On my way back home

My office timings are between 8 to 5 and I take about 45 minutes to drive down to my work place. Since I have long work hours and commute time, I always try to find ways to reduce my commute time as much as possible. For this purpose, I also take a route that goes from behind my house through villages to the highway that finally connects me to the IT park where my office is.

It had been just another regular day for me that day. I had left office at 5 pm and I was driving fast on the highway. I had driven for about 30 minutes when I spotted the village that I was about to enter. That day, something caught my eye. The rays of the setting sun reflected off the bright green colour painted house that marked the start of the village. It looked beautiful. I looked a little more closely. An old woman wearing a faded yellow saree was squatting on the verandah cutting spinach leaves. Perhaps she was getting them ready for the dinner. An old man wearing a faded white kurta and dhoti was squatting besides her, cleaning up the leaves. Life seemed slow and relaxed for the two of them as they cleaned and cut the leaves chatting and smiling to each other.

As I drove further, I looked around a little more. On my left, I saw a neatly painted sky blue coloured house with a red colour thatched roof that was fenced by blocks of long flat monolithic stones placed vertically. I could see through the space between the stones. The area in front of the house was actually a cowshed and well-fed brown and white spotted cows rested there. All the houses in the village had a thatched roof to them.

I saw to my right. Children about the age of 4 or 5 were jumping around a bike parked in front of the small clean house. The children wore locally available cotton dresses. Their dresses though old  looked clean and their hair was oiled and combed. One girl in that group though was a little curiously dressed. She wore a old synthetic well cut white frock with black polka dots on it. A velvety bright red ribbon ran through the middle of the dress. The dress in its better days must have been a good party wear and I wondered how it had landed up in this small village. Was it a hand over to this little girl from one of her city cousins? I would never know.

A relatively bigger house made of grey coloured stone bricks stood on my left a little further down. A small shop that served as a provision store cum tea-shop came next. A lady seemed to run the store. A few people from the village stood there chatting with each other. On the right side was a temple.

As I drove further down enjoying the village sights, I heard a small honk. I looked up to see a car coming from the other side. The road that I was travelling was narrow and if two cars needed to pass each other on this road, it needed a little bit of adjusting to do. The sight of the car also meant that I had reached the end of the village and I would soon reach the busy main road that led me to my home.

The car and me, squeezed through the small lane. As I pressed my accelerator to hurry back home, I couldn't help thinking how beautifully life had slowed down the past ten minutes.

Read more...

If they can, why cant we?

I recently joined work with Infosys at their "Electronic City" campus. The campus today is arguably one of the most beautiful campuses in India. Most of the buildings are 3 floored, pale coloured, subtle and are located in a lush green campus interspersed with ponds and fountains. There are trees of various kinds and a variety of insect and bird species prop up from all places in the garden.

There are fishes in the ponds, sunbirds, kingfishers peeking at you from the tall bamboo trees, chameleons of all colors playing "spot me if you can" from behind the bushes. Sunset time especially is beautiful. The weather gets a little chill, the glare of the sunlight softens and one can hear the loud chatter and chirp of the Orange Crested Bulbul birds as they make their way back home.  Far away, in the tall trees I can see across the campus, the Asian male and female cuckoos peep up, flashing their blood red eyes at you. A little further down bats enjoy their evening flying without a care or hanging upside-down on one of the branches.

No. The campus is not in a jungle area. Much of the flora and fauna has been carefully planned and nurtured over the years. Much like the company itself. Infosys was founded in 1981 by the seven founder members team that had the courage to dream and the conviction to follow the dream. Back in 1981 it was started with a loaned $250 from Sudha Murthy, wife of Narayan Murthy. Today it generates $6.9 billion revenue, a $1.7 billion profit.

Everyday, as I walk through this campus, as I sit in the library trying to dig more into the Infosys story, I cant help but notice again that this is after all the dream of 7 Indians, who probably had a childhood and bringing up like mine. They however were dreamers. They followed the lesser-trodden path, explored the unknown, stood through the trials and challenges of an adventure long enough to taste success.

I stop reading. I look up for a while, feel the beautiful and mammoth space in the library and can’t help but think, "If they can, why cant we?"

Read more...

Nishka and pigeons...

