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Showing posts from February, 2011

Lotus, Rose

Ask anyone about his/ her favourite flower and 90-95% of the time, the answer will be 'Rose'! Roses are among my favourite flowers too. Agreed, they don't last as long, but, I prefer the hardy, aromatic 'local' varieties to the hybrid ones. The 'Taavare Gulaabi' is one such non-hybrid rose. Taavare is 'lotus' & Gulaabi , 'rose'. I won't say 'Well done!' if you get the origins of the name right, but, if you still haven't got it, check out this lotus at a lake nearby...

Remembering an old friend

Brr...it's co--ld...makes me wonder if this is global cooling!! My friend, Guttappajja (Grandpa Guttappa) would have predicted a good monsoon for the coming season. You know, according to local wisdom, if the winter is co---ld, the following monsoon will be heav---y. Mild winter = low rainfall. The weather used to be Guttappajja's favourite topic. Not surprising, because, he was a farm hand.. and, the weather was THE deciding factor for all his works. When I knew him, Guttappajja had retired from active farm work. He would spend his mornings idling here and there. Some times, around mid-morning, he would drop in and do some gardening works at his discretion - pulling out weeds, loosening the soil around plants, providing supports to weak plants,... After about half an hour, he would call me and that would be my cue - to provide some breakfast and tea/ buttermilk. The first time, I had offered him money for his work, and, he had refused...he had even snubbed me! Obviously, I