Aahaa Chennai

Deep into the dark hours, when thunder holds its impromptu concert, a bounteous coconut tree takes a hit... a cruel dart of lightning. The fronds are drying fast and the forecast seems bleak. After waiting many months for the revival of this stolid giant in the backyard, hope falls as the termites arrive and even wet sacks draped over, offer no succour. After a long gap... during which, the empty space where the tree once stood, begins to prey on my mind, a bright flowering plant, making its mark elsewhere is transplanted to the spot but to my luck, it has a mind of its own, bettering even the lightning-struck coconut tree at the pace at which it began to dry  up and after many futile months of keeping my fingers crossed, just when I concluded that the fateful spot, had better be left empty, Nature stepped in, with its rejuvenation brigade, armed with green sootheners, to lift my spirits.

                   Searing  winds of May.            Velvety lawn  shows off its                    new sunlit border.                Hot wind passes by.        Yellow blossoms, russet leaves,                 party on green dais.

Gifts bearing that 'special' tag, cosily resting, tucked away,  neatly, in hay-filled boxes, are biding their time. After periodic cosseting, of being turned this way and that, plus the unleashing of many sensorial tales, involving those 'ooh and aahh!' filled eyes and twitching noses, one sunny morning, when the glittering wall outside,  painted by the sun, matches their golden sheen, they are ready for a send off. Some have already been  filched, by cunning birds and ever hungry squirrels but the quintessential flavour of this season's soft, chemical free, mesmerizing golden chunks, (sliding their way through, a beckoning tongue, which rolls in merriment, coating the queueing tastebuds  which demand more and more), brings out an irrepressible urge in many a mind to sing paeans in praise of... the King of fruits, the all pervasive fragrance and memorable flavour, inching its way past

     Soft green and tough brown                          spar, as the fiery sun cuts            across blue expanse.              Young green coconut      dreams of an Earthy brown tan.                The sun obliges.