FACE OF THE WEEK #4

Terracotta work depicting ‘Man, Woman and Child’.

The faces are hand-carved, hand-painted and pasted on a backdrop of abstract art on canvas.
This work was a gift from a friend on my husband’s birthday. I marvel at the artist’s ability to carve the lovely expressions on the three different faces so vividly.
Could not really settle on which ones to leave out. So I decided on deviating a bit and have made them my ‘Faces of the Week’


I am happy to have come across ’'SPACIAL PEEPOL", home to this exciting meme. Please do check it out. There’s a good chance you might like it too.


Love,

SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY #02

Every evening, the retiring sunlight casts this shadow of my husband's guitar, resting against a little bookshelf in a corner of our living room. It reminds me of how little time he finds these days to sturm on this instrument he so loves.

I enjoy this beautiful meme hosted by Tracy at ''HEY HARRIET'. Thank you, Tracy.

Love,

FACE OF THE WEEK #3

(Dame Agatha Christie: Author & Playwright)

‘Nemesis’ was the first ever Christie that I read. I was about 11 years old and I had borrowed it from the school library. Now, each of us was allowed to keep the books for a week and every Tuesday afternoon, during the ‘library period’ we were to hand them over. I remember requesting Sister Rose,our library in-charge (I was in a convent school), to please allow me to keep ‘Nemesis’ for another week as I had not fully understand the book and wanted to re-read it. She let me keep it and thus began my long association with Agatha Christie.


As a young girl, I read them mostly for the thrill of the plots and then, as I grew older, I was able to appreciate the intricate infusion of human psychology in all her stories. That, and the very riveting, very elegant style of writing has me enthralled to this day. So much so that even after reading and re-reading all her works, I still cannot resist buying yet another re-printed Christie, in yet another cover!!
(Which is what I did yesterday! I bought ‘Appointment with Death’ in a lovely ‘tea-stained’ matt-finish cover.)

She died on 12 Jan 1976, just about five weeks before I was born.
But she has been and shall remain, my favourite novelist of all times.

(Picture courtesy: Wikipedia Commons)

And that is why, she is today, my 'Face of the Week' 
(Thank you very much, Sistertex at Spacial Peepol for hosting this beautiful meme.)
Love,

SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY #01

I stumbled into this lovely meme called SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY hosted by 'Hey Harriet' via another blog I truly love and have been following for sometime now called 'Jabblog'
Shadow shots have always fascinated me. The pairing of a shadow with its parent object creates a kind of aura, a sense of mystery that adds to the beauty of the photograph.
However, I have always felt that shadows are difficult to capture, though they are everywhere for the discerning eye.
This is an attempt on my part to capture one. The composition was spontaneous. It is a shot of my reading table, taken one summer morning and I am submitting it as my first entry into this fabulous SSS meme.
Hope you like it.
Love,

FACE OF THE WEEK #2

Brain Coral

(Colpophyllia natans)

The series of ridges and valleys common to this type of hard coral which resemble the sulci (grooves) and gyri(ridges) on the surface of the Animal Brain, gives rise to its name.

Fascinating Facts:

1. Brain corals are colonial animals and live in a symbiotic relationship with an algae.
2. Collectively they are known as hermatypic corals (after the Greek god Hermes, speedy messenger).
3. They play an important role in reef formation, being the sturdiest of all corals due to their spherical structure.
4. They can form colonies upto 6 feet in height!
5. The largest Brain corals in the world today are 200 years old!
6. They feed at night, mostly on drifiting sea lives, by extending their tentacles which they wrap around themselves during the day.

 Coral reefs around the world have seen vast destructive changes. Silt from the construction activities on the shoreline has been found to smother and suffocate the tender Coral population. Habitations near the shore mean more sewage, oil and chemicals in the water.
Coral harvesting for commerce has also added to the problem.


(I must confess here that I bought my Brain coral from a local fisherman on one of the beaches in the Eastern coast of my country. And that too, for a pathetically insignificant amount of money!)

Thankfully, recent studies have found that an unusual form of algae has evolved in the Northern parts of the Indian Ocean which is relatively resistant to the rising temperatures of the ocean.You can read about it here.

