NOEL ELLIS' GOOGLE BLOG

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   17/VII/2025   The atmosphere during the morning walk was exactly when you walk just after dusk. Dark clouds had surrounded the colony. Heavy rain was imminent. The weather was ideal to shake the laziness.   The smell of petrichor has long gone as the ground has been damped since ‘Sawan’ walked in. Trees and plants have their feet soaked in rain water and are loving it.   Yesterday, one of the ‘Passion Flower or Rakhi phool’ creepers showed the first bud. Our happiness knew no bounds as my wife pointed it out to me. Sometimes, one gets so engrossed in other things that a big bud which one has been waiting for gets missed out. The flower was due to bloom anytime.   As they say, there are many slips between the cup and the lip. We rejoiced a little too early on seeing the bud. A storm preceded the rains. When we took a dekho in the evening, that pot had toppled down. The pot and the plant were lying flat on the ground. I hoped and ...

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   14/VII/2025   It was long ago as a kid that one had fallen in love with a fruit as small as a pea, in the ‘royal gardens’ of HH The Maharaja of Kapurthala, Punjab. We had access to the palace, acres of farms and the royal orchards. We used to stay in the campus, courtesy our father who taught in the Sainik School.   Very close to our home there was a kutcha track which used to take us around the periphery of the school campus hugging the boundary wall. About a hundred meters from the corner hostel called Azad House was the Royal ‘vineyard’. Grape shrubs from as far as Afghanistan and Chaman in Pakistan were grown there. ‘Bedana’ or the seedless variety were the tastiest.   Adjacent to that ‘grape farm’ was a ‘bushy area’ which very few knew about. Some hundred unkempt bushes about six to ten feet high grew there. The leaves were as big as quarter plates. The thin whip like branches would sway in the air and were very dif...

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   13/VII/2025   It is Sunday the 13 th and not Friday the 13 th . The day started with a ‘bang’. Clouds were showing their presence but were scattered all over in flimsy clumps. The Sun was trying to bulldoze its way, but failed. After the rains, the whole place is lush green, clean and looks freshly painted in nature's colours.   The first bang was the Rain Lilies. Five new colour buds were showing. They were segregated and showcased. In another day or two they should be in bloom. A couple of them looked new. Let’s see.   Our freshly arrived Caladium plants were planted last evening. It was time to soak them again in water to get out of travel fatigue and settle in their new pots. They look happy, though tired. Two days and we should see them standing on their own after being hydrated and fed well. They are darlings.   Close by is our Hummingbird vine. This sweet heart flowered yesterday and I missed it. ...

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   12/VII/2025   “Wire Tailed Swallows” have become my favourites. There was a time when I had never seen or heard about this bird. Then one day I saw a huge flock sitting on a high-tension wire across the river nearby. I caught about a hundred in one frame. They were scanning the river for insects.   While exploring, I stepped onto the river bank slush. It was a tough walk through the sludge. I almost lost one shoe that day. The effort paid off. I saw a few of them sitting on the far bank eating something.   On the next visit they posed for me. I wished they took me to their nest and that is what happened. I spotted mud sticking inside a huge cement pipe. Birds were collecting dirt from the bank to stick it inside the pipe which housed numerous swallow nests. Some stood guard, while the others constructed.   The year changed and the route to the river was blocked as stray cattle were becoming a menace. It was disappointing but when you m...

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   10/VII/2025   There could be no better way to start your day than meeting your birdy friends. They hang around, meet, and greet you through their tweets, chirps, and songs. They sing in happiness and bring joy to you.   This is what happened after my morning walk. My friends Ms and Mr Robin usually meet me round the bend where the boundary wall had fallen a few weeks back. Last time they revealed to me that they were feeding their chicks. I had wished to see their nest. My wish came true today.   Generally, I step on the retaining wall of the boundary wall to peep into the adjoining plot to spot something new. Last time, a mongoose came out of its hole. I reckon, with the churning of mud by the JCB to remove all the foliage had ‘stirred’ its borough. On top of that, the rains must have filled it up, for it to move to a new abode.   It is my usual place and Robins come extremely close. I did not reali...

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   09/VII/2025   When you walk out of the front door, if there is someone holding a bouquet of flowers for you, how would you feel? The size of the flower doesn’t matter, neither does the colour or smell but just the gesture itself which takes your breath away. They flower in their own time to spread joy.   If you can hear their woes through your ‘stethoscope of your mind’, their ailment can be looked into. Or else, they just stand there, fighting till the very end and offering you what they do best. No matter what the season, no matter how they got scorched in the heat or got drenched in rain, flowering plants just do not complain.   They make sure that if there is even a one percent chance to flower they will. They are not at all demanding. It is only a gardener who pampers them. The more you do it, the more they give back. It all sounds very philosophical, but it is true to the last word.   It is all about timing. “If rains come, can r...

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   06/VII/2025   The pitter patter of the rain seems to be like distant drums. The clouds come, turn from white to grey to black, threaten to rain and then the winds whisk them away without a drop being shed. The day you don’t expect it to rain; the clouds read your mind and do exactly what you didn’t expect.   The biggest dilemma of a gardener is to water or not to water. If you do you are damned, if you don’t the same applies. Nevertheless, it is fine to err on the plus side if the pots are monitored well. In case ‘fauri ilaj’ has to be done, it should be done to keep water from stagnating.   Water plants are happy till the time there is enough water over their pots. Yes, the fish in the tub look forward to fresh water to enjoy themselves. I am not sure if they bathe when water is topped up through a hose or from the sky. It is play time for them.   Waterlily bulbs got spared while repotting them in February. In ...

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   05/VII/2025   The overcast continues with rain threatening to fall at any moment. However, in the desert it is normal to have a cloudy sky for days on end but not a drop of water. Sometimes it so happens, just one cloud ‘sweats’ while the others watch it from the sides. Your home is dry but the main road about a hundred meters away is receiving rains.   Before, that cloud came into action, it was time to feed the birds. They all rushed to feed, including my new friend the Robin. She was not interested in grains, but is hooked on to Roti. Having exchanged hellos, she went around on her daily chores.   Taking advantage of the pleasant weather, I decided to take a round of my colony on my Bullet. A slow and steady ride, with eyes scanning the trees and the surroundings to spot things usual and the unusual.   One has to visit the favourite spots, rather spots where no one peeps into. The broken wall area is special, though the wall has bee...