Sounds of silence in our summer garden...

Yes, the colors of spring are slowly fading now, the chill is history. Welcome to the Delhi summer. Dry, hot and seemingly lifeless.

Summer is the time when even the leaves refuse to flutter in our garden. The absence of any unwanted noise or presence of a much revered silence. The absence of voices doesn't mean no living activity. Silence has its own energy and vibrations.   

Silence in the summer noon is not lifeless though. Last weekend I decided to check by myself sitting in the garden. Not in the usual morning or evening when I water the plants but during the early afternoon when we usually remain indoors enjoying all around avian sounds . Yes it feels like we are in a jungle cottage when Barbets call each other from different trees and we hear them from inside. Blessed feeling.

It was early noon and there was unusual movement of two adult babblers. On close scrutiny two set of tiny eyes caught my attention. See by yourself.. 

They were sitting on the mango tree which is not in very good shape due to some extra active anti-environment 'human' neighbor, but able to give some homely atmosphere to the avian neighbors nevertheless.

These tiny chicks seem to be waiting for someone...

Ahh.. here the mother cames with mouthful of lunch... 

Another one...

Yes both the parents at the same time with food, what enjoyment.

Imagine yourself in this situation, you would know the real feeling.

Near absolute silence, the voices are very low pitched and very calming ...

Very homely too, in a strange way...

They all huddle together, knowing my presence and still comfortable ...

The parents wait till the first serving of the food is swallowed. And then the next is offered to a fluttering baby..

Yes the babies keep fluttering the wings when they demand food...

They take small bites of the insect I notice...

Some conversation is also going on along with munching... dining table conversations you know...

But these conversations are all almost silent for human ears....

This is not the end of enjoyment. Another variation of silence is about to come. Another set of tiny eyes catch the attention of a camera lens.

Some little creatures...

Beautiful little eyes waiting for someone inside the lemon tree... Safe cocoon of a place.

What bliss...

No we are not grumpy... we are cute as bunnies..

I know you are watching, who cares?

My mom is watching too... Do you know that?

The watch guards are sitting very nearby...

Here she came with the food . Sorry for the poor picture quality but sometimes real eyes are better record keepers than the mechanical one..

After meal time may be we should do some stretching...

Walks are also a healthy option...

Meanwhile Mr. G who is all the time snacking on the Moringa flowers is also found lazing around .

Seems like he is also enjoying silence irrespective of neighbors.. like us...

zzz...

But it's so hot we need water too...

We have our own watering hole ....

But there is a tough competition at the watering hole..

Some visitors come angry...

Some are quite shy to take risk..

Some come for water quietly and do the job as if spying on someone...

Witnessing the constant watch on the watering hole, Mr. G decided to challenge me with his own style of sumo pose...

On the other side there was another story unfolding... A new beginning happening...

A couple searching for a place to build their new home and why not, who stops you from starting a new life this summer.

While one of them keeping a watchful eye on the rest of creatures around....

The other one is busy building a new home, home to her new summer life... deep inside the mehendi bush.

Many visits to the ground to pick up thin sticks and some silk cotton flying around... and returning to the same spot...

 In the meantime the young babblers decided to take a walk in company of their parents. In safely camouflaged grounds...

The Bulbul chick also decided to show her antics...  and anger...

Of course in presence of her parents...

The stern look... as if saving the smaller chick by hiding her behind...

And then telling her someone is watching, be careful...

Stretching wings to show I am no small kid...

Did you see that?

I am a grown up bird now...

This much in one single day, who says summer is lifeless and silent? They have their own sounds and communications, it's the human mind that is clouded by the maddening turbulence.

How is summer at your end?

PS : The post is jointly written by both of us, myself and Arvind, and the pictures are also taken by both of us. There are days when we don't want to miss whatever is happening outside in the garden and weekends are the best days to record such things. we took turns in sitting outside for a couple of hours that day and all this was recorded. All pictures are processed by Arvind.

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.

ye facebook pe aaya hua hai...

We hire a certain 'cab driver' whenever we have to go out with late night return schedule. Unlike most cabbies this guy is a chatty fellow, very enthusiastic, wanting to grow on his own and probably seeking approval form our kind of people. Since we have been witness to many of his chatter we know that he is just a 26 year old kid who came form a village of Punjab to Delhi when his father died and the family was rendered without a place to live and any income to survive. He was 16 year old then and took the onus on himself to bring up two of his younger brothers and to take care of the mother. He cleaned cars in the morning and sold odd stuff on the streets to meet ends, learned driving later and started working as a cab driver. Now he owns a flat in west Delhi and 8 cars of all sizes and caters to a wide variety of dilliwalas. I find it immensely impressive and often complement him for making so big in life even after being in such huge adversity. He is a grounded person and drives all his cabs randomly to keep check on the condition of cars and probably to keep himself busy too. After all he knows nothing better.

Yesterday we were going out for a party and he looked very upbeat, started blabbering as soon as we settled down in the car. His brother had got a job in a big construction company, he had just passed out of an engineering college. Big news it was and the 'cabbie' was very happy. Two years ago his second brother who was also studying engineering had died in a tragic car accident and that had left the whole family into a second wave of grief. Now is the time when they were all feeling proud of their own karma once again as the youngest of the brothers had got a nice job, white collar and all.

The 'cabbie' said he feels proud to have his mother by his side, his brother now employed well and her 4 year old daughter studying in DPS (a good school he means). It is heartwarming to see such family bonding, the pride in his voice and the quiver in his throat was unmistakable. I complemented him and told him this is because he has decided to do hard work and earn money and because he has stayed away form crime and muck which attracts such youngsters in distress so easily. He looks and sounds really content.

But this is not all what I wanted to tell you today. The blabbermouth this 'cabbie' is, you can understand how he would turn to the general state of affairs in the country, the hullabaloo over the recent horrendous rape case in the city and then how the politicians live a protected life and see the countrymen as keede makode (worms crawling in muck).

Then he said something that left me stunned for one minute and then burst with laughter the next. He was talking about someone who used to wash utensils at someone's place and that's how she was given the highest office (a politician of course) just because of this unique service she did. As we both were laughing at this claim he went on to say Ye solah anne sachh hai ji aur ye toh facebook pe aya hua hai.. imagine this line with a typical punjabi accent and I can see yourself laughing out loud in your desk. (He said this is absolutely true and has been on facebook as well, giving facebook the credibility of reporting the truth).

It left me wondering how facebook affects people who don't even understand what it is and how much the facebook activism can affect such gullible people, in what way and by whom? Even the hate mongers could get credibility by just having a presence on facebook?

Facebook activism I have never been a believer of. The refined language of the 'enlightened' activists, the loud outrage of  'protected' individuals on an online medium would hardly reach where it is needed the most.

What do you think?

PS : this 'cabbie' wants me to make a facebook page for his 'travel agency' and help promote him :-)