NOEL ELLIS' GOOGLE BLOG

AUSPICIOUS COCONUT We have a very tall coconut tree in our house and to pluck them is a big issue. You have to get an ‘adivasi’ who has his own ‘nakhras’. Many of them are now dry and fall off once in a while when winds pick up. The other day I found two of my pots under the tree shattered due to the impact. I looked up to see and visualise what would have happened to my nut had one fallen on mine. I picked up two which had rolled far from the tree to the other end of the lawn. This reminded me of my ‘Baraat’, which had gone all the way from Kapurthala to Jodhpur consisting of six people. Being the ‘Jamai-sa’ of that princely state is a privilege and a pain. Privileges I won’t talk about as all sons in laws of Jodhpur get a bad stomach due to over feeding of love and affection besides the ‘Bajre ki Roti’ and ‘Dal ka Seera’ floating in desi ghee but of a pain of a different kind which I would like to share with you. The wedding got over with grandeur & we reached ...

THE INCURABLES A new season of “Big Boss” has started & Sallu is at the helm of affairs, I reckon. God alone knows how many people he will admonish this time for their rude, uncouth, unbecoming and uncivilized behaviour. I somehow can’t stand such atrocious conduct of people. To add to the flavour and fervour, they keep adding and subtracting people. This time a famous gazal and bhajan singer of yore is on the cross wire. How long he and his date are going to last or made to last, time would tell? I lost interest in this show many moons back. Basically it was personal behaviour patterns which got me off the hook. I am certain there will be nothing new this time. The padded make up, artificiality, the makes and breaks, flings and romance, torturing and tormenting they do to each other makes it difficult to understand the actual character of a person. Participants keep hiding behind veils of some kind. I have nothing against the show but I find no take away, with human...

SEASONAL WHISPERS Many of you may have heard the famous lines from a poem by Shelley which says “If winter comes can spring be far behind” from the “Ode to the West Wind”. Then there is also an old adage which goes “This too shall pass”. I am waiting for both the spring to come and for “This” to pass but it is not happening. Petrol is touching a century, diesel is not far behind. Race is on as to who will cross the finish line first. If “Achhe Din” is “spring” and the state of the country as it is today is equivalent to “this” then it makes sense. Are we still in the winter eagerly waiting for spring? Or is it that period when we are between winter and spring, when the ice has just started to melt. Animals are out from hibernation, grass has started to sprout and frozen rivulets have started to expand. New life is about to take birth. Forest trails are now kind of visible. Still, we are short of the actual spring, when flowers will be in full bloom and there will be happ...

PRINCESS AND HER SLIPPERS Last evening, we had just finished tea and were waiting for a stray puppy who has now become our friend to come and play with us when a young colleague of mine came along with his little daughter about two years old riding past on his bike. Some instinct within me wanted to pick her up & hug her. So I called them over. It did not take much time to make friends with her. One toffee and a chocolate did the trick. She only spoke pure Marathi and me in Hindi but we started conversing and got engaged in an intense conversation ranging from colours, likes, favourites, dresses, shoes et al. I touched her papa’s bike and she admonished me “majhi aahe”, I begged her pardon and took a few steps back. My car was standing by so I told her majhi car; she quickly replied majhi pan ghar aahe. I was impressed with this bundle of energy. I saw this darling wearing Kohlapuri chappals and told her Changli aahe and she told me she has three of them joining her ...

CHILDHOOD GAMES LT COL NOEL ELLIS (RETD) 03/IX/2018 In kindergarten we used to play a game in which all of us used to sit in a circle on our haunches. There used to be one “denner” and with a kerchief. This child used to run outside the circle while we sang a rhyme which went like this, “I sent a letter to my father and on my way I dropped it, someone came and picked it up and put it in his pocket”. This child with a hanky had to on the quiet drop it behind someone who had to be alert, pick it up and run to catch the denner. The political scenario in the country presently is like this only, dropping the kerchief of blame behind someone and run. One used to pick up weaklings of the class and drop the hanky precisely. Slowly, as you got to know the class, you knew who will sleep off, who will dope it out, who is a good runner etc so you manipulated your game accordingly. One took calculated risks and played on. Finally, one used to wait for the period to get over so th...

CHILDHOOD GAMES LT COL NOEL ELLIS (RETD) 03/IX/2018 In kindergarten we used to play a game in which all of us used to sit in a circle on our haunches. There used to be one “denner” and with a kerchief. This child used to run outside the circle while we sang a rhyme which went like this, “I sent a letter to my father and on my way I dropped it, someone came and picked it up and put it in his pocket”. This child with a hanky had to on the quiet drop it behind someone who had to be alert, pick it up and run to catch the denner. The political scenario in the country presently is like this only, dropping the kerchief of blame behind someone and run. One used to pick up weaklings of the class and drop the hanky precisely. Slowly, as you got to know the class, you knew who will sleep off, who will dope it out, who is a good runner etc so you manipulated your game accordingly. One took calculated risks and played on. Finally, one used to wait for the period to get over so th...