Asia’s Cleanest Village @ Mawlynnong

 Glimpse of God’s own Garden 

Shillong, Meghalaya a

Sawan ke Jhoole

Sawan ke Jhoole…

Come Monsoon (Sawan), the festive season of August, this yester-years make-shift wooden - rope Jhoola / Swing dangling from a robust & Sturdy branch of a Mango Tree is such a welcoming sight, reminiscent of our childhood days, when as kids we could spend hours and hours playing on the swing. Not just play, but I also remember reading n studying nestled on this big wooden swing (which could comfortably accommodate 4 kids) in our Verandah. Those were some carefree days… 

Anyways, Keep on Swinging High n Keep that Child in you active n alive. Happy Hariyali Teej! 

The World on your Palm

A Cutie Jade Lilliputian 🪴 on my Palm

   

Go Bananas…

🍌 Yay! Seems like I have gone Bananas over my own Blog 🤗 all over again. 

        A Fruiting Banana Tree @ Our Backyard

🍌 Perfect timing though, now that I have some much needed respite & some spare time to JUST BE @ HOLIDAY MODE & linger on things & stuff I WANNA DO. Whoa! What a luxurious, serene & peaceful State of Being, after eons.

🍌 I rarely even managed to take a stroll in the kitchen Garden @ Backyard, as much as I would like to since the very onset of this year… ‘2021’ with one health issue or the other keeping me on tenterhooks 😂 

🍌Slowed down and Stranded right from the word Go! Indeed, What a Hearty Welcome to 2021 as I started the year with Back Ache in Jan, A Thumb Fracture in Feb, long haul COVID thru April - May, and POST COVID… a Double Whammy with Teeth/Sinus Infection & an ALLERGIC reaction to wrong medicine this July-Aug. 😂 Now, am Still sorting the last one out with Doctor Consultations, expensive n time consuming ‘wait n watch’ diagnostic investigations at the Hospital & being on Yucky Medications for Treatment & Relief. Yet again… How I shirk away from all of the above… and yet have to deal with it, as self inflicted repercussions. 

🍌Thanks to my own NEGLECT n no RESPECT for myself, in a dismal effort to HELP (thankless) others, taking on their Chores, their fair share of duties, happily n smilingly, in their absence or otherwise. 

🍌Hmmm…

🍌By the way, that’s quite a long list of ailments. Isn’t it?. The almost ‘PINK OF HEALTH’ 2020 but with tons n tons of additional physical work load simply took a toll when the Body probably decided to send an 🆘 meaning ‘Enough is Enough’! 

🍌Hey! Look, YOU…. Better Get your Priorities in Place & Start Taking Good Care of yourself. PERIOD.

🍌Undoubtedly, 2021 is testing my resilience & strength, time n again. But, Thank God for being Alive and just breathing, surrounded with loving, concerned people & off course, Myriad Colours of NATURE, as I look around myself, relishing the rain washed Greens, Blooming Flowers, chirping Birds, colourful Butterflies, Skirting Squirrels, & a super harvest of mixed vegetables n fruits @ backyard. Health Restoration n Rejuvenation mode on… in full swing amidst Nature. 🤗

🍌Let’s just sum up by staying Grateful n saying ‘All is Well n Good’, so long as we continue to Enjoy this roller coaster journey of Life with its UPs n DOWNs! 

Moments Frozen In Time….

🌿  The best part about pictures is that the moment is captured and frozen in time for all times to come.

🌿 I had almost forgotten about the Blog when I recently happened to post a comment on someone’s blog and instead of my name it got published with my Blog Name. 

🌿 What a pleasant feeling of reverie, reminiscing, rediscovering while browsing through your own blog and realising it’s still very much there in spite of the years that have rolled past in a blink.

🌿 A  great source of inspiration & strength as you leaf through your own posts considering the challenging CHANGES  the WORLD has been forced to adapt to for mere ‘survival of mankind’ during these last two unfathomable pandemic years of global threat to Human Race.

🌿 Wonder when we will be able to BREATHE again as freely & safely as we did back than without having to shield our faces & cover our mouth n nose with a 😷 even while at home to ensure our own safety and well being of other fellow human beings.

🌿 LIFE as we knew it, has CHANGED so drastically, rather dramatically! None could have ever envisaged that a micro organism could be a cause of such global disease n despair. 😒 

🌿 May God n Mother Nature forgive us for the misuse & unabashed destruction of her infinite resources and bounty gifts of Natural splendour all around us, we took for granted. 

🌿 Hope we all put in our best efforts to help reevaluate, reinvent & restore the balance of the environment we live in! 

🌿 Umpteen Prayers, Blessings n Best wishes, for a better tomorrow & a much safer 🌍 world 🌏 for all! 

  Freeze Frame 🖼 12:20 PM

Let’s Go Green….

A Blog after Eons….

