Who steals my flowers?

The whole family likes flowers it seems...

Gnawing the flowers was never seen.. I had been wondering who plucks the flowers this way until we spotted this. Arvind brought the camera quickly and started clickety click...

These rodents seem to be the most clever as I watch them playing tricks all the time.

And they seem to like all beautiful things in life. Colorful flowers for example...

Reaching out for the nectar from all angles. No, for the whole flower actually.

And the nascent buds as well..

I am sure Giraffes evolved like long necked species just by practicing these stunts...

Yes the hind legs became more and more strong after reaching out the snout for the farthest fruits. Or flowers.

Feasting on one meal and eyeing the other already...

Keeping a watch if someone else is coming to have a share...

Tearing off half the flower, gnawing all this while...

Grabbing the flowers using both hands and the mouth all at the same time...

Greedy greedy greedy...

They can stand up, even if it is to get the best thing to gnaw on...

And this is what the scene was the very next morning..

Not that we are looking for a picture perfect garden, such activities or birds and rodents around keep us engaged in a funny way sometimes. And it makes us observe and think about the ecology of the micro-environments we create around us.

Squirrels and pigeons are urban menace I feel. People keep grains and throw edible garbage all around in the cities and Squirrels, Rock pigeons and Common Mynahs are more adapted to a concrete jungle type of living where they can survive on such foods. Small birds like House sparrows are ousted from all those areas where there are more rock pigeons and squirrels. I have observed that we shouldn't encourage these practices and do something to bring the sparrows back.

Keeping some coarsely broken rice, a water bath  and a makeshift nesting device, some nesting material around and some lush greenery would help in bringing back the house sparrows to out homes. I so miss having a nesting sparrow around us.

Trying to do my bit to bring back the House sparrow... 

look who can do monkey crawling...

Yes. The squirrels. They have their own ways to reach the bird feeders I put up on the most difficult places for them. I could catch this one in the act when he was monkey crawling to reach and then to return from the hanging bird feeder.

Don't ask me how I know it was a he squirrel. You would see that by yourself :-)

He descends down..there is an Asparagus extending it's creepers to the bird feeder and on the clothesline, the squirrel is not bothered...

 Settles himself comfortably into the bowl of Sorghum grains and nibbles..

As I move a little closer to make him run back, he quickly climbs up and gets hold of the clothesline.

Balancing himself or exposing himself :-)

 Getting hold of the wire from up...quickly...

Then in the act of changing gears...

Hanging upside down, monkey crawling...

Quickly moving ahead to reach the other end, where the clothesline is tied to the trunk of Jamun tree...

And jumps to the Jamun trunk in one quick leap...

Comes down and practices playing with wires and ropes with a dry twig of Amrita (Giloy) that has climbed on Jamun tree...

Watching the lady with camera all this while.

The squirrels have been a menace for birds as they hijack the bird feeders all the time. And then they look at me as if they did nothing..see how he is sitting on a comfortable little nook on the Bael tree...

As if asking me what I am doing there..

 This is my territory...go away..

Faithfully your's | an exhibition of photos and art installations by some young artists...

Some believe in magic and some in dreams. Most of us believe in prayers as well. Some of us would travel long distances to go to a temple or shrine and 'offer' our prayers and some of us would just sit under a tree, 'connect' with the universe and call it a prayer. It is the faith that takes us there, the belief in the magic that we perform in our head.

I was quite inquisitive when I got to know about the theme of a photo exhibition happening with Faith as a theme. Pictures of Banaras ghats and sadhus, devotees ate Golden temple Amritsar and langar experiences came into my imagination as I have always watched people connecting with their God in a certain predefined way. There was this curiosity how creative people will connect two dimensional visuals with faith. I had known about this exhibition since a couple of months. The wait is over as it is going on at the Arpana Caur art gallery in Delhi till the 17th of March.

A group of artists and photographers have participated in it and deciphered faith in their own unique ways. You would see the works of V. J. Sharma, Ambika Sethi, Augustus Mithal, Rajesh Ramnakrishnan, Rajan Sharma, Shilpi Chaudhury and Shivani Punia.

Some of the pictures are so powerful in it's impact that they can change the vibes of a place. You would want to sit close to the overpowering picture exuding faith and calmness. A pandit distributing prasad in a temple was one such photo that has been on my mind since I returned for the exhibition. I wish I had a large wall in my work space to bring that calmness inducing picture here. Clicked a picture of the framed photo with my cellphone.

 Faith certainly plays a role in our wellness, though process and relationships. You feel it once you are touched by it.

See how the photographer sees glimpses of faith in this picture too..

I know V. J. Sharma of Photojourney and have been truly impressed with his work ever since I have known him. He is as impressive in this exhibition as well. Theother young artists who are displaying their work in the exhibition are brilliant as well. Go and check out if you like artwork that is realistic and yet calming for the tired nerves.

Imagine some images.. A cow standing in the middle of road and staring at you like she knows you. A young kid reading from a book by the stairs in a mosque or a serene temple where it seems only trees come to pray. I had a good time reading between the lines and getting lost between the shades of brilliant colors at the exhibition.