https://youtu.be/-TuncSYduMY One thing I have realized that spending time with nature brings so much of mental peace. A small bird can just cheer you up. Her tweet can lift your mood. The sheer joy one derives from watching then come and play in your garden, feed, and bathe is just elevating. All those who do it know what I say and a request to those who haven’t must try it. Morning time is the most hectic for the birds. They all know that their feed will be there. Their tweets and chirps are indicators of the happiness they enjoy. I am sure in between their tweets they chirp to thank us too. Evenings are another kind of high. These days their feeders go empty by evening. The water bowls too are nearly at bottom levels, not because of their thirst but now they bathe in the bowl more often. The water sprinkled while they shake their bodies flies off emptying the bowl. In the evening, when I go to the rooftop there is a different kind ...
A flat tyre in NDA meant extra fatigue. One had to lug the bicycle even if the tyres were flat. The main culprits were cadets who used to ‘manage’ valves. Punctures were there but a valve going missing was very common. I still remember the number of the Bicycle when I joined NDA. It was numbered ‘C-5’. She was a darling. Many cadets must have ridden it, but she served me as new. One day, I fell into the trap of the ‘missing valves’. The squadron cycle repair man, who had taken a liking towards me and gave me a handful of spare valves. Thereafter, one never had to go on a hunt for cycle valves throughout my stay at NDA. When I was about to leave for my second term break, the repair man told me that “cadet aap ka cycle main overhaul kar ke rakhunga”. He did a fantastic job. I must thank that man from the bottom of my heart. He was a real “bicycle doctor”. I noticed that NDA bicycles have gone tubeless when we visited for a course get to...