BEAUTIFUL MOMENTS

 BEAUTIFUL MOMENTS

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

30/V/2024

 

The toughest time for any gardening enthusiast who stays in the ‘Registan’ is now. Temperatures are soaring to 50° C plus and rising. Man, and beast alike, the sun has moved on from baking, to toasting to roasting everything which comes in its way.

People recommend a ‘green shade’ to give respite to the plants from direct sun rays. I am avoiding it for a reason as we are surrounded by dense green trees. In the winters on the other hand, they are given a ‘crew cut’ for sunrays to permeate freely.

‘Flowering’ has suddenly stopped, which was a remark of a friend passing by. If the leaves are green and the foliage dense means plants are in good health. Flowers shall bloom after the summer has passed, I convinced her. Plants throw up buds but the heat is taking its toll. Buds start yellowing before maturing and fall off well before they bloom. It is normal in this season.

Water evaporates in a snap of a finger. That is why we spray the plants with a shower to give them the ‘rain’ effect. It not only cools them, but it also washes away dust particles accumulated due to strong winds and dust kicked up by passing vehicles.

Besides, it gives the birds a chance to ‘detect insects’ which wriggle out of their comfort zones to avoid getting wet. Birds find droplets sticking to leaves to ruffle their feathers and groom themselves for the rest of the day.

It came as a surprise to me that the water bowls kept for the birds went bone dry within hours. Bees collect water for their hives constantly, were now making a beeline towards the fish tanks. Many of them were tipping over and trying to swim. Many drowned too.

The water bowls were quickly refilled. Bees started hovering around me and the water mug in my hand. A few of them dared to sit on my arm. No, they were in no mood to bite at all. Probably, they smelt water and came to kiss my hand as a thank you gesture.

 Folks keep telling me that the bees will sting but they don’t. They have an agenda to pick water and they don’t deviate from it. If one is gentle, one can even slip his hand through their ‘congregation’ around the brim of the bowls. They know this man is a friend.

Mind you, they do not drink from every other bowl. Bees fix their ‘source’ and stick to that. Though, there is a sprinkler running in the common lawn infront but they do not refill from there. Probably, there are quality & taste issues. That is treated STP water. ‘Choosy’ that they are! Or they have a choice.

Something very strange touched my heart. Some water accumulates in a shallow rain water drain along which I sometimes spread grains or Roti for the Bulbuls, Sparrows, and Doves. One dare devil sparrow walked through my legs, unnerved, and least bothered that one move of mine could squash her.

I just stood still. She looked at me from down below and continued to collect those ‘twenty grains’ before she moved to a tree to perch. My foot was in a puddle of water, which she was eyeing at and I did not realise that. As soon as I moved a step away, she dived in to take a bath in that puddle and take three sips. Ms Sparrow then hopped on to a pot, shook her feathers to dry herself and flew back to pick up grains.

I gave her a flying kiss before I moved in for my cup of tea. She too tweeted as if to say that she loves me and waits for the grains and water. Rather she thanked me in her own way, was a feeling I got.

Imagining such beautiful thoughts actually makes my day. I gather ‘food for thought’ to write and the birds get food to fill their belly, while the bees collect water to drink a toast in their hives.

Can I do something more for the ‘birds and the bees’ to create such beautiful moments? I wonder!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND

© ® NOEL ELLIS