One of the first species my little one started to recognize was the pigeon. These pigeons perch on the window sills of the building in front of our house as well as on the window sill visible from the kitchen window. So even when Nishka was as small as three months old (she turned one a few days back), whenever she got bored we would take her to show her the pigeons. The result was that she learnt the word "Pijjjiiii" (for pigeon) around the same time that she learnt words like "Mummy", "Hi", "Bye" etc.


I had read somewhere, that little ones start dreaming at the age of 11 months or so. I had read and forgotten about it. But one early morning it all came back. It was around six am and we were just waking up. The eleven month old was still in her sleep. Suddenly she turned around, with her eyes closed, and her finger pointing somewhere towards the ceiling, said loudly "Pijjjiiiii....", "Pijjjjjjiiii..." I could only smile. My little one was dreaming about pigeons.


Just yesterday, we had a welcome visitor at our house. Sitting on the pink flowered mattress of our bed was a grey coloured pigeon trying to look cool and disinterested. He sat perched on the mattress and surveyed his surroundings while we stood at a distance and watched. The little one was super excited and the pigeon seemed in no hurry to leave. Kamala, our baby's caretaker took the baby near the pigeon and the pigeon kept standing next to them as if he had known them for ages. The baby smiled at the pigeon, waved her hand and said, "Aiii"(as if to say.. "Hey.. look up!") The pigeon stubbornly chose to not turn to her call. She called him again, "Hiiiii!" The pigeon kept looking straight. Kamala, who was holding the baby with one hand, touched and stroked the pigeon on its back. The pigeon seemed to enjoy it. Kamala then put her hand around the pigeon and held him. Nishka squealed in delight. She turned back to look at me and pointing her finger at the pigeon, squealed to me again, as if say, "Look mamma.. Pijjjji"


We have been staying in this house for around 10 years now. Pigeons and monkeys used to have a free hand at the house when we had initially moved in. Once they noticed that there were people staying in the house, they stopped coming. They must have stopped feeling a part of the house.


Now, after a long 8-9 years, thanks to the little one, the pigeons were back in...!

Read more...

A walk under the moon

Thinking about that day still brings a smile on my face. The day had not been particularly good. It was eight thirty in the night and since I had nothing else to do, I sat with a book.

My nine month old darling was playing on her own and mumbling to herself. At one point I saw her sneaking a glance at me. I put down my book and decided to have a mother and daughter time with the little one.

So I put a cap on her head ( which of course she kept pulling out ), and put socks on her feet ( she thrust forth her little feet to me so that I could put the socks on them easily ), took a small pink handkerchief and much to the delight of the little one, we went out for a walk.

It was a full moon night and the moon was shining brightly. I showed Nishka the moon and she smiled at it. The sky was clear and the stars were all twinkling. Nishka looked up at the sky and gurgled at the stars. And then she looked back at me amazed.

We went a full round in the garden of our apartment complex and then settled down on a lawn chair. The little girl has learnt to stand with support so I made her stand leaning on the back support of the chair. Nishka and me now sat watching the garden path and the people walking on it.

We decided to have some fun. Nishka has just started saying "hi". So if you say Hi to her, her reply will range from "Haaaayyyy" to "Haaa Yeeee" to a simple Hi. Her voice is melodious and is a delight to hear. We thought it would be a good idea to greet the people walking on the lane.

So whenever I saw any person coming near our chair, I would whisper to Nishka, "Nishka, hi! Nishka, Hi" and she would get the cue, look at the person and say "Hhhhaaaaayyyy". It must have been a pretty sight for any onlooker - a 9 month old girl, leaning against a chair, and waving a Haaayyyy to one and all.

There were different reactions to her hi - some of them were nice and some of them were funny. A young couple in their late thirties seemed so preoccupied in their walk that they hardly noticed a beauty of life waving at them. It took them three rounds around the garden and louder Haaaayyys from the baby to pause, look, wave back and smile.

A guy in his early thirties, jogged with a ear phone on his ear. He kept jogging on. Much to our amusement, he did not notice the baby at all. Or if he noticed, he chose to ignore her.

The best reactions were from an old couple. They were walking slowly, enjoying the breeze, smiling and talking to each other. They had noticed the baby from far and as they came near us, they waved at her and the baby responded with a HAAAAYY. They came closer, cooeed to her for a while and then waved a good bye.

At one point we saw a smart teenage girl. She was wearing a red t-shirt and white skirt, sport shoes, had her hair tied up into a long pony and had hung a tennis racket on her back. She was turning towards her home when she heard a hi. She turned back and on seeing a baby wave a hi, giggled and played with the baby for a while before going back home.

