Precious water

This year I learnt up close and personal how important it is to have a plentiful supply of water.We happily planted a 1/4 acre in Hoskote with tomatoes -- our very first commercial crop. Bonny gave money to Narsimappa to pay the farmers on either side to supply us water as our bore was running dry. The farmers on both sides said they needed the water for themselves and Narsimappa swallowed the money. What happened after that? Well we watched our crop of tomatoes wither infront of our eyes. The rains have come bringing with them water abundance. I have got Narsimappa to dig around our borewell and make a big p-it to collect the rain and replenish the water table. it might not help our bore, but it will help the general table. From the photos you can see the pond dug by the farmers has filled to the brim and the government has built a check dam and water has backed up and percolated down instead of just running off. The rains bring respite and the trees grow in leaps and bounds. I love the rains!

Foot-ball lily

From the internet I have noticed, these flowers are called Foot-ball Lilies and not Thunder lilies which my Dad called them! As soon as the first rain fell and the parched earth was throughly soaked in the Hayes Road garden, one patch which was quite dry for most of the year aprang up to life! They were the bright red Ball lilies. We loved them and the boys too enjoyed looking at them as they grew up running around that garden! Its that time of year now in Bangalore, but unfortunately our garden in Hayes Road has gone and with it the ball lilies. However I did salvage a few and took them to Hoskote where I think they are starting to wake up and hopefully by this weekend we will have a few full blown flowers!

Red Whiskered Bulbul

Today as I reversed the car really early to get to the visa office I was pretty tense wondering if I had taken all the documents needed to apply for the visa.Ticking them off in my head I thought, photos, bank docs, property details, copies of college appointment letters and my PhD registration. And then, I heard the liquidy notes of a Red Whiskered Bulbul, singing in the Camel Foot tree we had planted 15 years ago on the road.What a wonderful feeling to have the notes wash over my mind and almost immediately I relaxed and waited, listening till the end of his song. If you ever get a chance to hear one, just stop and let his serenade thrill you. There is nothing like the perky tones of the bird which can wipe away all that build up of stress which we really do not need at all in our lives.