NOEL ELLIS' GOOGLE BLOG

  QAIDI NUMBER 804   LT COL NOEL ELLIS 30/VIII/2023 If someone is wearing a white shirt with blue stripes and a matching ill fitting pyjama. This person stands in line for food which is a ‘watery’ kind of dal and thick rotis as hard as stone are given to them to eat. What comes to the mind? High above on the boundary wall, an observation post keeps a keen eye on them. At night a search light revolves around their abode. High walls, barbed wire fences, ferocious guard dogs are all around. Inmates stay in smelly & dirty cells. After long years in “Umr Kaid”, a man walks out of a trap door in the main door. Someone offers a fag and a light. The ‘first puff’ to freedom goes deep into the lungs. This person swears to get the real culprits behind the bars and prove his innocence. This is a story of “Qaidi number 804” and his country, locked up in Attock jail. A heartthrob, a Casanova, a cricketer, a philanthropist turned politician who rose to become the PM of his country

 Super Moon 🌕 through my lens ❤ DIL KHUSH

  🦋 Butterfly 🦋 makes my ❤ Dil Khush 💙

 Ladies in Red ❤ DIL KHUSH ❤

  ❤️ DIL KHUSH 🐦

 My birdy 🐦 friends 🧡 DIL KHUSH 💙

  UGLY DUCKLINGS   LT COL NOEL ELLIS 24/VIII/2023 There are a few Dhabas on the highway here popular for serving piping hot ‘Kadi-Sogra’. Kadi is Kadi and sogra is a thick Bajra Roti dripping with desi ghee. Also, another delight served at these shacks is Urad Dal ri Pakori. Mouth watering, isn’t it! Often on my photo shoots, we pass by these eateries. There are a few water bodies and ponds in which one can find water birds like ducks, herons, egrets, stilts, moorhens, Ibis etc. On the way back we do take a pit-stop. Garma garm pakoris and chai, you just cannot miss. Crisp, masaledaar, a little teekha, served with yummy green dhaniya-pudiana-hari mirch chutney and fried & salted green chilles are irresistible. The aroma floats in the air & makes you jam your brakes for a break. A trip today to that water body was for a different reason. About two weeks back, I had caught a duck nestling on an overhang of Kikar branches in the centre of the lake. A few quick shot

  CHANDRAYAN II ON THE MOON   LT COL NOEL ELLIS 23/VIII/2023 On 07 Sept 2019, I wrote when Chandrayan II bounced a little too hard while landing on the moon and dreamt of the day when we would again land successfully. The day finally came today. My chest swells with pride as an Indian. What our scientists have achieved is just the tip of an iceberg. We have the galaxy to explore. Let me congratulate each one of them for their tireless efforts, dedication, and devotion, to taste success finally. Moon remains a mystery no more thanks to them. There were tears in the eyes of the ISRO Chairman last time when he hugged the Prime Minister. Today too there were tears but of joy in everyone’s eyes. Well done team, you deserve all Kudos. A mission like this needs meticulous planning. How hard you simulate, cater for contingencies, work out N number of alternate plans, there are bound to be parameters beyond human control. Every pin and screw have to fit in perfectly. As I was wa

 Aren't they gorgeous 💙 DIL KHUSH 💙

  SUMMER GARDENING CHALLENGES     LT COL NOEL ELLIS   26/VIII/2023   Summer months have been too taxing both for the plants and the Gardner. Plants keep asking for more water and Gardner cannot trop shedding water through sweat. The only saving grace in the desert is, it is cool in the morning and late in the evening. It is late August and the heat is still on.   This year in spring we trimmed the trees around our house in a manner that they gave adequate shade during the hottest hours of the day and left gaps for sunlight to pass intermittently.   Every evening one checked if any plant had wilted. Many leaves got ‘sun burnt’ and turned crisp even while they were green. What a torture! Plants have to live to face it squarely. Green nets are an alternative but we try to keep things as natural as natural can be.   To give the plants relief, I purchased a ‘nozzle’ which also works as a mistifier and can be attached to the hose pipe.  An illusion of rain keeps the

  Such beauties make my 💜DIL KHUSH💛

  HOW I BECAME AN OWL   LT COL NOEL ELLIS 21/VIII/2023 I was recently added to a group “54 th Owls”. How yours truly became an ‘owl’ has a story. It actually started with a dislike for all “owlets”. My unit was an expert in sending officers to Staff College SC. In one year, five officers got nominated for the same course. A record of sorts. Should I or shouldn’t It kept bugging me? The time came for yours truly to prepare. Imagine, availability of five officers plus worth of study material, one pre-staff and no dearth of guidance and plethora of notes. You name a precis/ATM/SATM, Pre staff notes, ten years question papers were in my study on the first day of my AL for my first chance. The place & weather was horrible. Hot, humid and no electricity in Lalgarh Jattan. Thank God, one had an emergency light picked up from Leh, which survived max two hours, if it could be charged properly in those power cuts. I missed the boat in one subject by a few marks in the first attempt. My hear

❤ 🐝 DIL KHUSH 💙 🐦

  IDEAL AQUARIUM CONDITIONS   LT COL NOEL ELLIS 20/VIII/2023   To expand my hobby of gardening, one tried growing lotus from seeds. Stagnant water started showing mosquitoes breeding and had to be eliminated right away. Introducing fish to the tanks was the solution. A little search for a ‘pet shop’ brought me to ‘Machli Ghar’.  True to its name, it is a paradise for fish lovers. The variety displayed is mind boggling. They have all accessories, food & plants aplenty. I turned into a ‘fish keeper’ last year or a novice ‘aquarist’ or an ‘ichthyophile’. Mota-Moti, a person interested in fish. Instead of a standard conventional glass aquarium, we started with a discarded bath tub, baby bathing tubs, bonsai pots & small cemented tanks with water lilies growing in them. As time went by, my fish started dying one by one. Something was not right. Was it overfeeding or underfeeding? Was it the quality of water? Was it too dirty? Was it too hot? Was it lack of aeration?