lamps 201012

My friend Mythreyi has dolls that are over 20 years old:

my3 golu 201012

But when I went to visit my friend Nandini’s home, I found that her daughter, Priya, and her talented grandchildren, Meghna and Shashank, had gone a great job.

5 csk golu 201012

The vertical screen was also beautifully done:

4 csk golu 201012

However, what totally enraptured me was…Bangalore in the golu!

3 csk golu 201012

You can see the centre of our city, with the Metro, the Indoor Stadium, U B City, Utility Building, and the trees which still stand….

csk golu 201012

Here, have a better view of the Sheshadri Memorial Library and the High Court….a Universe in a doll’s world!

2  csk golu 201012

I enjoy visiting golus and sharing them with everyone!

Rohan Chakravarty….

I got introduced to

Rohan Chakravarty

some time ago, when he moved from Nagpur to Bangalore. He was also with us in this year’s Bangalore Bird Race (an involved debate about some waterfowl made their tally about 50 species less than ours, though we were mostly going around together!)

I don’t know him very well yet. We’ve met for a couple of cartoon exhibitions, and I asked him to contribute a cartoon for the

write-up I did for the Bird Race website

In person, he comes across as rather quiet, and I suspect this is because I do not know him very well :) )) However, while talking to him, I do keep wondering what he is noticing and observing!

He’s been interviewed, and

click here for his interview by Wlld Navigator

He’s a great addition to the nature/wildlife/birding community in Bangalore!

Creativity…arts and crafts

It’s wonderful to see things of beauty growing from nothing but a length of string (or wool). Knitting, crochet and tatting have always held a fascination for me. I liked knitting, but thanks to my myopia, the other two were beyond me. But when I saw my friend Savita engaged in tatting while she was helping out at our friend’s sadAbhishEkam (80th birthday ceremony of her father, when vows are renewed) I could not help trying to document that….

tatting small 110412

A little closer:

tatting big 110412

Savita makes these flowers and pastes them on cards, and her mother (who is 80 and living with fierce independence, in an old-age home in Koramangala in Bangalore) adds the paint, to make really beautiful greeting cards. Some of the tatting also ends up as earrings and other jewellery. Savita and her mother’s creations sell like hot cakes!

How deceptively simple it looks! Savita might sit in one place for a while…but her fingers never rest.

The last day of 2011….

Is there anything special about the last day or the first day of the year? We ourselves calculate two different years, the Anno Domini and the Tamizh year…and I know several more….Parsi, Hindi, Bengali, and so on…I personally feel that it would be logical to begin the year in springtime, not in mid-winter…but a procession of Roman emperors saw to it that whether or not people have a white Christmas, in many parts of the world, they will have a white New Year.

Oh well..on the last day of 2011, we didn’t want to let go of our regular trail, even though the cyclonic weather further in Pondicherry (sorry, Puthucheri) cast a cloudy pall on our own weather. Bundling up warmly, Chandu, Santosh, Vaibhav and I went to my favourite zoo area in the Bannerghatta National Park. This is probably the one forest in India, apart from Gir, where one can hear the lions roar as one wanders around! It’s a different matter that the lions are in captivity in the Zoo….but the noise is rather chilling to newcomers, and thrilling to children!

One of the highlights was seeing this

BLACK-NAPED ORIOLE:

<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5846.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5846.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”Photobucket”></a>

<lj-cut text=”Want to see some more?”>
Here are some of the other sights…

It was nice to observe that the windmill in the zoo area was going nicely…good to see a clean, sustainable energy source!

