The butterfly farmer

It's a boy!
If you've been wondering what I've been up to lately, well, I've been raising butterflies. In my apartment garden, of all places!

It's a wet, green world

Green is my world and as wet as can be!
I feel as if I'm living in a rainforest. Everywhere I turn, Mumbai is a palette of every shade of green imaginable. But nowhere more so than in my own garden.

Growing my own food

Cucumbers, gourds, beans and ladies' fingers (okra) are some of the monsoon vegetables that grow so well in Mumbai at this time.
By the way, you don't need a lot of land to grow most of these vegetables.

A drop for the Sun

There was this tiny little Sunbird slipping and sliding, whirring her wings and wiggling her belly among the tiny little drops of water clinging to the banana leaves.

Summer sherbet : Mumbai's flowering trees

Summer hues brew a heady rainbow cocktail.
Leading the parade, straddling Spring and Summer, is the Indian Laburnum (Cassia fistula), so perfectly called Golden Showers.

Sign of the times

The first sign that Summer is dancing a most violent tandav on Mumbai !
Every footpath sprouts ...

Of tigers, crows and handmaidens

Tigers are frolicing all over my garden these days. Tiger butterflies, that is.
The hotter days and blooming trees in Mumbai have something to do with that I think. Everywhere I look there are trees in bloom and an attendant cloud of butterflies and other nectar-loving insects dancing around them.

Celebrating Spring

Today Mumbai is lolling in the aftermath of an overdose of celebration, trying to wash off lingering traces of colour from hair turned electric blue and ears dyed shocking pink. Executives struggle to cover up neon green noses and school kids scrub at violently purple fingers.

Sunitha needs your attention....

Finally I found time to watch Sunitha Krishnan’s presentation on TED.

The Great Wall of Mumbai

Yesterday was incredible!
Yesterday I drove by the Tulsi Pipe Road from Mahim to Lower Parel and was blown away by the graffiti art on what has now been dubbed the Great Wall of Mumbai. It has totally transformed the dirty, drab wall along the Western Railway line until it is one of the most interesting, vibrantly colourful pieces of public property I've seen in a very long time.

A petty issue

Have you noticed how you're getting short-changed at the shops nowadays?
Every time I go to a provision store or a supermarket, I'm handed a bill which totals up to an amount that has been rounded off... almost always to the next highest 50 paisa denomination.
I get bills for xy Rupees twenty-eight paise or sixty-nine paise. I mean , come on! Is a proper change for such amounts even existent in our currency?

September Soul

September strums a scarlet rhythm.
Blood red ... fiery red ...
Sensuous, sultry, passionate, scandalous,
Glorious, vibrant, sizzling, sinful red ...

The finer details

I have to tell you at the very outset that I share my home with 2 cricket-obsessed males.
But I suppose you would've guessed anyway by the dirty heap of cricket whites that can be found heaped in various spots of the house at any given time. And the long line of cricket bats, balls, helmets, gloves , etc., etc. that mark the way from the verandah to the bedrooms.

You've come a long way, baby!

This post is not for the squeamish. If you count yourself among that number, consider yourself warned that there are plenty of photos here which are very explicit and, some may say, downright ugly.

A gardener's dilemma

Such a tiny, innocuous-looking pearl.
Glistening new and perched precariously on the down-slope of the freshest, limpest, thinnest leaf possible.
So fragile, it looks like the slightest shiver of a capricious breeze can send it careening down into oblivion.
But just what am I getting so ecstatic about? Let's rewind, shall we?

Ji, aunty-ji !

Aunt : the sister of one's father or mother. Or the wife of one's uncle.(Origin - Old French ante )
Unless, of course, one lives in India. When every girl goes through a weird metamorphosis the minute she ties the knot and even before she steps out of the marriage hall. She is now Aunty to every one under 20.Hey, so what if the addressor is all of 19 ? Our glowing bride is now a very respectable Aunty... even if she was thought to be the hottest babe in town just yesterday!

Mumbai's feathered citizens

It all started with a very cheeky thief.
I was standing right next to my Custard Apple tree and admiring the fruit ripening when I saw this green bandit tearing open the sweet fruit and helping himself, as bold as you please! ....
I swear that it was my sneaking admiration that made me look out for other birds that call Mumbai home.

The Jungle a.k.a. my vegetable patch

I sometimes wonder whether I grow beans for their flowers . Or, maybe because it has to be one of the easiest vegetables to grow.
This is vegetable season in Mumbai ! With 3 months of rain, the land is transformed into a picture of fertility and abundance.

Aliens in my garden

I had my first nigglings of suspicion when I saw these fiery balls appear out of the blue in my garden. There were just too many strange things happening in my Mumbai garden. And everywhere I looked, I could spot Them .
You know who I mean ... those Beings whom I've noticed out of the corner of my eye. Look too fast and all you'll see is a blur of motion as they slide out of view.
But they're there. I know it.
Trying for all the world to pass themselves off as innocent Earth-landers but we know better, don't we? Their very appearance signals their alien-ness, don't you think?

Monsoon blooms

Monsoons are made for Dendrobium orchids. I'm convinced of this. This season, like no other, sees my collection of orchids plump themselves up, fluff their petals, green their leaves and get all dressed for the greatest event in their calendar (and mine) ... the grand 'Bloom-your-heads-off Spectacle'!
Which means that in Mumbai, late-July onwards sees a lot of activity and barely-suppressed excitement in the orchid gardens. The flowers are coming!