Of People and Places

We landed in Mumbai on a bright, humid, sunny afternoon. For the next two days, it seemed like the gods were being kind to us tourists, as we went on pleasant walks in Bombay's beautiful Colaba area without any rain. Oh those buildings! I can't gush about them enough. They make you feel as if everyday is a holiday in some exotic, historical city. Perhaps, the locals would disagree. I am only unhappy that I didn't have enough time or the right weather to explore all the places to my heart's content. Adding to the fact that Colaba is a swanky place and not too easy on the pocket. Do not miss the Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus ( Victoria Terminus)  with its lovely Gothic revival architecture and the BMC ( Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) office in the evening. The lights are beautiful and make them look different from daytime. On our way from Andheri to Colaba, we were guided by an Ola driver who took us by the Bandra- Worli sea link and was more than happy to sho

The air is filled with loud croaks, guttural cries and  I run out to the balcony to see who it is. The drains near grandma's house are overflowing because of the rains and the small plot of land in front of the house has turned into a marshland. The small puddles have broken their banks and turned into a stream. In this, I spy two sleek birds in tuxedos, their white face and underbelly shining in the gray-black rounded form of their heads. Their tails jerking up and down they plant their large feet firmly and poke through the water for insects. I go downstairs to take a closer look, but alas! I frighten them away. They run pretty fast and always keep a safe distance from me. One of them runs to the far end of the road and disappears around the corner. The other one flies to a nearby bush and keeps mum. I wait patiently for a while, give up and turn to go back into the house, when a loud racket ensues from the bush. I stand on my toes to take a peek. Apparently, the bird has th

Belgaum always meant cozy holidays in mamama's (grandma's) house, Cable TV ( We didn't have it at home then, it was always a treat we looked forward to), stuffing ourselves beyond capacity with an equally enthusiastic grandmother who liked trying out new things she saw on TV and magazines and tried them on us. The days whirred by in a contented blur in front of the TV - pure bliss. Belgaum is a sleepy town, I think the air is filled with something that makes everyone indolent, or probably that was just me stuffed to the brim with mamama's delicious food wanting to laze about all the time. Belgaum to me meant buffaloes, continuous rains, hailstorms and beautiful colonial houses, wadas and Kunda. Every visit to Belgaum necessarily meant a half kilo of Kunda ( A brown colored sweet made with milk & khowa)   had to be taken back to school/office and shared with peers and colleagues. An illustration of Red Whiskered Bulbul My grandparents moved houses several t

July 7, 2019 Today Japan celebrates the Star festival or Tanabata. In all civilizations,  folk stories and legends are a kind of truth shrouded in myth making and fantasy. So it is, with the story of Tanabata. It marks the summer triangle - the time of the year when the stars Vega and Altair are visible close to each other. This day marks the time when they reach the highest point in the sky, at around midnight.  The Star Deneb completes the triangle by connecting Altair and Vega. All three are the brightest stars in their constellations.Now coming  to the story that makes this scientific fact more easy and fun to digest  - The King of the sky had a beautiful daughter, Princess Orihime who was an accomplished weaver. She worked on her loom without respite and wove beautiful clothes that her father loved, working away in their abode close to the celestial river, the milky way. Sensing her loneliness, the king of the sky arranged for his daughter to meet Hikoboshi, A cowherd w