<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5794.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5794.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”wndml bgz 311211″></a>

These weeds in the quarry pond looked beautiful:

<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5795.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5795.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”pnd wd birds bgz”></a>

Here are the others:

<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5796.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5796.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”sntsh chndu vbhv birds bgz”></a>

Having bricked up the opening, JLR have not removed the board pointing to their Hillview Restaurant, resulting in a funny sign:

<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5797.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5797.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”signbd jlr birds bgz”></a>

The birds we saw:

ROSY PASTOR

<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5799.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5799.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”rsy pstr birds bgz”></a>

COMMON HAWK CUCKOO

(from a distance, we kept having doubts about this bird’s id, confusing it with a Shikra, especially seeing the way it flew, hunting. Now I now why it’s called a “hawk” cuckoo.)

<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5804.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5804.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”hwk ccko birds bgz”></a>
BOOTED WARBLER:
<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5811.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5811.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”btd wrbler birds bgz”></a>

SMALL GREEN BEE-EATER;

<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5815.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5815.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”grn b etr birds bgz”></a>

INDIAN BUSHLARK:

<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5816.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5816.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”indn bshlrm birds bgz”></a>

PURPLE-RUMPED SUNBIRD:

<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5822.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5822.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”pr snbd birds bgz”></a>

RED-WHISKERED BULBUL:

<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5825.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5825.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”rd whskrd blbl birds bgz”></a>

SCALY-BREASTED MUNIA:

<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5842.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5842.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”scly brstd mna side birds bgz”></a>

BLACK-NAPED ORIOLE:

<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5846.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5846.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”Photobucket”></a>

a Black-naped Oriole Motorcycle:

<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5848.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5848.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”Photobucket”></a>

ASHY DRONGO:

<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5851.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5851.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”Photobucket”></a>

PIED KINGFISHER:

<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5870.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5870.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”pnd hrn bgz 311211″></a>

PURPLE SUNBIRD

(scratching itself busily!)

<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5894.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5894.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”ppl sunbd scrtching bgz 311211″></a>

SMALL BLUE KINGFISHER:

<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5898.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5898.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”sbkf bgz 311211″></a>

POND HERON:

<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5870.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5870.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”pnd hrn bgz 311211″></a>

The mammals we saw included three mongoose, crossing our path rapidly, a black-naped hare, some Chital that we spotted by peeping over the zoo wall, and this

GAUR:

<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5880.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5880.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”gaur shtng bgz 311211″></a>

(Yes, it was going to, and it did.)

The bird list actually was:

Babbler, Jungle
Barbet, Coppersmith
Barbet, White-cheeked
Bee-eater, Small Green
Bulbul, Red-vented
Bulbul, Red-whiskered
Bushchat, Pied
Bushlark, Indian
Bushlark, Jerdon’s
Cormorant, Little
Crow, Jungle
Crow, House
Dove, Laughing
Dove, Spotted
Drongo, Ashy
Drongo, Black
Drongo, White-bellied
Egret, Cattle
Egret, Little
Flowerpecker, Pale-billed
Flycatcher, Asian Paradise
Flycatcher, Tickell’s Blue
Flycatcher, White-browed Fantail
Francolin, Grey
Heron, Pond
Hoopoe, Common
Iora, Common
Kingfisher, Pied
Kingfisher, Small Blue
Kingfisher, White-breasted
Kite, Brahminy
Kite, Common
Lapwing, Red-watled
Munia, Scaly-breasted
Myna, Common
Myna, Jungle
Oriole, Black-naped
Parakeet, Rose-ringed
Pigeon, Blue Rock
Pipit, Paddyfield
Prinia, Ashy
Prinia, Plain
Robin, Indian
Roller, Indian
Shikra
Shrike, Bay-backed
Shrike, Brown
Shrike, Long-tailed
Silverbills, Indian
Sparrow, House
Starling, Rosy
Sunbird, Purple-rumped
Swallow, Barn
Swallow, Red-rumped
Swallow, Wire-tailed
Tailorbird, Common
Treepie, Rufous
Wagtail, Pied
Warbler, Blyth’s Reed
Warbler, Booted
Warbler, Greenish Leaf

And the mammals list was

Chital
Gaur, Indian
Hare, Black-naped
Mongoose, Common

We did not sight any crocodiles today…not sunny enough for them to bask on the rocks!

