OL NOEL ELLIS
04/VII/2022
A bright, sunny, hot and humid day has just begun. One can vouch that the temperature difference between the concrete jungle in the main city and where we stay is about two to three degrees, however it was the sultriness which was killing.
Be that as it may. The plants needed to be watered. As they say if you give a chocolate to a child and never snatch it back, if you start watering the plants at a particular time, one should stick to it, it is a lesson for plant lovers. Plants are moody, they get annoyed and even stop flowering if you break their routine. Isn’t it some semblance to our own pampered children?
With the hose in hand out I came appreciating them, talking to them, drenching them. These darlings have created a bond between us and so many ‘passers-by’ who take that half a minute to stop by, glance at them and appreciate our hard work .
One of our greatest losses was the water lily which we had carried in a bucket all the way from Alibaug to this place. It had been flowering everyday non-stop since the last three years.
Change of climate and weather would have definitely taken its toll. We tried our level best to keep it safe and went up to the extent of placing it in a discarded bathtub on the roof for it to prosper. Reasons for it to die could be that it was peak winters here when we moved. The shock must have been too much to bear. Second, the ‘soil manure’ mixture may have become too strong. Third reason could be that the labourers used to have their lunch on the sunny roof and washed their hands and paint brushes which we could not keep a strict check on. Our darling perished.
In its memory now we have ordered new lotus seeds and it was so heartening to see that out of five seeds put in a water container four have sprouted.
This is also the pineapple season in Alibaug. All the ‘baris’, would be harvesting them. Last season we had about ninety of them in our backyard, which we happily distributed.
One day our sabziwala Maharaji insisted on buying pineapples. At seventy bucks a piece it shook me a little. We used to have them for free with zero maintenance. Once a while we would de-weed them, fallen leaves were manure and that’s it. We would keep planting the crowns of the fruit we ate and they multiplied. A bar-be-cued pineapple was a treat to eat. Just toasted enough to caramelize the juices on the surface. A luxury which we could afford at no investment.
So the crown of one of the pineapples we ate has been sown. What caught my attention was the new small spiny leaves were sprouting. So far so good.
As the ‘dhaar’ from the hose travelled to the cluster of portulaca pots, I couldn’t believe my eyes of what I saw. It was a lizard eating a baby lizard. It was the first time I was seeing cannibalism in this species. One which stayed in the wild, heavily printed in camouflage colours and she was holding in her mouth was a yellowish domestic lizard.
The squirt of water hit the two and they got separated. I had no intention of depriving this lizard from its snack but it just happened. The little one fell to the floor and was gasping for breath. It was twisting and twirling in pain. In Hindi it is called ‘chatpatana’. It wriggled hard to get back to normal but then this dirty lizard scooted and caught it on the floor. All this action I could catch in bits and pieces.
As my camera focused on these reptiles, I caught a glimpse of Mr Tik-Tok, our chameleon hanging to dear life on one of the hibiscus bushes. Welcome back my friend, I missed you all these days. He had probably hibernated to watch its eggs. Sunbirds, Bee eaters and Butterflies never left.
In this while another movement caught my eye. It was the ‘Quartermaster’ as we used to call it. The ‘Dung Beetle’. It was rolling some crap along the berm of the road. Two of them pushing and pulling to stock up their burrows for good times sake. Probably it was a new flavour.
Generally, we used to see them pushing camel poo roundels. This was a change of taste, probably dog poo. They huffed and puffed, pushed and pulled and then I bid them farewell to enjoy their new taste.
In a span of an hour there could be so much happening. What all must be happening when we are not observing? I wonder!!!!!!!!!
JAI HIND
© NOEL ELLIS
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