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WIRE TAILED SWALLOWS ARE BACK

  https://youtu.be/EnrntiL0fTc   When you start observing birds, you tend to indulge with your auditory and visual faculties more than usual. A new bird sound catches your ears immediately. To get a visual on it becomes your priority. If you get to see it, nothing like it and if you get to photograph it, is ultimate.   We have this pair of birds called the Wire Tailed Swallow living in our colony. They are very agile but shy, extremely energetic, nimble, and always alert at all times. They are excellent insect hunters, including the ones in flight. Their chirps are distinct and their colours so unique.   When winters were at its peak, the pair would come and bask in our window sill in the morning sun. The same in summers when the heat was at its peak, they would come and roost at the same place in the shade.   Over a period of time, they have become quite friendly. They do not scoot as soon as they see me. Both become cautious but are not scar...
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GOODBYE CRANES

      You tube link -  https://youtu.be/X7F97k_AQ7I   We make it a point to visit and enjoy the spectacle of water birds and wild animals which congregate around a lake in our vicinity.   ‘Guda’ is the name of the village. People of that village are the custodians and caretakers of all living beings, being from the Bishnoi community. Hats off to their dedication.   We had visited in January to meet our very dear friends called the ‘Demoiselles cranes’. They were there in great numbers, maybe a thousand plus maybe. However, for us it was a little disappointing to see that there were just a few hundred which were still staying on. Ninety percent have left for their traditional home in Siberia.   They have fed well and will go back 4000 kms, over the Himalayas to meet their kin which they had left behind.   We were just in time to see them flying in formation all set to reach their favourite feeding ground which is the bank of the Guda Lake. Tha...
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ELLIS' GARDEN, 20 Feb 2026.

💛 Dil Khush ❤
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PINK CITY MAHASHIVRATRI

PINK CITY MAHASHIVRATRI   LT COL NOEL ELLIS   20/II/2026   India is a land of festivals and celebrations. With so many Gods, Goddesses and Deities to seek blessings from, there is an event happening everyday somewhere in the country. That’s why we are such a vibrant and vivacious country.   The festival of Mahashivratri is one of them. It is the "Great Night of Shiva," which is a major Hindu festival celebrated annually in the Phalgun month to honour Lord Shiva, marking the union of Shiva and Parvati. It is also the night when he performed the Tandav dance (the cosmic dance of creation, preservation, and destruction).   Devotees observe fasting, meditate, and perform ‘Abhishek’ or anointing Lord Shiva’s idol with milk and honey to gain spiritual growth, inner stillness, and self-realization.   My cousin, a renowned photographer in a popular daily, shared photos and videos of the event on his return from the Mahashivratri celebra...
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PINK CITY VISIT

  We recently returned from Jaipur after meeting friends and relatives. The onwards journey was in the new Orange and Black ‘Vande Bharat’ train. Before we settled down, we were at our destination. A real superfast train with excellent services it was.   A sneak peak of the pink flamingos at ‘Sambhar Lake’ was a heartwarming sight. We could only get a glimpse of them as they were very far.   What caught my attention were the ‘Aravali hills’. They dote the landscape all the way to Jaipur. The eyesore was the way they were being gnawed upon, slowly and steadily. One by one people have taken the rocks piece by piece. The towering hills are now small ‘hillocks’. Most of them have been obliterated. Sad, but that is how this oldest mountain range is being destroyed.   The ‘Pink City’ has turned into a total concrete jungle. Urbanisation was distinctly visible. Our family was there to receive us at the station.   There were some green spaces in betwee...
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