Maybe nature always finds a way of conserving herself, in spite of Man’s insensitive and destructive activities.

love,

FACE OF THE WEEK #1

This is the Indian Palm Squirrel (Funambulus palmarum) also known as Three-Striped Palm Squirrel, a species of rodent .

As the name suggests, it is found in India and Sri Lanka. Recently, the Palm Squirrel got accidentally introduced into Western Australia where it is said to have become a minor pest due to the lack of natural predators.

On their greyish-brown back, there are five conspicuous white stripes, three of which run from head to tail. The two outer stripes run from the forelegs to the hind legs. They have a pale white belly and a bushy tail with long black and white fur.
They do not hibernate in the winters. They are often seem scampering around in search of food, mostly nuts and fruits, around afternoon in the bright sunlight.


An interesting Hindu Mythological story is related to this animal. It is believed that this squirrel put in a helping hand when a Hindu Demi-God, Rama was building a bridge across the Ocean to rescue his kidnapped queen. Rama, in appreciation stroked its back and his finger marks remain till today in the form of the stripes on the squirrel’s back!!!

Love,

Reviving 'JUST ME'

Hi People,
It has been a while since I paid any attention to ‘Just Me’. When I started with this blog, I was pretty excited, motivated and convinced I’d post if not everyday, at least three times per week. The little workshop in my mind is always so busy conjuring up some story or the other. How hard can it be to put it into words?


And then I somehow stumbled into Doggy-blogging. It happened, I think due to my intense inner feeling that I need to write about Ginger and Buddy. They are such wonderful souls I feel their lives cannot go un-chronicled. Each day every moment, I feel they have so much to tell the world.

And hence was born  http://doggywisdom.blogspot.com/.

We started slowly, with tentative pawsteps. And now, we have discovered a whole world of cyber friends so much there in heart and spirit, to encourage you, to love you and to cheer you on.

‘Just Me’ took a backseat.

But of late, I have been feeling the need to revive it. A number of beautiful blogs I came across recently has woken up that romantic in me. Some of these blogs are about things really close to my heart, like photography, paintings, food, hand-made beautiful things.

Some memes I came have across are wonderful, inspiring, refreshing.

So here I am, back to being me. And as of now, I am planning to post at least thrice a week. Surely Ginger and Buddy would grant me that time off from helping with their blog?

Love,

What in the name of Dog..err...God is this??

A letter to the editor of The Times of India yesterday, caught my eye.




An unknown miscreant, evidently strewing around poisoned food, has managed to the mass kill dogs in the Osmania University Teacher’s colony, Hyderabad. (U can read about it here on page 2)

The accompanying pictures were graphic and I could hardly believe what I saw.

I mean, it was like Ginger and Buddy ‘playing dead!’



Couldn’t really believe this was for real. To what pathetic depths are people sinking to now?



Poor souls, survival against nature itself is such a struggle at this time of the year for homeless dogs, what with the mercury touching the roof, not to mention the acute water shortages. I think they can very well do without some fanatic out on this killing spree.



When you think about it, it’s eerie….



The man actually went and got the poison, mixed it deliberately with some food and left it on the roadside! That’s intent to kill. He (no gender bias here, just a figure of speech) definitely has a murderer’s psyche. Now, what extent can such a person go to?



I would like to believe it was the perverse psyche of one man behind this act rather than think it is a planned activity by some self styled Dog eradication group!



There is a general apathy and antagonism towards dogs, for that matter, for animals in general here in place. Many people would be offended by my words but I am speaking from my own experience in the last 5 years here. Many a times I’ve heard discussions about the need for mass culling of strays by the Government instead of the more humane alternative of mass sterilization. This according to most isn’t feasible and ‘isn’t happening in India’ and ‘only seen in the US’.



My experience has been different. Our colony in Delhi has a group a strays happily living in harmony. The females have one of their ears clipped. Reason? She had been neutered and vaccinated. And returned to her pack. Not by Govt organisations but on the initiative of the locals.



