Friday, September 30, 2016

Visit to Changu or Tsongmo Lake............

Changu or Tsongmo Lake at 12,000 feet altitude in Sikkim........
The chilly wind of January morning felt like whip...
But the views were worth it.....perhaps, it was my first tryst wit snow...........
Its the Himalayas...

Half-frozen lake....



People take yak rides up these trails.....

A yak..early in the morning...ready to take tourists for a joyride..

I was too cold to venture on it....so I preferred sheltering in one of those noodle shops...

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

On my cousin with cerebral palsy....

She is my cousin...few months younger to me...
I don't know, whether it was inborn or is acquired, she has cerebral palsy...
She has grown into a healthy young girl..but her speech and muscular coordination has been affected..
For the disabilities she could could study away form home, in far way places like us....also, she could not marry..
but she is completely independent in her daily activities..not only that she helps around with house activities like watering the plants and feeding the cattle, among other works..
What I find more pleasant is that she is always cheerful, smiling ..and I must say, her behavior and manners are much more refined than most of my other cousins...remembering every details..asking about people...and other social interactions...
I am in another country now..can't visit relatives as often...
But, she asks my mother about me, whenever she meets her..
For her disability, she may not get a job...but luckily, her parents are well-off enough to leave enough fortune for her..also, she has healthy siblings who love her, ta..May she get a happy, healthy life...

Monday, September 26, 2016

Cherishing the serene childhood in uncontaminated nature..

When I think of a spacious, peaceful bucolic house, the ancestral house of my maternal grandparents come to the front of my mind....

It was a small village, far away from the cacophony of  vehicular noise..
A  river meandered nearby....a deciduous forest flanked one side..

A group 20-25 houses occupied the are between the river and forest..........
My grandparent's house was large..in keeping with a large extended family...
Rooms on all four sides and a really huge courtyard in the middle....
A cowshed, a huge well and backyard sprawled behind it........
The edge of the courtyard was beautified with a variety of plants...a pergola draped in Rangoon creeper; cotton rosemallow with baby pink blooms; very fragrant orange jasmine (Murraya sp.)..balasam and marigold flowers...I don't remember the others....

A sacred basil in one corner for worship purposes..
On summer nights, 20-25 cots were laid out in the courtyard..no fan, no cooler, no AcC was ever needed..
A good sleep was ensured under the dark, starry nights...with forest fragrance-laden fresh air...no motor whirring noises...
Most of the vegetables for lunch and dinner came frm the backyard garden...moringa leaves, lemon, mushrooms, peas, tomato, onion.......
Also, fruits like papaya, jackfruit, guava, mango, pomegranate..
Fish from the river.............rice from own field...

Electricity was there...TV too was there....but no phones...no invasion to privacy by buzzing and ringing like now-a-days..

With cousins we would venture into the woods...collecting date palm fruits, jamuns, mangoes, East Indian ebony fruits (kendu)...
We would see the old figs, laden with fruits....a mob of birds would be devouring those bounty..

Sometimes, we used to see turtles, even elephants....
The heady smell and sweet sound of of mahua flowers falling from the trees ...crows cawing nearby....egrets on the shore of muddy ponds....playing on the river sandy shores with cousins..

Where are those days??? I miss sorely......feeling sad because those time will never come for future generation to enjoy..,,mankind has destroyed it..
At last the memories can not die..

Sunday, September 25, 2016

When the mythical monster was driven away from the giant fig tree...

Its kind of a myth but makes for a fun story..
The place our house is on had a large peepal (a type of fig) tree.....

These trees can become  enormous .....numerous call it home...going by the dark canopy, people make stories that monsters live in it...
So, many decades back, to the build our current house, the fig tree needed to be cut down..sad..but it was required...
If the tree will be hacked, the monster living in it will be angry..
So, village folks advised my father take permission of the imaginary monster, by appeasing him with some cannabis....
As suggested to him, my father  offered some of the hemp leaves on a mud tile full of hot embers...requesting the monster to leave the tree and go to live in some  new tree....as he wishes to built a house and raise kids.......

Days after the ritual, the tree was cut down..
My mother says, out living room floor was the place the tree stood...the roots are still there, under the ground.........
Also, the bedroom threshold has been fitted with some copper coins to prevent goblins from entering it..
Myths are myths...but that house has been nice enough to help my parents live there all these years with a brood of kids..

