what are you doing during the Earth hour....

Switching your lights off for an hour may look like a difficult task in the modern life . But just think about it being therapeutic for you , not just for the planet...
Here are some ideas how you can make this hour fun for you...

1..Go for a rejuvenating walk , do not worry about the traffic and late hours pollution if you live in a metro city , go to walk in a park or chose your own home for walking . you can do some serious walking within the four walls of your home with music playing on...

2..Bring some nice candles and keep them in front of a mirror for a beautiful late evening . Some good music for the soul , a nice drink or snack and this can be a daily routine for you if you like it....imagine celebrating Earth hour everyday...( the drink needs not be alcoholic everyday )...

3..What about a game of antyakshari ...this is what we used to do during power cuts in our childhood days. Do it now if you haven't done it yet . Low phone call rates allow you to play antyakshari over the phone or go to twitter and play antyakshari ...what an idea !!!

4..A candle lit dinner if you feel like , this one can be a daily routine too ...extending the Earth hour in your life...everyday...

5..Take a nap if you are exhausted and start with a meditation or Yog Nidra if you can...going early to bed has been a forgotten habit and may be you can try this for one day...catching up on your lost sleep..

Watching some nuclear power plants going on a rampage must have shaken you too....so act today and think about the planet .... it is a living body ...a system on work .... and can react to something overburdening it...

the world of sci fi stories....Once Upon A Blue Moon...

 I have read very few science fiction , the most i liked was by Amitav Ghosh , The Calcutta Chromosome . This book is my all time favorite when it comes to sci fi literature .

Going by those standards i am not an easy person to be impressed by something in the same genre ....The book i am talking about here is not the same genre per se...almost an educative science fiction , disguised in a throbbing mantle of a social story .... reading the preface prepared me for this book...

You know you are going in for a treat when you learn that this woman has been spinning stories right from her childhood . Spinning stories with the warp and weft of science . Each story introduces you with a new scientific fact and the characters introduce you all about scientific facts , the way you would never forget them... Good way to learn some basic science , especially when it comes to young impressionable minds.

So this book is called Once Upon A Blue Moon by Sukanya dutta. I knew Sukanya is a terrific writer as i read her blog posts on the NISCAIR blog and have also read some of her articles about popular science. But these stories were a real packet of surprise . I never imagined she has such a strong insight into characters , such keen observation of the life around us as she depicts very intelligently...a magical conception of sequences and characters and very realistic stories woven around them......

Can you imagine an insect eater plant could turn into a man eater ? Read her story 'Full Circle'...

'When the tide turns' is a story about all the albinos of the world working together to take on the world when ordinary human beings will become an 'outdated species'  ...

Another story named 'Borrowed Death' is about how a heartless tycoon arranges a liver transplant for him and invites his own death...

I found 'The Technology Transfer' very intriguing ...as the robots are being more like humans while humans are going on to be almost like robots....

There are 12 stories in this collection and all of them are as captivating ...i am already reading her other book called Beyond The Blue and those stories are as lively as this collection...

The stories come like a dream to you , She takes you to a new world with each of the story ...the backbone of the story is science but not hard hitting science to sound academic...actually almost a chimeric realisation of scientific facts ...you have to read them to believe...go on grab a copy ...the publisher is the National Book Trust and price only Rs 70 ....

the verdant nature....

                                              Thursday challenge

                                  "GREEN" (Plants, Cloths, Cars, Toys, Houses,...)
The theme is green and all i can think is the viridity spilled by nature all around me...There are so many green pictures of my plants that i am in a fix ..

I chose the pictures where i have shot the apex of the plant , the parts which inspire me the most . This is the part of the plant which decides growth , the part where the cells not only divide and multiply in numbers , but they differentiate to make the leaves , the flowers and many more parts of the plant...varying in form and color...

See these Poinsettia crown of leaves ...surrounding the tiny petal less flowers...
Red hot or a hot green ?

 And this is a holy basil inflorescence .... krishna tulsi ...the leaves are purple green and the tiny flowers are beautiful purple....a delicate tall inflorescence .....

Now comes the sweet basil...white flowers making a tall and sturdy inflorescence ...

And here comes the Thai basil ... a deep purple compact inflorescence ...

So many colors provided by the verdant nature ...... the greens taking on such beautiful colors ...as if accommodating for the new challenges .Green pigments of the plants actually do synthesize new pigments of other colors so that they can trap all the colors of light...fascinating ...isn't it ?

Look at this rose bud ...coming up to face the world...the leaves are spattered with dust after a dust storm ...so what if the time of the birth is not right for our little rose princess......it has to come and change the world...

And change the world it does...

 Green is the master healer as far as the color is concerned , the green pigment is a starting point of the food chain ....the most powerful .
A silent power.
And see how it gives way to other colors 
Why does the green mango turns a golden yellow after a while ... because it has to take on a new role ... a new duty ...

bulbuls....pleased to meet you...