Just trying to figure out how to post a Blog all over again. Used Desktops n Laptops back than & now we can post using our Mobiles. Whoa! Technology sure is evolving n changing by leaps and bounds… We lesser mortals have to keep learning, and reinventing, embracing this CHANGE with time!

So, for starters, merely trying to post some ‘Happy-Go-Green’ Pictures from our Garden. 

🌿Verdant Greens…..

                                   🌿 Lush Greens…

🪴 If speaking  kindly to plants helps them grow imagine what speaking kindly to humans can do.🪴

🌿Soothing, refreshing, rejuvenating, energising GREENS….

🌿 The summer scorched plants appear so much more  GREENER celebrating, radiating and spreading their Happiness with the onset of Rains! 

Whoa! Adapting to a new Blogger Format all over again. 

Well… Let’s just say, Enjoyed the experience! 🪴 

Keep Enjoying the surrounding Greens 🌿 & the Rains…,

Dance with the Daffodils....

~~*****~~
In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

~~ *****~~

William Wordsworth

Spring is in the air, with the blooms everywhere.....

Early Buds...

Just Beginning to Blossom...

& Finally,  A cluster of Dazzling Daffodils,
Symbolizing onset of Spring  for Today's Flower

Happy Sunday n Happy Spring Season ahead....

Burst of Pink

So Delicate n Dainty....

 A teeny-tiny Floral Firework.... for Todays Flower # 154

A Flower's appeal is in the contradictions -
So delicate in form, yet strong in fragrance...
So small in size, yet big in beauty..........
So short in life, yet long on effect.

Floral Carpet

Pretty in Pink  @ Rain Lilies...

With so many of them blooming together in the garden, during the rainy season, they form a beautiful pink floral carpet
(A carpet, one would never wanna walk on.....)

Truly Magical these Magic Lilies!

Zephyranthes

Pink Zephyr Lilies for Todays Flower # 153 

Happy Sunday! n Hope you have a Magical Week ahead....

Skywatch @ Friday!

Here are some interesting Sightings for Friday Sky watching! 

Even on a gloomy grey day, sighting a butterfly just.... MAKES YOUR DAY! 

Spotted this peahen perched on our roof for the first n last time...
a day after my great grand mother passed away @ July 2008

Another day, Another time....
These wild monkeys are a regular feature around the house....
n marauding the garden / plants, happens to be their favorite past time.

 Spotted a few LANGURs on a clear blue sky day, during one of  my trips to the countryside!
Others were non nonchalant, while one of them looked ready to pounce...any moment. Scary!

Have an Interesting Day ahead...n Happy Sky Watching!

Cheery Cherry

The Buds, the flowers n the Fruits @ Mosaic Monday

It is one of the most commonly used flowering n fruiting tree, grown by beginners and novices, introducing them to the world of miniature greens (Bonsai), along with the (naarangi)/Oranges, (Amrood)/Chinese Guava, (Anar)/Pomegranates, (Chikoo)/Sapodilla and (Imli)/Tamarind. It is a fairly hardy plant with fine ramification, easy to look after and thrives well in sunlight. The branches are stiff and hence difficult to wire n bend.  

My World  @ The Cherry Tree - Informal Upright style 

Teeny Tiny Buds formed at the pinnacle

 Pink Flowers .....with five fringed petals

 Flowers giving way to teeny tiny Cherries

one of them finally turning Ripe Red over a matter of days. The Fruits are a rich source of Vitamin C

This Cherry Tree has been under training since July 2006

Throughout the growing season, the plant grows profusely and has to be pruned back in shape. The tree with its glossy green leaves, contrasting pink flowers n bright Red fruits add a beautiful accent to the garden. 


For more wonderful collages n Mosaic work visit here n see more of the World here.

Today's Flower: Sunflower

Whoa! This one is really huge, had to support it with my hand.

Flowers have an expression of countenance as much as men or animals.  

Some seem to smile; some have a sad expression; some are pensive and diffident; 

others again are plain, honest and upright, like the broad-faced sunflower and the hollyhock.  

~Henry Ward Beecher, Star Papers: A Discourse of Flowers

A night shot with some creative effects


Entry for Todays Flower # 149 n Mellow Yellow Monday


Have a Super-Duper weekend!

Mango - 'Make-a-Wish' Tree

Summer in India heralds the season of the Delicious n Juicy Fruits like Aam / Mangoes, along with the Litchi / Lychee, Tarboj / Watermelons n Kharbooja / Mashmelons.

Soak the Mangoes in water to reduce n wash off  Pitta (heat)

While I like them all, my personal fav among them, is most definitely the delightful Mango, referred to as the ‘King of Fruits’ n also ‘the Nectar of the Gods’. You can savour the ripe mangoes fresh from the trees or make pickles or chutneys or moraba (jam) from the unripe ones or quench your thirst with chilled summer drinks like Aam panna or refreshing Mango Shake or even Punjabi Mango laasi or merely devour them as katha-meetha aam papad or sweet mango kheer for desert.

