The white visage!

Last night Steve and me went for a mime show by the great Laurent Decol at the Alliance. Sometimes all one needs in life is to sit for an hour and laugh till your sides ache and the tears flow down ones face with laughter as a stress buster. I always thank Mini of the Hindu when she suddenly decides to call me and say Marianne could you and of course Marianne is up and running from the word go!

Laurent kept us in splits without uttering a word. Its a gift, an utter mastery over your facial muscles and your body movements. The old man in the park, the balloon seller, the lovers, the sculptor, the weight lifter - he showed them all off so effortless and soundlessly and had the entire hall of kiddies in the Alliance rolling around the isles with laughter.

He's just like Mr. Bean said Steve. Little realising that Mr Bean's slap stick probably got its inspiration from mime!

Just a little white paint, red lips, a black suit and viola he had us entranced for 75 minutes. There is no better medicine to lift the blues than laughing ones self silly which the show did for us!

Even though I am just back from the IASC 2011 conference in Hyderabad, Steve insisted that we went to the farm in Hoskote today and spent a while there checking the trees and shrubs.

The Rose apple as usual has tons of baby fruit, but I think Narsimappas kids finish them all up. We never have seen a ripe one!Check the pic for the tiny raw fruit.

The chickoo trees are loaded and soon we will get bags of them. Need to find an outlet to buy them as they are really sweet and delicious.

My Dalamuri or Pomogranate planted 6 monts ago are flourishing and out of the 11 trees nine have survived and are growing well. They are hi-brid and will start fruiting soon.

The new mango trees too are growing well and flowering poor things in January. Narsimappa showed me the bunches which come up and then just die with no fruit. I got him to break off all the flowers as they will sap the tree of its strength for nothing.

On the way we saw a vendor under a tree in the village selling biscuits. Look at his very innovative 'bottles' which are brimfull of yummy crisp biscuits!

Sorry about the pics which seem to take on a life of their own inspite of my turning them around :-(

The mouse & my teapot!

This has happened not once, not twice but several times! I have gone down to the kitchen to pour myself my hundreth cup of tea and normally always my mind is focussed on something else while I steady the cup and pull off the tea-cosy from the tea pot.Invariably its about a story I am working on or which para should be cut and pasted differently to make the story read better.

Never did I EVER expect a MOUSE, yes you read right, a tiny, black mouse, leap out of the tea-cosy and race away to safety while I stand in shock and horror watching it run, while I am totally paralysed.

I dont think its amusing. I would love to splat it flat and send it straight to mouse heaven if I could. Imagine the boldness of the thing? But I see the humour of the situation. The mouse is feeling the unnatural winter chill in Bangalore and has found a very convenient spot to keep warm.

Grr! from now on, I will whip off the tea cosy and hope it falls flat on the floor near my feet. I hope!

Anyone who is on the mouse's side -- you are welcome to come over for a cup of tea!