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2023 - The Year That Was

Places impact you for a variety of reasons. And the same place impacts different people in different ways. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual experiences, where every single person’s experience is unique. And personally, every spiritual experience is unique, the same person can have different deeply spiritual experiences at different places, at different times. This thought has emerged because of my own experiences over the years, but especially so this year, with different and unique experiences at various places I have visited recently. I began this year with a visit to Baroda (Vadodara) with friends. It was meant to be a relaxed trip, a touristy trip, with our sons. We enjoyed ourselves to the hilt, but the highlight of that trip was a visit to the Lakulisha temple at Pavagadh. It was the iconography of the temple that I connected with, and I spent a few hours simply lost in the details of the figures carved around the temple. There was an indefinable connect with
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Bracket Fungi

Monsoon is the season of life, and we see the growth of all kinds of life all around us..... Not even the dead or dying wood is spared, if you notice these bracket fungi growing on them.

This first one is growing on our pomegranate tree, and it is sad to think that the arrival of this fungus means that our tree has not much longer to live.... Of course, it had never been very healthy, not one of its small pomegranates growing into fruits ripe enough for us to taste. Meanwhile, we are making the most of this opportunity to learn about these forms of life too!


This one grew on a rotting log on the side of the road. I noticed it one day as I went by, and remembered to take my camera along the next day to take a picture. Thankfully, it was still there then, but was gone the very next day!


I remember my very first walk into a jungle and our guide pointing out these interestingly shaped things... I even remember bringing back a piece with me (which crumbled in a few days). I remember how thrilled I was then, to see something 'wild'!!! Imagine seeing the same thing in my garden now!!!!

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Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 14, 2010 at 10:00 AM

    Maybe too much of rains - The reason.
    Anyways, thanks for sharing. At-least someone is thinking about them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. chitraAugust 14, 2010 at 10:59 AM

    Never knew fungi spoils the tree.
    We call them 'Bebai sathuli' meaning frog's umbrella. The last picture is like a flower.

    ReplyDelete
  3. MridulaAugust 14, 2010 at 1:16 PM

    I always enjoy watching mushrooms that sprout everywhere in this season! Thanks for telling me more about them.

    ReplyDelete
  4. IndraniAugust 14, 2010 at 6:49 PM

    Some of them are edible, but of course don't try them. Some are known to be poisonous too.

    ReplyDelete
  5. RajeshAugust 14, 2010 at 9:53 PM

    Fantastic captures. As a kid I used to see these a lot. Now I do not see to get them much.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AswathiBabuAugust 16, 2010 at 9:53 AM

    Anu
    nice effort and thanks for sharing these pictures with us

    ReplyDelete
  7. subu.psAugust 16, 2010 at 11:12 AM

    Is fungii so dangerous to the tree?

    Very recently I enjoyed watching these spread completely over a tree. The trees image is posted here. http://subups.blogspot.com/2010/06/achenkovil-temple-in-paradise.html

    ReplyDelete
  8. jayasreeAugust 17, 2010 at 11:53 AM

    Didn't know these mushrooms could harm the trees...

    ReplyDelete
  9. UshaAugust 19, 2010 at 8:27 PM

    shows that your garden is growing 'wild' :D

    ReplyDelete

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