I have been a very irritating disturbance to a few pretty couples who raid my backyard for the much sought after courtship ... the seasonal delight to watch..... am i being mean ;)

They come , they choose the best spots on the green branches...protected by rich foliage ... and find someone is spying on them...hey see...that woman has come again....huh...

This is what they think when i slowly inch towards a lemon tree or jamun tree as i know my camera lens can't see them by it's own... so my physical presence makes them really irritated i guess....

And then one day i see the male bulbul calling his sweetheart... i actually saw his vocal chords vibrating....he was perched on the jamun branch and i could see his belly...how i guess he is a male as he was the one who was giving a call.... his vocal chords vibrating as i could see the lower neck swollen and fluffy ....this couple is a red tufted bulbul...with white belly and red tufts on both side of the ears...

The female came , but kept herself busy in some preening i guess ...can you see she is sitting behind the male bulbul curving her neck inwards to do some corrective make up ... do birds indulge in something like that ?
Or just my wild imagination....

Going by the sounds the bulbul make , i can say that they can talk in much refined language than many other birds... Like some birds just say twit twit some say tweet tweet with an extended eee ...some others say twitertoo ...but the bulbul seems to be saying twitterchickletoooo........or... pleased to meet you ....a whole sentence...They are the nightingales............ and they are intelligent to know when a woman is following them...

They spotted me and flew away together , dodging me ...leaving me thirsty for one more picture...

Then i see another couple ....perched on a cable TV wire ....this couple is a red vented bulbul couple...a red vent and the belly brown....

Both of them come closer ..tete a tete....

Move apart a bit....

Making sounds of music...chirping ..talking....here they look like talking about the worldly affairs....

And now he turns to ask her opinion.....

She appears to have a poignant viewpoint....telling him something he couldn't even imagine.....he looks bewildered....My bespectacled eyes could see better that this damn camera.....added with a fertile imagination ...or so i think...

Now he says we have seen the world from so many angles .... from the branches and flying atop the buildings..............from the telephone wires we have felt how they communicate.....

This one here is the red tufted bulbul...they have differentiated areas...the red tufted ones are in the backyard while the red vented ones can be seen in the front garden ...

We often knock their windows too....

Here the red tuft is clearly visible...this bird was knocking the window repeatedly , noisily...

They don't let us go inside ....

See that man passing by.... down there....i feel like giving him a penny's worth ....okay...let's spare him...he is all dressed to go to the office...let's not make him change...:)

Our luxman jhoola feels like heaven right now...

Let them go mad down there... we can have fun as long as they don't fell these trees....or we would be left with the telephone and cable TV wires only....and those concrete buildings .......i hate the thought of this... this luxman jhoola will not be the same without the greens around... in this last picture the bulbuls look sad to me ... do you agree ??

There is so much activity going on around the greenery , and still i don't understand why some people are so against the trees around my place . The dry leaves are falling off in this season and some people are repeatedly trying to cut some of the trees , saying that the leaves make the surroundings dirty ....most of the people don't even notice these pretty birds ... i wonder how...

I wonder how long people will take to understand that we are going on destroying nature and how it is going on affecting the human life as well ...if that is the instant interest of some selfish people...

my super moon ....

What do you do when your camera is playing pranks on you and you get an opportunity to shake hands with moon one fine day .... No pictures of the celebrity rendezvous worth looking at but the meeting with the childhood sweetheart was great nevertheless. Bringing a sense of ataraxis and tranquility to my world . 

All the pictures of that devastating tsunami in japan were washed away .....at least for the moment......as i thought how could this innocent looking 'chaand ka tukda'(a slice of moon) err...'poora chaand'( full moon) can do this to humanity .....I think he just came closer to reassure ...all is well ...

aaal izzz welll...

 

A noisy photo but the tree provided a very nice effect...

He peeped into my world through the trees and ascertained my peace of mind....no one turned looney , not even the sea waves ....and certainly not the belly of the mother earth.

Tell me friends ... didn't you feel good watching chandamama ( uncle Moon as all Indian children know him)?

Do you feel some research in the future will tell that he was the one behind this sabotage ..... of the destruction of the land of sunrise ?

I would like to believe otherwise... wouldn't you ?

when the water turns gold ... and the sand suffuses in gold...

                                           Thursday challenge
                         "METAL" (Metallic, Steel, Bronze, Gold, Iron, Shinny,...)
Gold ...descending from the sun.....

 Reflecting the waters...soaking the sands...........

The eternal 'Alchemist' turns everything gold.....

The 'gold' swallows all the dark forces....The 'panchtatva'...the five element of life ....all engulfed in 'gold'...the eternal golden sheen....

 

And then someone comes....

Later some more .... and they start digging for the gold...they dig , they delve into the deeper layers...they toil hard . Their hands remain empty as they couldn't see the gold ...descending from the eternal source .............

'The alchemist' pours the gold , showers it on us ....and we dig somewhere else...

please do not strangulate your angel.....

 I need a ranting dance of my fingers on this key board . Something which is bothering the heart can be relieved by this dance of the fingers...so please read this post if you can take a long rant right now...otherwise a click will take you to more pleasant places around the webworld ...