</lj-cut>
I leave you with the sacred markings of this little shrine under a huge banyan tree….wish you all the best for the years ahead!

<a href=”http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5820.jpg&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n611/allsrtspctrs/IMG_5820.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”namam birds bgz”></a>

All pics with the MLC…

It’s been quite a hectic time, as I’ve been doing some amount of volunteering and some amount of for-me nature trails, too. Last Sunday, 18 (yes!) of us went to

Maidanahalli

as several people in the UGS (Usual Gang of Suspects, our group of friends who like to go for nature trails), and had a wonderful time, that included an awesome sunset.

The pictures of the birds are on my FB album

here

the scenery and general photographs are

here

and that technicolour sunset is

here

On Saturday last, I took 15 children from Sindhi School, Malleswaram, to the Bannerghatta forest (zoo area) and the pictures from that are

here

On Thursday, just 5 of us (it’s a working day for many, and this time, the children didn’t want to come) went to

Manchanabele Dam and Reservoir

All these were wonderful outings…and let me just show you a few sights from yesterday’s outing…

This is what the sky looked like just before sunrise….

snrise  L mnchnble 291211

snrise L mnchnble 291211

 

And this

INDIAN SILVERBILL

was one of the delightful little birds around…

L slvrbill 291211 mnchnble

silevrbill

 

Some of the birds…

RIVER TERNS

preening on the water, after finishing their fish breakfast:

L rvr trns 291211 mnchnble

River tern

 

A

BRAHMINY STARLING

showed off a cool hairstyle!

L brmny strlng 291211 mnchnble

A

BLACK DRONGO

showed off its glossy feathers:

L blck drngo stick 291211 mnchnble

A

BOOTED EAGLE

soared above, delighting us:

L booted eagle 291211 mnchnble

So did a

BRAHMINY KITE

much more common, but still, a beauty.

L brhmny kite 291211 mnchnble

Some

RIVER TERNS

behind a rock gave me a funny photograph!
L wing rock 291211 mnchnble

The terns then took off:

L tern tkoff 291211 mnchnble

We enjoyed watching the

LOCAL GEESE

L 3 geese 291211 mnchnble

This

PIED WAGTAIL

and its companion wagged their tails along the shore:

L Pd wgtl rock 291211 mnchnble

We watched this

ASIAN OPEN-BILLED STORK

and its companion, too:

L opn bil stk fshing 291211 mnchnble

The stork made a lovely picture against the water:

Photobucket

Liked the takeoff!

L op bl stk takeoff 291211 mnchnble

A lone

ASHY-CROWNED SPARROW LARK

sat on a granite slab:

a c sprlark  L mnchnble 291211

One of the hightlights of the morning was seeing three of the

HOOPOES

together, I got this one on the shore:

L hpe shore 291211 mnchnble

This little

PLAIN PRINIA

tried to hide in the Lantatna bushes:

L pln prna 291211 mnchnble

this

LAUGHING DOVE

posed for us on the rocks:

L lfng dv rock291211 mnchnble

A

BAY-BACKED SHRIKE

also sat helpfully on the bush:

L by bck shrk 291211 mnchnble

A

SMALL GREEN BEE-EATER

was actually eating a bee!

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I loved the sight of this old pavilion:

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And some distance away were people working in a field of marigolds:

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I completely enjoyed the sight of this

PIED BUSHCHAT

apparently visiting us to sit on the car!