We had spent half an hour in the garden 'hi'ing everybody. Nishka and me had fun and made our journey back home talking to each other and hoping that we had managed to bring a smile on a few people's faces.

Read more...

My bird journey - The Pigeons...

Name : Rock Pigeon, Spotted Pigeon, White Pigeon .(From top to bottom)

Location observed : On the air conditioner in the building in front of my house, on window sills, terrace tops, etc.

Size : around 12 to 15 inches

Season Observed in : All through out the year.

Nesting : Birds nest for the purpose of laying eggs and breeding.It is said that the pigeon nests any time in the year. I had seen atleast three families of pigeons building their nest in the month of august and september. Yet another pigeon family had their young ones out around the month of march.

The female pigeon usually lays two white eggs. Rarely a female will lay one egg or even three eggs. The eggs are incubated by both parents for about 18 days. The female incubates the eggs at night and part of the day. The male incubates the eggs during the day giving the female time to get off the nest to eat and drink.

Physical Characteristics : Different species of pigeons exist.

An interesting fact about the rock pigeon is that they come in different colours. I can see the Blue Bar ( this is a grey pigeon that has blue bars on its wings ), Checkered ( it is a grey pigeon and has black spots on its wings ), Spread ( this pigeon has a single colour and the colour varies from a shade of grey to shades of black ), and white variety of pigeons near my house.

One thing common to most pigeon variety is that they have a very distinctive neck. The rock pigeon has a shiny green neck, and the spotted pigeon has a chess like checkered neck.

Pictures of the various variations of the pigeons can be seen on this site –

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbidae

http://www.diamonddove.info/bird14%20Rock%20Dove.htm

Other characteristics observed : Generally the pigeons flock together. The white pigeon, which is generally a domesticated rock pigeon hangs out with the rock pigeons. The pigeon courtship is a very common sight and is a delight to watch.

They seem to be scared of the eagle and when a pigeon spots an eagle, it warns the other pigeons, resulting in all the pigeons flying off in the opposite direction.

Pigeons and dove facts

Pigeon facts # 0

In ornithological practice, there is a tendency for "dove" to be used for smaller species and "pigeon" for larger ones, but this is in no way consistently applied, and historically the common names for these birds involve a great deal of variation between the term "dove" and "pigeon." The species commonly referred to just as the "pigeon" is the feral rock pigeon or rock dove (Columba livia), common in many cities.

Pigeon facts # 1

The species Rock Pigeon was domesticated many centuries ago and has today been bred into numerous varieties. Carrier pigeons have been used to carry messages, especially in times of war, and doves have also been bread for their meat, for physical characteristics (“fancy doves”) or for use in ceremonies. The most famous varieties are probably the homing pigeon and the racing homer; two doves famous for quickly and accurately finding their way home when released in other locations.

Pigeon facts # 2

Doves and pigeons tend to have powerful breast muscles which have made them popular as food. In Jewish tradition, doves are considered kosher and they are the only birds that can be brought as a korban (animal scarifies).

Pigeon facts # 3

The Passenger Pigeon is the only non-island pigeon species to have become extinct in modern times (i.e. after the year 1600). The Passenger Pigeon was once the most numerous species of bird on the planet and one of the breeding colonies was estimated to contain over a hundred million birds as late as 1871. The species died out in 1914 after years of habitat loss and massive overhunting. It was used as food by poor people in the United States and was an inexpensive way for landowners to feed their slaves.

Pigeon facts # 4

The largest pigeon species in the world is the Crowned Pigeon of New Guinea. This pigeon is almost as big as a turkey and can weigh 2-4 kg. The smallest species are the doves of the genus Columbina, which weigh as little as 22 grams.

Pigeon fact # 5

Many pigeons have received bravery awards and medals for their actions in war time. The French pigeon Cher Ami did for instance receive the Croix de Guerre, a military decoration given to units or individuals who have distinguished themselves by acts of heroism involving combat with enemy forces. Cher Ami delivered a message that helped save the life of 194 American soldiers during World War I, despite being shot through the breast by the Germans, blinded in one eye, covered in blood, and with a leg hanging only by a tendon.

Pigeons and dove lifespan

Domesticated rock pigeons have an expected life span of 15 years in captivity with occasionally individuals reaching an age of up to 35 years. In the wild, feral rock pigeons tend to live much shorter lives, often just 3-5 years.

