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DUSSEHRA CELEBRATIONS

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   13/X/2024   Festive season has started in earnest. Eight days of fasting ended with Dussehra celebrations’, a relief for many who were missing their ‘chota-chota’ and ‘leg pieces’. Finally, good prevailed over evil. We all witnessed Evil burn to cinders and moved home to do just the opposite of the gyan we had gathered before ‘swa-haing’ Ravan.   In our country people are too creative and can see the good or evil in anything and everything. Similarly, Ravan could be imagined in electric poles and meters too.   Have you ever seen Ravan being evacuated to hospital? I have. Probably, in the battle of Lanka, after his grievous injuries, some ‘va-nars’ decided to take him to the hospital in an ambulance.   Ravan did not realise that that would still be his last journey. Hospitals are known for that. I am not sure who would have paid for Ravans medical expenses, unless he had a good Mediclaim policy or was part of RGHS or ECHS. Poor chap would ha
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ROOT BOUND

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   12/X/2024   There are times when a gardener tries to thoroughly water his plants but the next day it appears that it was never watered. The surface feels dry as stone. This is a hint that things are not well.   You try and thrust your finger in to check, but it doesn’t go through. You try shoving a weed remover or a screw driver, it is still very difficult to shove it in. There is definitely something wrong.   This happens when you leave a plant unattended and just keep watering it. Its foliage is green and healthy but what is happening inside the pot is neither visible nor there is any way to peep in. The only way to understand is to extract the plant from its pot and check.   Chances are that the plant has become “root bound”; means it has consumed all the soil & manure needed for it to thrive. The pot does not hold water anymore. The bottom hole gets blocked as roots start to emerge out of that hole looking for food. If left long eno
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SUN & MOON TODAY

Setting Sun and Rising Moon today 💙Dil Khush💛
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DIFFERENT BIRDS

  Two birds from the rooftop ❤ Dil Khush 💙
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FEEDING WATER LILIES

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   11/X/2024   Water lilies have given us so much joy over the last year. Some were new additions and some had adorned the Ellis’ Garden for over a year. A couple of them bloomed only once. Two of them decided not to bloom at all. Reasons, we don’t know and had to be investigated. One could watch them all day. They also became a photographer's delight.   With the rainy season transcending to autumn, flowering slowed down a bit. Still, there is a hope that they will continue to bloom. The slowing of flowering was a hint that it was time to give a thorough check and detailed inspection.   For that their pots needed to be fished out from the tubs they are immersed in. The ‘root cause’ was immediately visible. They were the roots themselves. With passage of time, the maze of roots ‘engulfed’ the whole pot. There was hardly any mud left for them to feed on. Their energy supplies had been cut out.   Besides, algae had made its extensive network
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OK BYE BYE TATA

  OK BYE BYE TATA   LT COL NOEL ELLIS   10/X/2024   An ‘Anmol Rattan’ has moved to heaven to set up another industry of love, kindness, giving, sharing, loving and caring. He was needed more there. Thus, Ratan Tata was called at a ripe age of 86.     Though I was never associated with the TATAs as such, they touched our lives in so many ways. Starting from the 'TMB' or Tata Mercedes Benz trucks which we used to admire in our childhood. I remember OK-BYE BYE-TATA written behind every truck.   They were the bulk carriers of the good old days. A pointed nose and a Mercedes logo on its face, a happy go lucky truck would lug whatever was loaded in it reliably and without break downs. Later the T was placed like a bindi on its bonnet. That was brand Tata.   Other trucks and buses had a ‘sad face’. Take for example Leyland. The trucks had a bigger cab. The engine was under it which made it look weird. We were not used to such trucks. The grill infront of the
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MYSTERY OF THE MISSING BIRDS

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   09/X/2024   We had gone out for a couple of days on short trip recently. Thereafter, there have been some changes in the routine of birds visiting our garden. Why have they started eluding our place has been intriguing me?   Another thing one noticed was that there were some occasional visitors who now started frequenting our place. Are these two related was also working on my mind?   Before leaving, we ensured that there was extra Roti and extra grain in their feeding bowl. An additional water container was also catered for, just in case water ran out.   It is at dawn; the birds greet me as I move out of the house. They wait for me to refill and even ask for it. Though, there are leftovers from the previous day, they still want fresh stuff.   During our absence, it must have been the ‘Mano-Billi’ (cat) who would have scared them away. The feeding bowl being easily accessible from many angles for ‘shikar’ must have frightened the birds. On our return the feline
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