Reminscing the village mud kitchen.......

We had this mud-plastered kitchen in our village house.......
On festivals o feasts, savories were prepared there........

Or for preparing foods like fish curries........

Sitting by the woodfire, and having conversation with my mother, helping her with preparing the snacks was one of my happy, nostalgic memories....
When it rained the joy was higher.....

Indian poverty............

Extreme population and poverty is scourge of India.....

I saw this scenario in Howrah, Kolkata.....

People taking naps in the median of noisy, dusty, crowded road just outside teh busiest railway station.....

Now wonder, diseases like tuberculosis never go way from India.....

Plum trees in Shillong.........

Shillong in the northeast corner of India has a cold climate...
Plums are abundant there.........
Saw plum trees in the yards of almost every house......

Train travel memories.......

While I was pursuing my PhD, I used travel a lot in trains....sometimes for 2 days continuously.....

To pass the time and monotony, I would carry fiction books with me......

Sometimes I would just watch the sceneries...

Or talk to people....

Visiting Ramachandi........

Its Ramachandi.........a tourist place in Odisha...

I had visited with my spouse when we had just married....
I remember the pleasant time by the bank, as we sipped tender coconut water, watching the water...
We used to study  a poem written about this place, as our our school curriculum...

I did not have a camera with me or I would have taken nice photos......

Hill top hiking in IIT Guwahati campus.......

There was this beautiful hill in the campus in IIT Guwahati..........we used to hike up the hill sometimes.,

It was such a spring day......

Beautiful blooms.....

Shady nooks.....

Offering nice views......

I can still remember the lush freshness...the aromatics fragrance emanating from the vegetation.......

At my first job place.......

It was the place of my first job...........Lovely Professional University,  Punjab.....

Beautiful campus..........

Visit to Shillong and Cherrapunjee

It was my second visit to Shillong and Cherrapunjee......
We stopped by the route......to appreciate cascades of pink cosmos.........it was autumn....

Its in Cherrapunjee....at  a view point.....

I have no idea what flower this is.....but they were blooming in profusion......

Mango blossom time..

Mango blossom in one of our mango trees...

How I miss the fragrance? The tiny fruits...the tiny leaf hoppers will mob you, if you dare to reach near the tree..the spring frenzy!

Assamese vocabulary.....

I lived in Guwahati for three years, during my study in IITG...picked a few Assamese words during that period..

Poita bhaat: Watered rice
Bhoja: Fried
Saru maas: Small fish
Aloo pitik: Mashed Potato
Dailor bor: Lentils Fritter
Bota:  Chutney
Baah Gaajor Achar:  Bamboo Shoot
Bhut Jolokia: chilli
Mitha Tel: Mustard Oil
Nimokh:  Salt
Koni: boiled egg
Aamor Achar: Mango pickle

The suffering of widow old lady in our neighborhood...

Humans can be selfish beyond mention..

I remember this old widow in our neighborhood...

She was married to a landlord and had two daughters..

Unfortunately, her husband passed away young..

The greedy kith and kin of her husband's family grabbed her land and other properties within no time, thinking she had no sons..the wealth will ultimately go to other people...

In exchange of the lands, they agreed to give her meager yearly allowance of money and rise..

I had seen her misery..

While her tiny, dark, lone, corridor-like house was sandwiched by large , spacious, kid-filled houses of her husband's brothers....

I have visited her place a few times..no electricity....she would a simple meal by the evening and lit a kerosene-lamp...I wonder how her nights passed...

She lived on her own...for her daughters now married were housewives as well, and she is not welcome for more than months in their marital homes...

Her last days were particularly difficult...She was in her younger daughter's house..She got bed-ridden...even her lesions got worm-infected...

She died after long suffering..

I wonder, why destiny is particularly harsh on some while it favors some..

Carambola flowers.....

Most of we have seen and tasted the tart and fragrant exotic tropical fruits carambola..
But, have you seen the blooms..
They appear in late summer in India..
Look like redbud flowers...in colors and shapes..
Its clicked at my in-law's backyard..

When I used to socialize more...

Time an duties have made me more confined..but, not long before, I used socialize...
Some memories..all of these are from North East India..

Reminiscing happy childhood.......

I did not have luxurious childhood.............but sure had a happy, loving, stable one...

Among other joys...one joy was abundant and variety of foods...mostly fruits, nuts, tubers, veggies..

We had our own orchard  and vegetable patch..with dozen varieties of produce..including those ever-present crunchy guavas..

Also, our relatives would there harvests like sugarcane, peanuts, peas, mushrooms etc...

The tribal ladies will fetch truffles and other forest products like honey, East Indian ebony fruits (locally called kendu)..charoli nuts (which  were used for sweets)...

Myriad other wild fruits which I remember but can't tell their proper names....if only I knew them and can give them ttheir due popularity...

Village kids will roam on summer noons with basketful of plump date palm fruits...also palmyra palm fruits... sometimes, Spanish lime (mamoncillo/ kusum)..

Mother would dry the dates and kendu fruits and keep in clay pots, for us to enjoy in rainy season..

Village men would scour the ponds for water chestnut....we used to relish them raw or boiled...

In Dusshera times, custard apples were abundant....the sweet, fragrant flavor takes me down the memory lane..

I am sad to realize, most of the plants have been victims of over-exploitation...

Ignorant of their value, tribals have cut them for firewood and timber..

The happy days will never come back...

Overpopulation have ruined the world...