Paulo Coelho says the angels are chosen by God , as an instrument to convey a good thing to you when you need it the most .... not in the same words but he means this , or as i perceive it. The person who plays an angel , may or may not be a noble soul but he/she has been chosen for the purpose....

God chooses an angel for you when he wants a smile on your face . Even for a moment . The angel sometimes doesn't know she/he is becoming the instrument of a God sent message.

Do you want that angel all for yourself?
For a life time?
Do you feel possessive about the angel?
Do you feel you are worthy enough that the angel be in your service all the time?
Do you strangulate the angel and become a smile starved person once again?

I feel very very uncomfortable when some people call me an angel . Whenever people shower me with words like you are the best thing that happened to my life ....
I am so thankful to God that i found you ...
I am blessed to find you as a friend...
You are an angel ...
(people use big words when they are shallow ...this is my experience)

These adornments makes me really uncomfortable because i have seen many of these people expecting a lot of things from me , taking me for granted ...ignoring all my discomfort very conveniently. I am one person who believes in selfless giving ( although i cannot afford to give away fortunes ) , so it is my time , my emotions and few more things which a little money can buy . I accommodate even when it is a bit stringent for me...my limits are stretched sometimes but i still believe in being useful for someone who needs it.

Should that be a problem ??

The problem arises when people start to walk over me. They know that it takes a lot to say no for a person like me. It really hurts when someone is insensitive and imposes some work or expects some 'gifts' just because they need it at the time and it doesn't matter for them if that is okay for me at that time.... exploitation is a bigger word but this tendency touches the limits of the thing called so. It is definitely an act of cheating on a different level.

My ranting is not done yet....are you still reading?
Thank you.

I hate lies and can't tolerate people lying and playing cool at the same time...how do they think that i can't get it . Just because i keep quite and don't point a finger at your lie?
And what these people do to hide the lie ....they assert the lie repeatedly , intentionally and even without a context . Sadly .

They loose the respect by being so assertive and repetitive with the lies , they loose the respect even for the good qualities they have .

How can i respect a person even on a human ground if he/she has been doing all the wrong things and expecting all the best things from me . I am no saint. I am sorry if that is what is expected from me.

thursday challenge....

                                               Thursday challenge
                                                       for fun and learning
                          "many" ( candies, crowd , paperclips , coins , collection......)

I made this fried savory cookie for tamatar ki chaat a while ago and liked this picture after cutting the rolled dough...neatly cut squares....many tiny squares...

And another picture of many cookies is this chewy oats cookies , baked a nice golden with cashew and raisins....

I baked it last year and want to bake it again with the same nuts....the recipe will be posted soon on my health food blog . A butter free and sugar free cookie .

Many cookies are completely guilt free in this case...

a car for the snails....

                                              Thursday challenge...
                                                     for fun and learning
                     "CARS" (New, Old, Sedans, Convertibles, Station Wagons, Sports,...)

       Humans have their own cars , flashy ,fast and flamboyant .... carbon ridden..

Hello I am Bobby Snail and this is my better half , Bebo Snail . We are the slow movers . Slower that the tortoise . But we never crash and we never fall off a cliff . See my home is right on top of the hill and my car is environment friendly . Perched on the cliff .

 My snail trail may be slimy but my carbon foot print is zero .

Delhi people fight for parking lots , i have the entire hill to myself and i am not afraid of the cliffs ...it's so exciting to hang off the cliff.

Those two cars parked down the hill look so envious that they have turned almost green with envy ....but my car is the greenest !!

Contact us for you Snail Mail deliveries . We assure you of reliable service.
Green Snail Mail.
Thank you.

the sun birds... are they a couple ?

They came as a couple . At least now i knew that they were a couple . Until now i thought they belong to two different species , do they?

One of them perched on the cauliflower plants and the other preferred the barbed wire...

See the blue sun bird seated on a cauliflower leaf....

The other yellow brown one kept herself on the barbed wire...can you spot that brown scruffy bird ?

Look at them in the same frame...

And then the blue one hops , as she does so many time as i struggle with the camera....but then , the hop, as my eyes can see that , is not actually just a hop . It is a full fledged flight with wings stretched wide ...and beautiful....the camera caught it even as the eyes missed it..

The brown scruffy is already missing ...see the blue one in a close up ...how beautiful....blurred picture because my camera was following her/him...( please clear my doubts on it )...

And where did they settle... the blue one choose a broccoli leaf this time and the brown scruffy sat on the ground...

Jahan main jaati hoon waheen chale aate ho... isn't that cute...
After a few hours both of them were on the lemon tree , sucking the nectar from the abundant flowers... and when i focused the camera , this one hopped...err...flew..

Look at the beautiful flight , the fully stretched wings....It's the same shiny blue sun bird.
Looking darker here because the light is from opposite direction...

I hope Nirupama sundar will come to read this post and correct me if the names of the birds are not correct or i mistook them for a couple:)

Are they really sun birds? 

Where are you Nirupama ? Why don't you mail me once . I will stalk you with my questions about all this ....