Of People and Places

Illustration of a Black-crowned night heron at Madiwala lake Madiwala lake at sunset - joggers, lovers, book readers, dog-walkers stop what they are doing for a minute to watch the glorious sky. I am squatting near the lake, watching a meditative Black-crowned night heron, hunched over, peering into the water. He is very languid in his movements, waiting for the fish to come close enough to grab and eat. Under the concrete parapet built over the lake, there are holes. Three snakes jut out their heads as the water forms gentle ripples around them. They are very small - I think they must be babies. Perhaps there is a snake's nest in the space around the built structure and the water and mud under it. The Black crowned night heron has a distinct black crown and back. I have read that they seem mostly lethargic during the daytime, and become active at early dawn and dusk, when it's time to hunt.  They mostly forage in the night. So, I guess this one was just awakening from h

Come October and Bangalore changes. There is a mellowness in the air and it gets warmer as the rains give in to the winter months reluctantly. All the seasons seem to jealously guard their reign. Spring, Monsoon, Autumn and Winter hate to give up their time in the sun. It is sunny, warm and bright. Leaves are strewn about every morning and evening while the undaunted  sweepers pile them up on the street corners. It rains on some days and the leaves are in a soggy mess of yellows,reds and browns on the roads, squelching underfoot. The Almond trees are lovely. Their broad leaves wait patiently for the wind to carry them to their graves. Not very romantic graves. They fall on the sides of the roads, get stuck to unsuspecting cars and vehicles, and clog the gutters. This time of the season has an austere beauty. Autumn is like a prudish beautiful woman unwilling to let herself go the way Spring does, and almost on  her way to becoming like the eldest - frosty winter, weighed

Bangalore, 18 years ago was like a hill station. It was an upheaval of sorts - moving from Udupi to Bangalore. Being teased a little about our accent and way of speaking in school, staring wide-eyed at mothers who came to drop their kids off to school in nighties with a little shawl or dupatta or even towel for modesty purposes! I have seen that only in Bangalore. The number of bakeries and hot chips all across the streets! And the free-handed way in which my classmates spent money to buy snacks or some Bombay mittai (Candy made out of sugar that can be shaped) that they sold in fluorescent colors on cycles outside the school.  The seller would nimbly shape the mittai into an animal or a doll while a bunch of noisy students would hang around, jostling each other and waiting their turn. Another nostalgic favorite was something they called 'coffee beeja' but for the life of me, I can't figure out what that was ( possibly tamarind seeds?) If anyone knows what that is, ple