First advance booking, now auction... the life and times of the HMT Janta watch

I distinctly remember a trip that I took with my father and sister more than thirty years ago. This was a visit to the local watch store where we paid an advance and booked an HMT Janta wrist watch for my sister, which would be then ordered and available a fortnight later!

Yes, you read that right, advance booking for a wrist watch! That too for a watch that was called 'Janta' (meaning 'mass' rather than anything connoting special or exclusive) That was the kind of draw that HMT watches had at that time.

It was a big event, a watch was a much sought after accessory, and at that time, almost a rite of passage (I remember getting my first watch when I was in the 8th or 9th standard in school - which was my fathers watch that was first handed down to my elder brother, then my second brother and spruced up with a new strap and buffing for the dial, had reached me)

More recently HMT was in the news again, because the company was closing doors. And a dear friend informed me of old HMT watches being auctioned on an online marketplace. It brought back the memory of the trip to the watch shop to book this same model, so I joined the bid and got one.

Here it is, with a Government yellow dial and devanagari fonts, plus an old world steel strap that I had bought separately years ago.

So at least for me, the legend of HMT Janta lives on, first with the advance booking and now with the auction!

Snug as a bug in a ...bud

I was going through the set of pictures I took last morning when I saw this one- a set of tine pink flowers, barely three millimetres wide and extremely  pretty. In this picture I noticed what looked like a tiny bug. 

A closer look revealed a bug that was snugly ensconced in the bud that had flowered just moments ago. Very routinely, when you go through pictures taken at very close range, you notice things in the picture that you didn't while you took the photograph. This was one such happy surprise

Dew-drenched blades of grass

Just dew on plain old grass. But it makes for such a breathtaking picture. makes early morning walks worth it!

Eye to Eye

Back at Pawna for the New Year and the daily morning walks there, that have lots of interesting happenings. Like this chamelon who was out to catch some sun. Hoping to get a closer shot, I placed my camera on the ledge where it was perched, barely fifteen centimetres away and got this shot. the chameleon first played it cool and then swiftly zipped back into the thicket

Are the lion kings of Gir in this picture?

In the winter of 2012 we visited Gir and sighted a set of five siblings about two years old (here's the link to that post http://reach4sachin.blogspot.in/2013/06/siblings-in-sasan-gir.html)

Last week I read a report in the TOI which spoke of three sub-adult lions between three and four years of age who carried out a coup and dethroned the reigning lions- who were ten years old. Until recently only after crossing the age of five would a lion attempt to challenge a ruler. But the social fabric has changed. Now lions are challenging earlier, and in a group, till now there were reports of two lions ganging up to challenge the ruler. this is the first recorded group of three lions taking over a pride (here's the link to the article (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/3-lions-overthrow-2-kings-in-Gir-coup/articleshow/45542721.cms)

I couldn't but put two and two together and wonder whether the new kings were from the siblings we saw - there can be a chance because the article states that territory in question is right in the middle of the tourist area.

So people, show some respect, you could just be seeing a picture featuring the current rulers of Gir!

ganesha 2014 : first look

here is the first look of our ganesha this year. and this time the son is at home to make it, so the feeling is even better. we've used two colours of clay, red for the human body and the grey for the elephant head.
the final finish and painting is still pending
may gajanana bring us all joyous times this year!

Magnificent chameleons of Tungi

I find chameleons as yucky and repulsive as the next person. But in the last couple of days I sighted quiet a few of these at Tungi while on a holiday, and even appreciated some of their unique survival kit that nature has built-in for them. Anyone recognise which specific variety this is?

Standing tall and surveying the morning activity. Notice the scales, the mane and the bellows that they can puff up to add to the menacing look, if they sense any danger. They can even change their colour for communicating with other chameleons or for camouflage

This one swung to the lower branches the moment he sensed movement around. Notice how they can change the palette of their skin tone to match the surroundings. With the sunlight and the clouds around, it would be easy to blend into the background

This is what I meant when I said they have the ability to blend into the background. We have the gap in the rock for contrast in  this image, with only rocks all around, easy to miss this one.

This one was in a tree, far from the ground and the branches above. Sensing me five feet away, resulted in this change of colour. It was followed by an inflation of the bellows below the chin, but I was not able to capture that image

Can you see it?

Do you remember the times you noticed a pattern in something that reminded you of something else? As a kid, staring at the sky suddenly noticing that the clouds at that precise time resembled a dog, or anything else? The similarity or dissimilarity in the two images is what fascinated you or made you chuckle. And was a subject of subsequent chats with friends, which would start with, 'you won't believe this..

A recent trip to Dimapur and an early morning walk, gave me just a similar moment. Here's a spider's web, that reminded me of a high rise building. Can you see it?

view from the ventilator

The view from the hills is awesome, regardless of which direction you see in. Here is one such view from a ventilator up in a roadside dhaba, enroute from gangtok to darjeeling, an extremely scenic drive. Easily one of the best that I have seen

Doing the dew: 2 - Early morning at Pavna

Another dew drenched bud catching the first rays of the sun at Pavna. Glorious, isn't it?