Some additional information on pigeons can be found at : ( Some parts of this post has been picked up from the sites mentioned below. Due credit goes to these sites )

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Dove

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/pidgeons/

http://www.diamonddove.info/bird14%20Rock%20Dove.htm

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Rock_Pigeon/lifehistory

Read more...

My bird journey - The sunbirds...

It was a fine morning, when I spotted this bird. I couldnt believe that there were such beautiful tiny birds in my garden. I immediately googled to find out more about these birds and found out that these birds were called the sunbirds.

Name : Purple Rumped Sunbird ( Male )

Name : Sunbird ( Female )

Name : Purple Rumped Sunbird ( Male and Female )- Male at the back and female in front

Location observed : Garden below the balcony of my house at BG Road, Bangalore

Size : 3-4 inches

Season Observed in : Have noticed this in the months of june, july, august, sept. Sometime, mid august onwards, the birds started building a nest.

Physical Characteristics : Male - Shiny, bluish green head, upper body. Lower wings brownish grey in colour. The portion where the wings meet the tail, called the rump is purple in colour. Hence the name Purple Rumped Sunbird.

The female is light brown in colour.

Both the male and female have a black short tail. The chest of both the male and female sunbird is lemon yellow in colour.

All in all , a very beautiful bird to look at.

Other characteristics observed : They have a very sweet melodious , not so loud, tweep. One thing that I found really strange about them is that, inspite of the fact that they are so small, they fly very high ( they fly at atleast 40 feet from the ground level ) and for long distances ( They travel for about 1/2 km to one km, without pausing to take a break ).

Generally the male and the female birds are observed together.

Read more...

My bird journey - The Koels...

One fine day when I went out to my balcony, I saw a brown coloured bird with white spots all over, enjoying itself eating the tiny red fruits in the bush below. I was fascinated. As I was engrossed watching this bird, I saw the black koel at a little distance from this brown bird. I knew at once that this brown spotted bird had to be from the koel family. My experience with birds has shown that birds of a feather truly flock together.

I quickly got my camera out, got a few pictures and googled for this bird. And here's what I discovered - The brown bird is the female variety of the Asian Koel. It is brown in colour, with brown and white stripes on the tail, and had red eyes.. !

( Please click on the pictures below to see an enlarged clear image of the bird )









And while I was busy photographing the female koel, how could I miss capturing the male Asian Koel - Dark black with shades of green blue on its feathers and red eyes..! Its proud demeanour had a presence of its own .. !







Beautiful as they are to look at, they are also very vocal. They are especially heard a lot during the breeding season (March to August in South Asia), with a range of different calls. The familiar song of the male is a repeated koo-Ooo. The female makes a shrill kik-kik-kik... call. Calls vary across populations.

Read more...

My bird journey...

It was a holiday that day, as I sat in the balcony of my second floor house in Bannergatta Road, Bangalore. The balcony overlooks a huge garden that the residents of the ground floor house have developed. It has a lush green, well maintained lawn, and flowering bushes and creepers of various shapes and sizes all around. These bushes have leaves and flowers of different colors and sizes.

The garden has a small wooden seat too for people to come and relax. One corner of the garden has a huge mango tree whose leaves come up to the window of our house.

All this means I get full top view of a beautiful garden and the activities in it. Sometimes there are children playing , sometimes some cats chasing its little ones, and sometimes the lady of the house is sitting there doing her tasks. On the bushes are cute little squirrels running from one branch to another, nibbling at the blossomed flowers, squabbling and chasing each other.

And then there are beautifully colored butterflies who would hop from one twig to another and by the time, I would get my camera to click them, would hide into the branches. Black, yellow, red, green - you name it - they are there in all the rainbow colours.

One day as I was watching the various activities on the bushes below, I got to see something magical. I got to see these -

Beautiful, tiny and very active the Green Warblers. I would love to see the yellow breast of these birds. I was( notice the “was” :- ) ) not a bird watcher or a bird lover for that matter. But then spotting birds of this size – in my very own garden - that was very fascinating! There after I would wait on my balcony to watch these birds. After endless and countless hours of waiting, I realized that these birds are visible most either early morning, or around eleven. Also I realized I don’t have to wait to spot these birds. These birds are very vocal – so if I keep my ears open – I would hear their chirps whenever they were around – and then I could rush to the balcony to spot them.

