NOEL ELLIS' GOOGLE BLOG

  Wishing my friends and family a wonderful 2026

    Christmas week is a busy week and spills over to the New Year. Friends and family get together, rejoice, make merry and strengthen bonds. It is cold and wintry, the reason to indulge in relishing plum and rum cakes and pakwans, dry fruits and puddings and be at peace.   However, too much rest to my ‘finger tips’ was catching with me both with the laptop keys and the ‘click button’ of the camera. Sometimes, it is good to take a break or if one can call it a ‘fast’ of a different sort. It is a good time to sit down, chill, run down and reflect on things which are now memories in the year coming to an end. How time flies!   We had a dinner planned for my chaddi-buddies and their families last evening. We were looking forward to having fun and lots of laughter. However, in all this milieu, some little things had to be done like feeding the fish on the roof, lest I miss out.   As I opened the roof door, my eyes lit up when I saw a white breasted k...

  There was a time when I used to smoke and smoke like a chimney. One day, I called it  quits. My lungs are now absolutely clear unless I happen to visit Delhi, which I avoid.   Over these years, my intolerance to Biri/Cigarette smoke has reached such extremes that I move upwind if I see a plume gushing out from anyone’s mouth. I can’t stand that sight.   Be that as it may. I pity the people of Delhi and NCR where the AQI levels crossed the 550 mark ‘on paper’. The actual figure must be close to double. In fact, I heard rumours that after the figure reached a particular ‘unthinkable number’, the government of Delhi stopped declaring the correct AQI as people might panic. Easy-peasy, as simple as that.   The myth of polluting vehicles didn’t work. Odd-even didn’t work. Blaming Parali and stubble burning didn’t work. Construction pollution didn’t fit the bill. Artificial rain and clouds didn’t work. Diversionary tactics didn’t work. Change of government didn’t wor...

  We were in a conversation with some morning walkers this morning when a very familiar ‘call’ caught my attention. Kootri was the call and Kootri or Rufous Treepie it was. It was after a gap of many months she had returned to the garden she frequented in summers.   Armed with my camera, I excused myself and followed the call. She was there somewhere hiding in the trees and singing as she usually does. Was her partner in crime too with her, was the question? The question and answer sessions of the calls indicated that there were more than one.   Finally, I spotted it and lifted my camera to focus when an elderly Uncle and Auntie passing by said, “photo kheench rahe ho”. I had to shift focus from the bird and answer them with a nod. “Hamari bhi khench do”. “Kyon nahi”, I said.   They are an elderly couple who walk the whole colony at least four times a day. Sometimes with their grandchild in a pram. Most of the time it is just the two of them. Aunty re...

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   17/XII/2025   We finally settled in the Sun City after hanging my boots and hush puppies. It was time to finally have a “permanent address”. It has been four years and we are still in the process.   It was also time to get all personal documents updated. Some had to be applied afresh, some needed corrections and some needed a complete overhaul.   The issue started with my name. The “Sarkari Mehkma” just could not feed my name right in the system especially when they fed it in Hindi and it auto translated it to English.   An ‘address proof’ was the beginning. To authenticate it, there is nothing more steadfast than the “Bijli Bill”, which is accepted as an accurate document for it.   While I was posted here from 1993 to 94. We had opened a joint bank account in the SBIs Army Area Branch. Though I was an Army Officer, the address read c/o 56 APO which was “no address” as far as the civil was concer...

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   27/XI/2025   This morning, I was all set to visit my favourite tree where bird activity is at its peak. Birds are visiting it for its fruit.   Fights ensue, skirmishes follow, chases are done, nasty bites and pecks are tolerated, clashes happen, race to eat as fast and as much continues, and so on happens on one tree.   Overall, it is a battleground for food which is the ‘pipal fig’. A place for the birds to show dominance and claim a branch, to show camaraderie amongst a species, to reach for the sun to fluff up and bask. To sing and chat with each other and to teach a lesson of life to their youngsters.   Further, to be kind to drop a few fruits for all those on the ‘floor’ to enjoy. Finally, to spread the seeds for more such trees to grow once it has passed through their digestive tract and transferred elsewhere. Nature is at its best.   Why I couldn’t go to watch my birdie friends was that a lady came over to appreciate...

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   26/XI/2025   This evening, I got a little late to reach the rooftop garden. The main Ibis flock had flown home already. I caught a dove sitting on a roof with the setting sun in the background.   Adeniums had been drenched with water one last time this month before the ‘inch’ towards dormancy. For the next ten days, they shall not be watered though many of them are flowering. That is what the experts say. By the way this article is not about boxing so read on....   That gave me time to watch our fish in the main holding tank for fish and floating plants. With the immersible heater deployed, they will stay happy all winter.   The tub is teeming with fish of all varieties we have. The breeding pairs have multiplied generously. They say, guppies and mollies eat their newborn. However, if they have plenty to eat, with lots of hiding places, and enough fish food, they leave their babies alone.   Even if there is no extra food, ‘algae’ ...