NOEL ELLIS' GOOGLE BLOG

  As the month of March is marching out and April is inching forward, there are a few unusual things that I noticed in and around our garden. It was literally about the birds and the bees. The real birds and bees.   First was the change of place of the ‘humming bird feeder’. They came; they looked around and made a ruckus. Tweeting at the loudest, like saying where has the feeder gone? Who dare change its place? The hubbub was understandable until one hummingbird found it. Just a meter from its original place became the bone of contention.   I shifted it to get a better look from inside the drawing room when these beautiful birds came to enjoy the sweetened water. More than that, the feeder was exposed to the sun the whole day. Imagine if you are served a warm rather hot ‘cold drink’ or beer. A little shade may help, was the idea behind. Now that they found it, all is well.   The second unusual thing was that this year I couldn’t spot any Bulbul’s nest....

  Watching the clouds can be fun. They change shapes every minute.

  One more Easter Lily blooms ❤ Dil Khush ❤

  What a morning it was! As I stepped out to pick up the newspaper, every plant and tree looked so fresh, glazed and bright. Reason was a heavy shower the previous night. All the dust which had been washed away. Even the road looked well ‘moisturized’ with ‘petrichor cream’.   The birds were there waiting for me. I won’t say desperately but expectantly. Just to get into a conversation, I asked them what happened? As if you don’t know, they said in a chorus. I chuckled and threw a handful of Bajra grains towards them. They didn’t scoot but waited for the grains to spread on the road. Then they forgot about me and got onto the business of picking grains. One of them flew past me saying ‘tweet-tweet’. I knew, she said thank you.   With the overnight rain, the grains in their feeder had soaked and swelled up. The roti too was wet and soggy, which they do not like to touch. Grains on the road were picked up by the flowing rain water and literally sent down the drai...

    It was world sparrow day and we are so blessed to have them around our home.   When we moved into our house, there were places in the colony where sparrows congregated. Early morning, in a particular bush the ruckus they made was unbelievable. There would be more than a hundred sparrows roosting in it. Their ‘chirps’ were music to the ears.   As I used to stroll in the colony, one saw people feeding them. Some spread Bajra, some would break Roti into small pieces, some would place water in bowls for them. Many times the water bowl would be bone dry. The birds used to return, just to check if their bowls had been refilled. Some people had also kept bird feeders, but alas sans the grains.   This gave us an idea that we could start feeding them at home. This would attract many types of birds, and bring life to our little garden which we had just started afresh.   Both winters and summers are extremes here in the ‘Suncity’. More than us the birds were very ...

    How times have changed? Every generation must be saying so. How time flies is an age-old adage too. How have things improved over the years? How technology has improved our lives is also what we are witnessing and experiencing every day.   It happened so that as I was taking my evening walk when someone on a cycle whizzed past. The speed was quite fast as I had a close brush. The street lights had not come on, so it was a near miss.   Kids today are engrossed in their own thoughts. Bindaas, carefree, happy go lucky, above all oblivious of their surroundings. Our colony being a gated one, they do not even bother to lock their bicycles. They crisscross the roads at will, ride on the wrong side as if it is their ‘baap ki sadak’ and rove in groups of five or more, occupying the complete road space.   With exams done and dusted, it is time to take out gadgets, bicycles being one. This time is the ‘best days of their lives’. What caught my attent...

    Today, the very concept of warfare has changed. There are no ethics left, no rules and regulations of engagement are followed. War is no more a conventional war as we knew it Weapon systems, ammunition and warheads have changed. Civil industry now has to step forward to pitch in to make war machines.   I remember the industrial belts of Ludhiana and Bhatinda. They could invent, reverse engineer, modify and manufacture anything, provided you paid them, gave them time and electricity to run their machines. That man in a grease smeared outfit could produce wonders.   It was during Op-Vijay, I witnessed their brilliant minds. The story goes this way.   Every company had a generator those days. My company was a little detached from the battalion. The battalion headquarters needed that generator. It was withdrawn one fine day.   We kept waiting for the war to start but the balloon never went up. It got limited to Kargil. However, we stayed...