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Hope you can see my photographs of the other trips, too…

Kolu for Navarathri, 290911

I decided to visit my friends Ganu and Hema, and their daughter, Janani, who’s recently come home for good, after having done her Masters’ degree at Pittsburgh. They always put up a lovely display for Navarathri:
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A “kolu” or “golu” is supposed to be a representation of the universe, so anything you wish to can be put in….human beings, animals, gods, flowers….Here’s an idol which is half Ganesha, half Hanuman, that I’ve never seen before:
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These dolls/figures are often sold in “sets”. Here’s a beautiful set of Mamallapuram, or Mahabalipuram, on the shores near Chennai:
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There is also a lovely seascape painting to be used as a background. Don’t miss the details like the lighthouse, and Arjuna’s Penance, or the various caves!
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There was one display of a forest (Bannerghatta?) where tigers and giraffes co-exist peacefully:
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There was one display of a temple procession…don’t miss the couple who are prostrating themselves on the ground!
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Another tableau was of Kailash, the abode of Shiva and his family. Cotton-wool snow completels the icy look of the Himalaya:
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I enjoyed seeing a wedding in progress, and childbirth seemed to have occurred almost at once, because the adjoining scene was one of the parents getting the boy’s ears pierced, ceremonially!
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Visitors were given sundal ( a lentil preparation) and pAl pAyasam (a milk-and -rice sweet porridge) and ladies came to visit, and sang for the gods, and the worlds they saw before them. They were given betel leaves, areca nuts, turmeric and sindoor, and a large coconut, and a little gift, too.
Thank you, Hema, Ganu, and Janani, for letting me share your festival!

Brightening our doorsteps…

I love rangOli and kOlam, the traditional art of door and floor decoration. Is it art? culture? tradition? hospitality? …All of the above, I feel! Here is a rangoli in front of the home of my friend, Alamelu Ramaswamy: L rangoli 220911 D004 The colours and the warmth invite the passerby in…. The festivals of Navarathri and Deepavali are approaching, and I’ll see a variety of patterns adorning everyone’s doorstep….soon!

Though I had planned to go on the Bird Watchers’ Field Club 4th Sunday outing to Sarjapura, several friends persuaded me to go to the Zoo area instead (which is, anyway, a great favourite with me!)…so off we went in the cool, cloudy, misty morning.

ALL of my photos are on the Facebook album,

here

…but here are some of the things we sighted, and I captured.

After meeting up (the usual starting point is Shoppers’ Stop, on Bannerghatta Road), we had our mandatory chai stop at the Bannerghatta Police Station (not AT…near!) and when we started our trail, the very first bird to greet us was this

SCALY-BREASTED MUNIA

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The NTP members were:

Chandu
Gopal
Radha

and myself;

The other friends were:

Apoorva
Chantu
Deepu
Sanjeev
Vaibhav

Chandu took a lot of trouble to come…he lives quite a distance away!

Alas, we were not allowed to go on the path towards the Butterfly Park, so we walked along the Hill View restuarant perimeter, and it was nice to see the mark of an elephant’s presence:

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You can see the human foot for size reference!

The monsoon has brought out the

GIANT WOOD SPIDERS

all over the paths, and here’s one variety, the

Nephila maculata

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enjoying Sunday breakfast.

Another variety,

Nephila kuhli

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also looked beautiful with its black body and orange-red legs!

Apoorva, Sanjeev’s daughter, is very sharp-eyed, and spotted this “jigsaw” of

MILLIPEDES

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in the ditch.

A little later, it was lovely to see two camp elephant calves, walking around, grazing, under the watchful eyes of their mahout:

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Even when we wound up the outing and went for breakfast (our usual venue now is Upahara Banashree, near the NICE Road junction), we found a lot of interesting things just outside the restaurant, such as an almost-part-of-the-landscape Rock Agama, and these lovely

MUSHOOMS

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Dr Sanjeev told us that these are called “art mushrooms” as very often, artists paint them and give them to visitors, in the UK!

In the grass nearby, we spotted these two mating Damselflies,

COROMANDEL MARSH DARTS:

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When we dropped off Radha at her apartment complex, the road was strewn with flowers from the

AKASHA MALLIGE

(Indian Cork)

trees….

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We returned home after a very pleasant morning, with memories of this pavilion in the Zoo area:

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