new happenings

The rains are here at last.Humidity levels were at an all time high.Rain brought relief in spurts.



Yesterday I saw two of nature's correction techniques or Darwins theory of survival of the fittest.



The first incident occured at about twelve noon.A medium sized squirrel fell off an Ashoka tree on one of the large palm leaves of the palm tree beneath the tall Ashoka tree.A crow was sitting close by and was about to make a move when a cat pounced on the squirrel and carried it off in its mouth.



All this occured within a few seconds.At that point it seemed that the crow had actually managed to drop the squirrel from the tree but ultimately the cat got there first.Later on the cat was roaming around with the squirrel in its mouth searching for a place to eat it without disturbance from the crow.



The second incident also involved crows-- lots of them.Suddenly there were about 10-15 of them in the garden eating something.I thought may be some kind of worm that the rains had brought with them.I could not see what it was so I just went about my work and forgot all about it.Next morning as I was sitting at the window having tea I saw first, one crow descend on the ground and was followed by 10-12 of them .They were all eating a swarm of insects [winged ones that we see in the house during the rains]which were flying around.The crows were quick and would catch them in mid air.

This is the first time that I have seen such an occurence.What does it signify?

music programme

On the 5th of October Hemant and myself went to the Village music club for a concert of classical music.

The singer was a Shri Anant Terdal from Belgaum. He sang very well specially the raag Maru Behag and the Thumri.He was an oldish ,thin man whose appearance did nothing to suggest that he would sing with such dedication and passion. It was a truly lovely experience, after the very many singers we have heard over a period of time..He studied the Gwalior gharana gayaki.Later being inspired by Pandit Bhimsen Joshi ,he now sings that style-Kirana gharana gayaki.
He has the sur, the taans and the bhaav-a difficult combination

.The atmosphere at the club is down to earth and the audience is an appreciative lot.

Truly a wonderful Sunday!

tailor bird

On the 20th,a pair of tailor birds decided to build /construct their nest in a large leaf in my garden.They kept inspecting a croton plant for their abode.Finally after 2-3 days they chose a leaf that was quite big and pliant.They got very active and and after gathering material throughout the day they managed to form a cup .

This is 2 days later, there isn't much activity. Have they given up their idea ?Are they building somewhere else?Ihope not !Ihave a window seat from where I can watch their activity without being spotted.

10 days later I am now sure they have abandoned this nest as I see a part of the leaf is torn!Igot the leaf home to see the nest.What hard work for a pair of tiny birds gathering a particular kind of thread ,stitching the ends of the leaf and putting soft cottony material within!All of that work wasted-but no- not wasted- it gave me immense pleasure and got me involved in the pair. I would wait to see them come ,hear their sounds and run to the window ,sit quietly and watch ! WHAT PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE!Such pleasures are rare for Mumbaiites-I was the priviledged one!

So ---Cool!

The tv show - so cool -was very educative and entertaining.How people look at life is amazing!Here was this Neelimkumar Khaire with all the lovely birds and animals he has rescued.How he must love them and how difficult to let them go once they are fit and healthy.He had a really small deer he had rescued and it is fed milk with a bottle!The sight was something one would never see.Also he had a small incubator where a really small bird is fed by a human wearing a glove with a beak to simulate the mother bird.The anchor Sonali Kulkarni was very genuine in her enthusiasm but her clothes were not to my liking.

aadipashya

"Synopsis----'Kirtan', an ancient temple tradition, has it's origin in the Indian Mythology and Greek Tragedy dates back to 5th century B.C. Where Kirtan is oldest 'One-Man-Show', Greek Tragedy emphasises the 'Unity of time and Space', 'Aadipashya', in it's own way, attempts to strike the golden mean of both these traditions.'Aadipashya' a kirtan in free verse, is a transformation of the theme of 'Oedipus Rex', a classic by celebrated Greek dramatist, Sophocles."
I saw a marathi drama 'adipashya'.the writer tried to say a lot about today's politicians but i thought he was not able to put it across effectively! it could have been better if it were edited and the diction wasn't upto the mark.