A Wandering Mind

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Ganesha at Home

I ts been a couple of days since Ganesha came home, and its high time I shared Him with all of you.... Of course, considering that he stays home for ten full days, we have lots of time to share...... To begin with, this time, we decided to try our hand at making a Ganesha out of clay. Here are our combined outputs - the bigger one is obviously mine, but the smaller one is completely Samhith's effort.... Of course, this did not mean that we dispensed off with our regular clay idol from the market - we weren't too sure about how our handmade one would shape - so here is our very own small mandap with the market Ganesha being flanked by our very own smaller ones.... And then , here are the rest of our preparations for the puja - My kolam (rangoli) These are 21 types of leaves supposed to be considered very special for Ganesha.... Dhruva grass - the most sacred of all items for Ganesha (shall post the related story sometime, when I have more time ) and Tu...

Butterfly

The most natural thing to do when it starts raining is to go looking for shelter, especially when it pours cats and dogs....... Most of us prefer watching the rain from the safety and comforts of our homes, and I have seen the same instinct in many birds which huddle among thick leaves, attempting to find some sanctuary.... However, every now and then I come across something which makes me wonder if these creatures actually want to get away from the rain, or if they,unlike us, are equally comfortable even when it pours.... like the kingfisher which patiently awaited its prey even though it was drenched.... . And just a couple of days bac k, I happened to notice this butterfly flitting around a tree (incidentally, a curry leaves tree - does it hold a special fascination for butterflies???), while it poured and poured. At first, we thought it was trying to find a place to settle, but it simply refused to sit in one place, going round and round, from one branch to another, intermittentl...

A Little Land

As a single child , and the only grandson in both my and Shankar's side of the family, Samhith gets all sorts of toys to play with. Being the finicky kind of mom I am, I keep searching for 'something different'. The only toys both Samhith and I have agreed to like are his Thomas the Tank Engine train track sets and all the building blocks we have collected over the years... Of course, for Samhith, his favourites remain the 200 odd plastic animals we have been accumulating since he was born! My search for toys ha s, however, not stopped yet, and I was thrilled to see this interesting set developed by a budding toy designer, Nalisha . She is a Visual Communication student and is part of an interactive toy design Lab at Srishti school of design, Bangalore. She writes a blog named ' Little Land ' at http://averylittleland.blogspot.com/ Her blog is named after the set of toys designed by her - ' Little Land ', and it offers ample scope for kids to showcase t...

Sky Watch Friday... Sun and Moon

I was looking through some of my older photos and found this one that I had somehow missed posting...... We were on our way to Morachi Chincholi and all of us were stunned to see this wonderful sight before us.... the sun setting over the hills and the moon rising.... This pic was taken at a point where we could see both of them together... For more skies around the world, go to Sky Watch Friday

Roses

Its rare to see roses in our garden - simply because there are lots of people waiting to pluck them..... When we saw these roses, we were thrilled, for they had been left to bloom in peace, and I rushed to get my camera to capture them forever.....

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 reme...

The cycle of life

The tree opposite our house has many visitors, from the omnipresent crows to bulbuls, parrots, sunbirds and many other birds. However, the tree didn't a resident bird, until the last month, when we saw a pair of crows busily building a nest. Of course, I was all ready with my camera, and I managed to get a few decent shots of the birds in their nest. I hoped to get a glimpse of the eggs , but here I was unsuccessful, since they weren't visible from my house, and they were well hidden by the branches when viewed from the terrace. However, a few weeks later, I did get a glimpse of some feathers which indicated that there were young ones inside... It was only last week that we finally caught sight of one of the baby birds....... which was eagerly awaiting its parents, hungry for the food they would bring. I spent almost 2 days looking at the young one and photographing its antics. The rain thankfully stayed away, allowing the bird to peep out regularly.... Then the r...