NOEL ELLIS' GOOGLE BLOG

  Last evening when I went to nurture the plants on the rooftop, the sky was hazy with intermittent clouds covering the sun. The sun kept hidden behind a veil of clouds playing hide and seek.   I am not a weatherman but my instinct told me that it might rain. I announced it to my wife. I twirled my moustache as if I had made that rain forecast. There were times when the weather department predicted rain but there was none and when they projected clear weather it rained.   As usual around 4am in the morning, I thought I heard the pitter patter of rain in my dream. It wasn’t my dream but it was actually raining.   ‘Jhirmir-Jhirmir’, a very slight drizzle or ‘bareek fuaar’, not intense rain but a continuous drizzle with very tiny rain droplets fell. Due to rain, the temperature dipped.   Rain meant that one could delay watering the plants. For Adeniums rain means trouble.   These plants are so sensitive to water that a little over watering and they rot without...

  There were two incidents that shook Pakistan last week. One was the attack by the Baluchi people; I am on purpose not calling them militants or terrorists which the Pak army spokesperson has declared them. The second was the bomb blast in a mosque in Islamabad, their capital, under the very nose of all kinds of security agencies.   The Paki Army claims that more than 200 Baluchis, 25 Armed forces personnel and about 36 civilians were killed in the first incident spreading across the length and breadth of the district of Baluchistan at 14 locations ( figures would be much higher). 60 killed and 176 seriously wounded in the bomb blast. This means more than five to six hundred people were wiped off the face of the earth.   Massacre, butchering, killing, murdering, extermination, slaughtering, slaying, like terms can be used for this mass scale elimination of one's own people to heaven or hell depending on which side of the fence you were. Innocent souls got caugh...

  I am not sure who is incharge of ‘Jahannam’. Is it ‘Allah’ the almighty or is it ‘Shaitan’ the great. Maybe, the delegation of powers to administer ‘dozak’ has been handed over to the Devil by the ‘Khalik and Maalik’ of this ‘Kaynaat’.   There are no vacancies left in hell with the speed at which people’s souls are being dispatched. The Pakistanis claim that they are sending the BLA people, TTA, TTP and others to the most insalubrious place where wildfires burn, oil keeps bubbling in huge cauldrons’ to fry souls, souls are kept chained and flogged with ‘Koras’ and whips. There is nothing but shouting, screaming, pain, and suffering. What a nasty scene it must be!   God must have gone crazy too, as Jannat must still have some place but Nark must be full of Pakistanis. Not only for their deeds but for doing milawat, glaazat, chori, Dakaiti, jhoot fareb, kam tolna, rishwat etc, what one of their journalists had highlighted being the sole  character of a Paki...

    It was a nice bright Sunday and my pension had just got credited. These days, banks are very transparent, they not only send a message of what they have credited but also tell you how much income tax they deducted. I am contributing to the budget of the nation.   Before the credit, concerns about monthly debits start on 1 st of the month. Bijli ka bill, doodhwale ka bill, paper wale ka, medicine ka, car wash, mobile & cable TV recharge, the list is endless. Maids have to be paid in cash which cannot be delayed.   Be that as it may. I was in no mood to switch on the TV for the simple reason that there is nothing much to watch and much better things to read. TV news and debates are harbingers of headaches and mental torture.   A single news item is flogged like a bedsheet treated at ‘dhobi ghat stone’. What is left is shouting, rage, showing down each other, anger, hate, and noise pollution. There is everything except news.   In the afternoon, I swit...

  As January ends, imagine 31 days of the new year have just flown past. The weather has started changing. Spring is in the air and plants are showing hints of it.   Here in the Sun City, the transition from feeling cold to feeling hot is quite sudden. The morning breeze has a bite and the afternoon sun can bake you.   Birds are also showing changes in their behaviour. They are foraging more and sticking together in pairs. New partners are being solicited and the old ones are being wooed. The change in season is bringing changes in their activities and manners.   Keeping the birds in mind, I have got used to a pair of ‘Dhoban Chiriya’ the ‘White Wagtail’ roaming around and catching insects in the front lawn every day. They don’t miss shikar even on Sundays.   Morning walkers, passing vehicles and other birds do not bother them. The only thing which bothers them is cats. Cats are always on the lookout for birds especially those which come to pic...