Opening Today - 2

Another bud that I shot just as it was about to bloom. The flowers at Pavna are gorgeous.

Flowers, spiders and surprises

Early morning at Pavna, its a treat to see flowers catch the first rays of the sun. And the breakfast routine of the whole eco system. Birds are out looking for insects, bees are out looking for honey, spiders are out setting up webs for the day. 

Here are two spiders that I managed to surprise. You can see them clearly when I enlarge the picture. 

Amazing snack/accompaniment: Breadfruit fries!

Start with the Breadfruit (I gather it is from the Jackfruit family, is smaller, has less sharp bristles, and no pronounced seeds & like it can be eaten when its young or ripe ) I took this picture from the net since I took pictures of the recipe as an afterthought

Start by scaring the skin off, and making one cm slices. Remember to cut off the centre, it's chewy ad does not taste good. Add some chilly powder, turmeric powder, asafoetida (hing) powder and salt.

 The salt will make the masalas pliable, use your hands to rub in the masalas till you're sure they're evenly spread and leave it to marinate for half an hour.

 Dab each slice in some coarsely ground wheat (rawa or suji) and use a non stick pan with little hot oil to shallow fry these. Do this with the pan covered, for 5-7 minutes on either side. That way you're using both the oil and the steam to cook. Leaving the pan open for the last two mins will ensure they're crisp on the outside and juicy on the inside.

For me (and those similarly besotted with this preparation) it goes with just about anything. Try it out. Breadfruit is in season now.
Here's a link to a previous post where I was looking for this recipe http://reach4sachin.blogspot.in/2013/07/one-for-old-times-sake.html

shraddha = faith, shraaddh = anything done with sincerity and faith, a ritual for the living.

The popular belief is, that shraaddh is a ritual that is done to pay homage to the departed souls of ones forefathers. It comes from the sanskrit word, shraddha, meaning faith and it's literal meaning is, any act that is done with complete sincerity and faith.

Seen in this light (as against - it can be done only by the male child, you need to have a male child because only then can you hope for your shraaddh to be done etc etc) the ritual has relevance even today. We come together, remember the departed, offer a meal to crows and then have a meal together as a prasaad.

Yesterday, I preformed this ritual for my mother, my father performed it for his father and my wife, for her father.

My personal belief is that all rituals are for the living. Including this one. It is to help the living to come to terms with the loss, a way to finish unfinished business, say sorry, thank you and achieve closure. What is your view?

the second Ganesha, completed.

Shikhar came home, for just about 30 hours, painted his Ganesha and spent some good time with us. Then on the next day, the Visarjan day, the lord went back to his abode, and Shikhar back to his college at Pune!

the second ganesha, work in progress...

Here's the second Ganesha, that I was mentioning in the previous post. Pending some finishing. The colours, brushes et al are ready (but the craftsman is busy completing his college project) and will get completed some other day. Will post that too when it's done.

Here's how we celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi before Ganesh Chaturthi!

This is the third year of making the Ganesha idol at home and the learning curve is working here too. Details in this one are an improvement over the previous years.
We enjoy the whole process of making the idol.
Starting from looking for where to get the clay from (till last year, we were reusing the clay of the previous year and we started the year after we got a clay idol from the market, so haven't had to buy clay till now) to referencing for images to decide how the form should be. An online tutorial was of great help this year!
Adding details to enhance (added the pagdi this year since it helped getting the proportion right) and painting the idol.
The last two years, the idol was not painted - reason? Unaware of technicalities like drying time, our idol never really had time to dry completely, which is a pre-requisite to painting.
So, this year when painting seemed to be possible it was an adventure by itself. In order to make it as natural, we've used haldi, kumkum and abir. Each have been mixed with water and gum to make them workable and hold better. Finally the shawl, was another way to add a dimension and correct a flaw.
There is another idol too this year, but you will have to wait for a bit for the pictures!
Like Sona said, the Ganesh Chaturthi days for us are just a culmination. We've already celebrated our festival in the run up to it!
Happy Ganesh Chaturthi!

you can now start understanding how a bee feels...

around mid- morning, mid-day. a bright sun and consequently a fully bloomed flower. a mesmerising sight. even for me. when you are present in this moment, you can then start to understand how a bee feels...

dragonfly duo

Another early morning sighting at Gangtok. A dragon fly duo. The bright colours really stood out against the green. Never having seen these kind of colourful ones before, it would've been nice to take more pictures, but it would've been like intruding. So this is the only one I have

bee pollinating a white passion flower. fascinating!

It is absolutely fascinating how nature works.
Here's a bee pollinating a white passion flower (passiflora subpeltata). Notice how the pollen laden stamens are angled just so that the pollen rubs off on the bee and can easily get transferred on to the pistils!
There are about 300 known varieties of this vine and the white passiflora has been classified as a invasive/ pest. It does bear passion fruit, but the ones on this variant are'nt edible.