All my life, I’ve lived in different parts of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in India’s north-east. I’ve travelled to almost all corners of our large country. And never until I landed in Hyderabad here 5 years back have I come across the kind of indifference, misconception, antipathy and insalubrious(or any other in/mis/un/anti word you can think of!) attitude towards animals in general. I tried to out-talk many but have now finally given up.





But today, when I read that letter, the least I felt I could do was write this blog. If only to assuage my feelings of guilt and sadness at what a human being had done.

I started writing this while still at the hospital. A colleague who happened by asked me what it was. As soon as he heard my very strongly voiced feelings about the incident, he immediately advised me not to write it!!



The reason he gave was it might create further unrest in the minds of dog lovers like me. It is, he said, unnecessary in these times when the world is already so disturbed. He said it wouldn’t change things if I protest.



And anyways, there were other people who could carry on such protests and stuff!!



I was stumped at first. Here was a senior colleague I kind of liked after all. But then, in as subtle terms as possible, I did tell him ‘I’m one of those others’. I’ve always been.

And, sometimes it does change things, small ways maybe, but it sure does.



Those who know me well would, I’m sure, concur…

Baarish...

Wednesday brought the first real shower of the season here in Hyderabad.

The sky had been dark and overcast for at least 3 days adding humidity to the soaring temperature. It was just getting to be unbearable.




Buddy and Ginger would refuse to come out of the air-conditioned room, savour ice-cream and even plain ice-cubes and march straight to the bath-room after their 3-times-a-day walks demanding to be bathed!

Makes me always think about the hundreds of our Indian Dogs on the street. The usual ‘families’ in our neighbourhood have disappeared! Have they shifted to more conducive locales, with better supply of food and steady source of drinking water? Are they even alive, able to trounce this heat?



But then, not many of us really care. We chop down magnificent century old trees to make way for concrete habitations as if we humans own this earth, an earth which has no place for any other animal!



The road leading to the hospital I work in was always a respite from the routine city roads till just a year back. Huge trees lined the road on either sides, pretty flowers bloomed in spring and dogs, humans, cattle and birds alike could be seen under them, taking a breather.

Of late, the landscape has been reduced to rubbles in the name of road widening. Hasn’t anybody ever heard of relocation of trees?

Forget re-location, how much does it cost to plant a few saplings as the new roads are being built? Is it necessary to build concrete foot-paths on either side of a highway? Who’s gonna WALK on a highway anyways?

 And as if that is not enough, they have gone and built a concrete footpath in the divider on that 6 lane highway! Can you get any dumber than this?

Breaks my heart, really.

No wonder Andhra Pradesh is the one of hottest states contributing to ‘Global Warming’ GENEROUSLY!!! Not to mention the draught and subsequent floods the state endured this year.



Coming home, this is the state of matters in our hospital. All greenery are rare now. This tiny little tree is struggling to survive till it is engulfed by the encroaching buildings.

And this poor little city squirrel!! Trying to adjust so hard to city life and food. For how long, I wonder!!

Definitely the Wednesday shower was a respite, even if it was for just a quarter of an hour.

Everyone complained it was short and not heavy enough. Yes, showers came earlier, were frequent and heavier till a year back. And yes, we didn’t need to buy water from the tankers last year because the underground water dried up.



Hey, I thought Al Gore said climate change is subtle and took ages to manifest.

And here I am talking in terms of a year?



If this is not scary, what else is?

 
 

ORANGE Tendulkar

Kuddos 2 Sachin....highest score in IPL 2010! However much you may love the likes of Kallis, Hayden and Gilli, it always feels so much better to see an Indian at the top of the list.

Oh!heck...IPL is all about international solidarity etc etc. But 'phir bhi yeh dil hain Hindustani' .Who cares? All is fair in love and criket in India!!

And by the way, Sehwag is no longer playing for my IPL 11. He is being replaced by dear old Bhajji!! Dilshan and Mascarenhas are out too. Kallis and Warner are in.

Warney playing tomorow. PRAY PRAY PRAY

(Refer: http://aksharaa-justme.blogspot.com/2010/03/of-sundaysipl-and-why-you-sleep.html#links)

               





(Photo credit: Google search)