As I would wait on the warblers, I started noticing the 'Bulbuls'. These birds are generally spotted in pairs. Loved to see their orange cheeks and orange tail ends and was fascinated to see their spiked horn on their head.

Just today, I got to see these - Purple Rumped Sunbirds. Shiny blue green head, yellow breast and less than 3 inches. Wow !

And there are times when I get to see the tiny kingfishers. Beautiful small and shiny blue. Something like this -

On a lucky day, you will get see the regular parrots too.. :)

But the icing on the cake came a week back when I spotted a cuckoo perched happily on one of the top most branches of the mango tree - can you believe that ! It had rained out of season that morning - and in Bangalore, everytime it rains the cuckoos come out. No matter where you are in Bangalore, you will get to hear a cuckoo cooing during rains. Coming back to the cuckoo that I saw at such a close quarter - I noticed that the bird has deep red eyes.. Unbelievable ! Beautiful !

Friends - I know for sure, my quest for birds and their sounds has started .

Now whereever I go I look out for birds and try to find out more about it. And must tell you - Bangalore is a bliss for these birds. !

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note : All the pictures on this site are from various sites on the web. Some of these sites are

http://www.indiamike.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/23157/size/big

http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?Bird_ID=1829&Bird_Image_ID=42417&Bird_Family_ID&p=5

http://www.birdsisaw.com/Photo.aspx?q=5179

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_Bangalore

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21815205@N00/154228243/in/set-72057594137182184/

Read more...

Ever Noticed ?

Ever noticed( rather heard )... the cuckoo sound in this season !.. If you are at a peaceful location , anywhere in Bangalore, just listen( dont have to try too hard ) - you will be sure to hear " calling and imploring" through out the day - saying "cuu- u - oo"

The season of Gulmohars is going.. That way, it is a little late in putting up the post.. But..
Ever noticed .....

How the gulmohars liven up the othewise plain streets all over the city.. Have you noticed how the tree reaches out and bends to spread joy, vibrance and colour to the world.. !

The tree is filled with orange, red flowers.. ! Notice how the flowers flare up in a bright orange under the shining sun .. and turn into a deep soulful red in the evenings.. !

And while I am at it..

Ever noticed... the other flowery trees that makes bangalore.. Below are few of them..

Sights like this is common in Bangalore.. and Oh ! what a treat !

These yellow flowers known as the Flame trees , flower all over Bangalore. Dont know if it is still there, but about a month back, you had the chance ofseeing these trees on both the sides of the overbridge that carries you from the double road into the residency road

The Jacaranda !.. These are deep purple and fills up the whole tree with its flowers.. And the best part of this is that it falls off from the tree and form a purple carpet giving a very lovely ambience to the tree and the ground surrounding it. The best one that I have seen is at the cinnaswamy stadium circle ( the road that comes from the infantry road and joins this circle , has one at the circle ).

These are the trees that I am talking about in the post mithareveena.blogspot.com/2008/02/spring-time-in-bangalore.html

Extremely beautiful - and the best example that I have seen is on the both sides of outerring road ( with in a km of silk board and towards sarjapur junction ). The season has gone now though.
( Found a website that talks more about these flowering trees in Bangalore

www.wildwanderer.com/journal/flowering-trees/ )

Ever noticed ... how beautiful the world is ...

Read more...

Spring Time in Bangalore

Sometimes I feel I experience a lot of life on the roads as I am travelling..

Yesterday morning as I was travelling on the outer ring road from the Madivala silk board junction towards the KR Puram flyover, I chanced to look up and to my pleasant surprise , all the trees were blooming with flowers.. tissue like, thin, lavender flowers .. the trees themselves are barren of leaves and only flowers remain on them.

Also near M G Road, you will get to see the trees full of yellow flowers. And if you are lucky, you will get to see these flowers on the back drop of interestingly coloured buildings- like I got to see the yellow flowers against the blue buildings of the Army colony near MG road..

And then I knew Spring has arrived in Bangalore ! ..

You get to see trees with dark purple flowers... and lot of times these flowers would have all fallen on the streets .. forming a purple carpet. Also you get to see the 'gulmohar' - ( But then thats the May flower - Need to wait for two more months for this flower )

Bangaloreans, as you travel through the city, dont forget to look up and enjoy the beautiful scenery around.

Read more...