Skip to main content

CHANGING SEASONS

 CHANGING SEASONS

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

20/II/2023

 

The season is changing fast. Days are getting hotter. The saving grace is the evenings when temperatures cool down. Typical of the desert, there is a slight chill in the mornings. Prediction for this year is a hot & long summer. We are prepared.

 

Another sign of the onset of summers is the yellowing of leaves. Our hibiscus collection are now shedding. The abundant flowers are few and far between now. Plants sense the changes; I don’t know how. For me, it is time to re-manure them before they go into dormancy till the next flowering season, which would be the coming rainy season.

 

There is this little girl who lives down the lane. She is an expert on everything and is my new ‘guru’. She avoids going to pre-nursery school but can give me sound advice on how to look after plants. The other day she pulled me up for wasting water, as some water spilled over.

 

Aise koi pani dalta hai? She said. Aap ko ata hai, I asked. Before I could say anything ‘Pari’ took the two litre Pepsi bottle filled with water from my hand to teach me how to water the plants. Imagine, with such a heavy bottle she put up a very strong front. A heave and a tilt and out flowed about one litre in one pot, over spilling. Almost falling over, as she bent down to the pot level. I stood to a side watching. Now that the bottle was little lighter, she could pour water with ease. ‘Mujh ko sab pata hai’, is her disclaimer.

 

Aise dalte hain pani, she asserted. I nodded my head as I thanked her. It is still chilly, so pots are watered on need basis, the reason to use a cold drink bottle. Now, she also assists me twice a week, when I use a hose pipe to water the pots. Her non-stop chatter can keep you spell bound. We are now best of friends because she is a great educator on anything and everything you can imagine under the sun.

 

To test her, my wife asked her the colours of flowers one day. ‘Je lead hai, je jello, je pupple, phink, geeen, boo etc. Mind you she was spot on. The story begins when she tells us to repeat the colours after her. If we say lead. She strikes her palm on her head and says, lead nahi lead. So, we repeat lead. App school nahi jate kya, aap ko itna bhi nahi pata je lead hai. We say Red. Haan, lead she repeats.

 

We wish her good morning everyday and also have to wish her happy birthday in the same breath. Everyday is her birthday. Farauk le li burrday ki? We ask. ‘Lilaince Mall’ se lenge, she announces. Then she will tell us, ‘mujhe chocolate ki bhook lagi hai’. Now she can open our main door and knows the bowl where we keep toffees and chocolates. Pari the angel, picks up one of each variety and leave. A small ‘Guru Dakshina’ for her tips on gardening and all sundry topics.

 

Presline, Pari for short is our ‘life coach’. Though she can barely reach our door handle but is sharp and very intelligent. What is she going to teach us next in this changing season? I wonder!!!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND

© ® NOEL ELLIS

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FINGER ON YOUR LIPS

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   29/IV/2025   What has happened to Pakistan? While India is doing Fauji Exercises, Pakistan has mobilised for what! I agree that the people of India want revenge. But, from whom? Our PM has only said that “we will not leave the terrorists and their supporters till the end of the Earth”. He has never said he will sort out Pakistan, or has he?   It has been hilarious watching discussions on Paki social media channels. They seem to have already given up. Our RM meets the PM and Pakistan starts shitting bricks. They talk about jazba and gazwa, and start telling us about their nuclear arsenal. 160 I suppose. By the way we will send across one equivalent to your 160 if need be.   There is a saying, ‘Chor ki Dari main tinka” literal meaning is, a straw in a thief’s beard. However, the deep meaning is that a guilty person reveals his guilt through his behaviour, even unintentionally. Clearly, “a guilty conscious needs no accuser”...
14 comments
Read more

SCENE AT ELLIS’ RESTAURANT

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   04/XI/2024   Every morning the scene in the Ellis’ restaurant is so refreshing. The notes birds sing sounds like ‘reveille’ being sounded by the buglers. The ‘scenario’ keeps varying with arrival of different birds at different timings.   It is like being a restaurant owner, working solo with minimum help. Yours truly is the waiter, housekeeper, cook, receptionist, barman, purchase manager, accountant, and storekeeper of this shack. Imagine!   Foremost thing in the morning is housekeeping of the garden area, followed by watering the pots. This gives the plants a nice bath, like kids being readied for school.   The first set of ‘clients’ called the ‘Tailor Birds’ appear. They love to hunt for insects which get disturbed by the watering ritual. They sing and dance, hop and skip and carry on chasing moths and worms, without bothering about my presence.   By then the Bulbuls and the Sparrows start lini...
17 comments
Read more

IF THERE IS A WAR…...

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   28/IV/2025   I remember the 1971 war as a small child. We were in Kapurthala Punjab, very close to the Pakistan border. It was an evening in December, I do not remember the exact date. While returning from a friends house, the declaration of war was done as I skipped along the ‘Thandi Sarak’ of Kapurthala.   The gist was that a vehicle with loud speakers was telling people to head home as an "emergency" had been declared and war had started. I ran as fast as I could, shivering with fear and my heart beating unusually fast. Though I was a lap baby when the 1965 war had taken place, it appeared serious business now.   Overnight, Dad and other Uncles started digging trenches infront of our homes. Carbon paper was no dearth in a teachers house, so mom got into an overdrive to stick them to the glass windows. Though the glass had been painted during the 1965 war, some broken panes had been replaced. Mom told ...
2 comments
Read more