Saturday, September 24, 2016

A worshiper of humanity and compassion.........always...

Times and again, I have narrated how humanity is the strongest virtue in my view...
Human act of kindness moves me to tears...even today, while I am at my 30's...
This anecdote carries such a beautiful essence....
I was travelling on a night train..........in the morning I discovered my sandals to have stolen...
It was too early for shops to open, and rainy weather...roads were muddy...
I was perplexed, how to deal with it...
As I got down at mt destination Guwahati... a young man who was in my coach got down there as well...he fished out a pair of floaters from his luggage..........and offered it to me........it was new and for males...
I denied gently, but he insisted.......
I was trying it, and thinking to ask for his address....so that as soon as I will reach my hostel, I can send him some gift for this favor...as I looked up, he had dissolved in the vast crowd....
I wore that pair...it saved my feet.....
The footwear was for masculine gender, and many inches bigger than mine...i had a decent collection of footwear..........but it was very comfortable...as long as I stayed in the hostel, I wore this pair, unfailingly...my peers would notice the weird pair, perhaps they would mock too..

But, they did not know the story of it.........of course I shared the beautiful story to as many as I can....like I am doing now...
This is the one, which signifies humanity to me...

****
This is another experience...........
When tired of hiking in the rough woodsy terrain of Meghalaya, on a picnic trip, we were thirsty...
we discovered this house in the forest....

Oh my, how sweet the glass of water tasted! Obviously, because it was humanity-infused...........

Always walk the trails of humanity.............it exudes joy.......both giving and receiving.....

Friday, September 23, 2016

Me in tea gardens..........

Who does not like tea gardens...........the slopes covered in neat rows of lush shrubs........
I have been lucky to visit many of them in North East India....Darjeeling, Shillong....
Its Temi tea garden in Sikkim...

With a bunch of friends....

In Kaziranga, Assam.........



Thursday, September 22, 2016

Mustard fields in Assam.......

When we think of mustard fields, in India Punjab comes to mind........
however, other parts of the country too have beautiful mustard fields as well...like these fields we got to see in Assam, en route Kaziranga National Park..


We decided o make the most of the amazing view and laid out our food and had an impromptu picnic..

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

By the river Ib....

On the sandy bank of Ib river.......a life-giving river..
Its near my home....

A quiet evening..........

Kids were playing on the shore...
Slow pace of life was soothing...

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

My tryst with Brahmaputra river.......

Brahmaputra is a mighty river of  Asia....it flows through much of North east...
As a kid, I had read about its life-giving as well as devastating power, when my elder sister who served as a physics lecturer, would get fictions from  the college library.......
I would read and dream of visiting those faraway places.....the hills, tea gardens, pine apple fields...
For someone with my background, only excellent education and scholarship can do that..
I had no problem with that....I got lucky to be admitted into our beloved alma mater IITG...during the course of my three years study there, I got myriad opportunities to play, roam, ferry on the Brahmaputra..
You can not be not happy after having such blissful nature treats...

Some shots........

River is scary in rainy season..




Boating on the river, with trainees...it was fun, but risky as well.......lots of whirlpools in the river...


Thursday, September 15, 2016

Fun time in the natural beauty of IITG...........

Anybody who has visited IITG, Assam....can't be immune to its natural setting....on the bank of Brahmaputra....covered in lush vegetation...
I have been fortunate to enjoy its beauty for three years........
Some shots.......





Thats a large shrub of allamanda...


A rosewood tree..

Lots of pamapas grass..and coconuts..

Gathering some water spinach (an Ipomoea sp.) from  a lake edge ........we did fry it for dinner :)..


One of the many lakes..

Guwahati receives ample rain...so lots of ponds....these water bodies can serve as breeding ground for dangerous mosquitoes...one should be vigilant...
Those are banana plants at the edge..

Sunday, September 11, 2016

My mother......

My mother......
It is her birthday today...so, I take the opportunity to make the post in her honor..
In front of the balsam flower bed......

Our front yard..........I love the sea of vibrant marigolds....






Our ixora plant.......

Praying by the Holy basil...lighting a lamp, for peace, love, safety...

Worshiping...





At our barn....feeding the calves..

In our orange orchard.........the understory is covered with turmeric...

She is cleaning some mustard greens for lunch preparation..

Drying the groundnuts...

I would only say, if everybody were as selfless like her, it would have been a nicer world..
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