Aahaa Chennai

Congealed brown innards cry endlessly, for the soothing touch of palliative green. A decaying tree stump, uprooted ruthlessly during the Vardah cyclone and awaiting its fate... a bonfire or those teeming termites, is kept happy in its last days by someone who has thoughtfully crept in to splash a bit of green.

Stop! Take a  casual look or bend down for a closer look or pause awhile for a probing look. Come back for  a second look or even a third look or simply stand and stare for a minute... not just at the plants parading before you but at their shadows too. We are equally showy, with an alluring cumulative effect, having  tales to share, of growing, falling, overcoming... Unwind with varied green shadows and chase away the shadows that linger in your eye.

'Can you come up with ten words about what 'green' means to you?' was the question posed during a family event. The younger lot came up with these: Cheeriness Garden Field Butterflies Leaves Lawn Grasshopper Jealousy Trees Beans The middle aged ones came up with these: Youth Health Earthiness Vigour Cultivation Sustainability Organic Freshness Thumb Forests The senior group came up with these: Memories Tulsi Life Vitality Resurgence Abundance Conservation Nurseries Renewal Plantain What does 'green' mean to you?

The time has come to engage little hands that are eager to toil. It is also time for a bit of freedom with muddied  frocks and shirts, time to feel the varied textures of mud, time to shape up those burgeoning n' curious fingers, with a bit of green magic. A handful of ochre hued, tiny stones jingle jangle, jingle jangle in a bowl. These are today's heroes... methi seeds . Soak 'em in water overnight. Remove  and embed in wet soil . Curious heads gather to gaze at the group of  two-leaved wonders, that push their way slowly out from their brown abode, twisting and turning their pale creamy stems, shaking off their enforced slumber inside the earth, stretching their arms and heads to welcome a dazzling sun... these 'goings on' taking a week's time, a small magnifying glass and a pair of handy binoculars, adding interest to the morning routine. Little ears are all agog to hear the tale... tiny green leaves no bigger than a t...

You've seen the the wavy golden fingers of sunlight, creep and advance ever so slowly, as you unconsciously rub away the last vestiges of sleep  from your eyes ....a view of the sky at sunrise. You've also witnessed a colourful medley  of hues... the yellows, oranges, pinks, the mauves interspersed with the blue and the emerging grey/black spread, as the dark smudgy fingers of dusk creep in silently, with the screeching birds doing their usual flypast... A view of the sky at sunset. A little one spots a magical world beneath her feet, that keeps her occupied for hours and hours... a brown sky peppered with white stars, surrounded by a shades of molten gold, including some shadowy clouds that keep changing, each carrying their own deftly spun weaves of sunlight, mixed with gently morphing/merging shades of earthy brown. The child in you ...agrees. Some scenes are meant to be enjoyed with childlike enthusiasm.

Little hands are helping to make buttermilk. The recipe goes thus... Take curd in a bowl. Add a pinch of salt. Add the required water. Whisk, whisk. The buttermilk is ready. Questions arise. How is curd prepared? The answer follows. How is salt prepared? Salt pans,  the sea and the sun... the details follow. How is water prepared? Umm....I am stumped. An explanation follows but one look at the faces before me tells me something. My answer has not been accepted. I really really wish... I knew how to make water. Little heads huddle together to pen a recipe... 'Easy-peasy way to prepare water.' To a child ...a 'magical world' exists.

A clever someone has built a home over my green home. I can't take my eyes off this spectacle... bemoans a scarlet rose, a mute witness to the dramatic goings on. The elusive culprit who has been singing 'come into my parlour...' has been finally caught lurking nearby, on camera. The trap has worked, the hapless victim is ensnared  and now, it is time for a delicious snack.

Sometimes, your day could turn out to be a mix of the 'good' and the 'not so good'. A smile tugs your lips as you sniff a familiar scent nearby and notice the fallen orange. Oh no! The essence of the delicious smell is lost, as your eye comes upon a 'hard to digest' scene nearby... a captivating butterfly, its 'stretched out' wings, silently narrating tales of many a fluttery journey, around the colourful garden, now being mauled by ants.

Nature proudly presents... an evocative showing of mother-child connections. Held together by tenuous threads that cohere when needed. 