While I have been praising this stately fruit, let me not forget the MANGO TREE, which happens to be one of the most majestic trees here in India - what with their tall n thick trunk, dense foliage, with wide spreading branches forming  a Magnificent Umbrella Canopy.

Four Mango-laden  Trees growing in our side yard, form a near perfect Umbrella Canopy together.....

What I really like about these trees is that they form one large single unit together, while, up close they are four different trees. We need to learn something from them.... they don't jostle for space, they each seem happy and contend growing  harmoniously together.

Helpers collecting n picking mangoes, hand plucked by the gardener high up on the branches.
Can you spot the gardener precariously perched between the dark n dense foliage above (right) ????

Basket n Baskets full of Dusheri Mangoes is ready to be savoured.

 We have some 8-10 mango trees growing in our yard here in the city n another sprawling 45 acres of Mango grove in Nawabgunj countryside, about 150 Kms from here, specializing in the Rose tinted Gulab khas, Green Dusheri, Yellow Zardalu, Langra, Chausa, Safeeda varieties of mangoes n other lesser known varieties - Makhan, Fakira, maste-anar, katha-meetha, dil-pasand, kishen-bhog, shakul.

Our Mango grove @ Nawabgunj countryside - old trees interspersed with some recent plantations.

Some More Mango Trees...

The mango grove initially belonged to the last ruling Nawab of Oudh, Nawab Nawajid Ali n his family and was established way back in 1906. It is believed that about 1000 saplings of the rose flavoured ‘Gulab khas’ variety, came all the way from Afghanistan. These trees are a little over 100 yrs old.

The Rose Flavoured Mangoes  i.e. 'Gulab Khas' originally from Afghanistan
Its a highly delicate variety, as the mangoes tend to spoil even if pressed gently n have to be handled with utmost care.

After independence, Rani Rehula Shakuntala, is known to have bought 215 bigha’s of Mango grove from the Nawab. After the Indo-Pak partition, the Rani permanently shifted base to Pakistan, selling this property to my grandfather, in 1960’s. As a little kid, I used to be fascinated with this bit of history n other tell-tales associated with Nawabgunj. In retrospect, I have come to appreciate the bounty and marvel of Nature,  trees, flowers, fruits, plants, art of bonsai, the whole gamut of beautiful  greens around us.

Here’s another interesting tale about Mango Tree’s from ‘The Book of Nature’ by Ruskin Bond.

Mango Blossoms...

In the Folklore of India, the Mango is considered to be a ‘wish fulfilling tree’ or  'Make-a-Wish' Tree.

So, when you want to make a wish on a mango tree, shut your eyes and get someone to lead you to the tree; then rub mango blossoms in your hands and make a wish. 

The favour granted lasts only for a year and the charm must be performed again at the next flowering of the tree. 

So,

Go ahead....... n  Make a Wish! For all you know, it might just get granted.

Blossom giving way to Bunch of Mangoes...high up on the Tree.

Finally.... the Fruits of Labour... Dusheri Mangoes  (Desapped, Soaked, Washed n Dried)
Unripe ones well suited for making pickles n aam panna (green mango drink)

Too bad, I just read about the folklore only recently, and so could not 'make-a-wish' this flowering season but, yeah, I intend to give it a try, during the next mango flowering season, come Spring. I have already started working on my rather long 'WISH LIST' and hoping that the Mango Tree would grant them all. Amen.


My entry for Outdoor Wednesday # 128

First Thing First...

First Impressions are said to be lasting Impressions....

As human beings, we readily recall things that we see or learn first, in any given period, far better than those we see or learn later on....We probably think of the first born, or the first school, the first job, the first meeting or the first trip together.... much more fondly n favorably than others; for their added warmth, curiosity, excitement, n off course new found novelty.

Likewise, for a gardener, the seasons First Blooms in the Garden are always wee-bit X-tra SPECIAL!

We have had a few Lily bulbs growing in this particular pot for a while now, but its for the very First Time, a bulb has ever blossomed.......that too in the middle of  Summers. Unlike Easter lilies or Day Lilies, going by the enormous size of the Bud n its lustrous texture, they  probably are some exotic variety, Beautiful  n Glossy Trumpet Lilies or probably Oriental Lilies???

To the Chinese, Lily means 'Forever in Love' 

 Feng Shui believers hold the lily as an emblem of summer and abundance.....

To me, well... The Star-like Lily reminds me of  the Nursery Rhyme.....Twinkle Twinkle Little Star...

How I Wonder, what you are.....

Up above the World so High.....

Like a Diamond in the Sky.....

My entry for Today's Flower # 147 n Macro Saturday

Have a great Weekend n Shine on.... Like a Star Diamond in the Sky!