Bright sunshine after a spell of overnight drizzle, brings forth a surprise. There's someone right next to the tap, maintaining a meditative pose for quite a while. Hours later, some movement is noticeable and pretty soon it's time for a take off, as you notice the wings move ever so slightly. As you notice the brilliant display in blue and black with a classy touch of ochre, set against the dazzle of sunshine, the pint-sized charmer proclaims... I take immense pride in being part of the great big insect family. 

Celebrating a green Navrathri... dolls to admire. Nature has helped out, by way of supplying resource materials, for the creation of this one. The one below,... is wholly created by Nature.

When fresh flowers are missing, and you need something flowery, to pep up your living area, Nature has an answer. Take a look at the dehusked remains of the coconut pile nearby. Your flowers are ready and they do have their own particular brand of charm and uniqueness.

It happens and you just can't stop smiling. There are times when the greenery around you, turns up with a surprise gift, a  'one-of-a-kind' card, a 'you-can't-buy-it-elsewhere' card, for wishing you on your very own special day. It is a joint collaboration with a certain hyperactive someone, namely, the wind, who likes to innovate.

An inching forth mellowy glow and burnished streaks of gold that delicately dab a coating over every bit of furniture in your room, in the early hours of the day, propel your feet to seek the window. The glorious spectacle, unfolding through the glass pane, the  fiery blob of  golden butter in the awakening Eastern sky that melts and overflows, yummy tidbits of sunrise... has you in a thrall. The tall trees serving as curtains reveal a bit and then some more  At  Uttarakhand and when the sun decides... it's showtime, folks, even the most diehard of sleepyheads, whose face is splayed with the vibrant orange fingers of sunlight, would agree... no matter how many times they've seen it... it is simply irrestible. The game is over in a while. The  sun is the hands down winner. The winner soon moves to  higher echleons to lord it over the others.

            A tucked-away package         .                                         The letter from aunt arrived on a Thursday afternoon. It included the tickets. The destination had a strange sounding name. Google Search was used.  The answer was...not found.  Surprise, surprise!  Everyone was doubly excited because our silver haired, no nonsense aunt, was known to be creative.    Phone calls to her elicited no information. Her reply was bizarre...come prepared for Shangri-La.   We packed both summer and winter clothes. Dad added the inevitable  medicine box, a first aid kit and plenty of mineral water bottles.    The day arrived. We boarded the train that took us to aunt’s coastal city. She was waiting at the station to receive us, an innocent look on her face that was in ...

Brown and muddy, a huge rounded pebble lying unnoticed for long, I am longing for some splashes of green. My green friends nearby, along with the sailing sun, seem to have heard my wish and have come up with the nearest thing to green. I am quite satisfied! Live: Nature practises... The Shadow Art Form

Who took away the steel? I did not have to look far. Proudly donning a  shiny steel coat, and trying a bit of craft work with chewed off leafy bits, a tiny head peered out saying... I too have my wants. A glimpse into Nature's Metallic Collection.

The morning cuppa I spotted on a visit, looked rather different but nevertheless, pleasing to the eye. Meanwhile, the real one, a steaming cuppa awaits. It's time to enjoy and admire both... each one having its own interest quotient.

The pattern is familiar and the diagnosis is simple. A tribe of warrior ants are marching aggressively onward, building their armies on my territory. Timely intervention can  prevent any untoward incident. 😣😣 Weatherbeaten bark quivers, muddy tears trickle, solemn trunk gasps for breath.

There are times... when a chance encounter which we do not relish happens and and that too when we least expect it. It is better to say a polite 'hello!' and move on... even though the prospect of a tussle seems delightful.

Dear reader, Sending you three pictures... Which one is your favourite? I think each one can stand alone by itself as a... thing of beauty. Serenity Serendipity Simplicity

I would certainly love being a fluttery butterfly. I hear people often remarking... me and my friends are akin to those charming butterflies. However, I reiterate... it fills me with pride to be called a flower and I am happy and satisfied with my lot.

There are those who are so used to seeing fashionable bits of concrete, glass and steel inside their office buildings that their eye quite often has a longing for a green refuge inside their ultra modern workspaces. Some are lucky enough to find it and take a sneak peek, now and then, to relieve the everyday stresses of being caught inside modern cubicles, jostling with tightly filled schedules ...meeting deadlines, brand building, strategising for profit and the like.