Garden Lizards

The garden lizard that I shot, while it climbed on the Neem tree, in front of our home, doesn’t seem to be the same (in the picture below) I encountered earlier. I saw a garden lizard in the courtyard few months back and while I was watching it, another came from a direction and both started to fight each other. Standing on the rear legs, and in the support of their tail they clashed using their front limbs. I was quite amazed at the sight as I never seen garden lizards fighting. Not liked to miss the chance, I rushed inside to take the camera but when I was back both decided to separate and moved on their way and I could only shoot/focus on one to let other escape.

During the childhood, when visiting the village I have seen boys trying to catch the garden lizards along the fences, using a knot at the end of a thin stick and try to fasten the neck of the lizard... though I haven’t seen one being caught by them, I find it memorable. It is also fun to watch the garden lizards doing push ups like men work out at the gym – a study say that lizards doing push-ups mean display of strength and indication of get out of my territory.

P.S. The northeast monsoon is here, the earth becomes cooler and moister in weather. Downpour in Chennai makes us all feel happy and cheerful due to the showering.

Linking this post with SATURDAY CRITTERS

Love Lit

Eyes closed, when lips enclose
at the end of love proposal.
Nothing matters, when the hearts
weld in the warmth of hug.
Life blooms, when the love essence
spring within burble.
Autumn colors, when thus fall
into either dream.
Let the dream come true.
Light glow the end of tunnel! 

Fence and Flowers - Torch Lily

Kniphofia is the scientific name of the Torch Lily (which also known as Tritom and Red Hot Poker due to the shape and color of its inflorescence) I found near Ooty, across a chain link fence. The flowering plants are native to Africa and have narrow, grass-like leaves that reminiscent of a lily, and the flower head can reach up to 1.52 m in height. There are many varieties of touch lily and they bloom at different times during the growing season and comprise flowers color in red, orange and yellow, often bi-colored.

கனவு / Dream

pic courtesy: google

குழந்தைக்கும் எட்டும் கனி கனவு.

வயதுவரம்பின்றி அனைவருக்கும் வரும் கனவு.

கண்ணுக்கும் கனவுக்கும் சம்மந்தம் இல்லைஎன்றாலும்

பார்வைஇல்லதவர்க்கு? என்று வரும்பொழுது வியக்கிறது.

இரவிலும் இருளிலும் வரும் கனவுக்கு

பதில் என்னவோ வெளிச்சம் என்றாலும்

வெளிச்சத்தை கண்டிராதவருக்கு? என்று வரும்பொழுது

என் கனவுகள் தோற்றுபோகின்றன.

இருளில் விடிந்து இருளில் மறையும் உலகில்

இருளை மட்டும் அடிப்படையாக கொண்ட மனதில்

என்ன தோன்றும் என்பது என் கற்பனைக்கும் எட்டாது.

கனவுகள் மெய்பட என் வாழ்த்துகள்.

The fruit that even reaches a baby is dream.
Without age difference dream comes to everyone.
Although there’s no relation between eyes and dream
when it comes to those without vision? it wonders.

For the dream that comes in night and darkness
the answer maybe perhaps illuminated
but when it comes to those who never seen light?
My dreams become failure.

In a world where it dawn and end in darkness
for the mind that based only on the darkness
what appears to be doesn’t even reach my imagination.
Congratulations for the dreams to come true. 

Sunday Photos – Uthandi Beach

Couple of weeks back while on ECR, I come across Uthandi beach and spent some time on its peaceful and pretty clean ambience.  Uthandi beach exists (take left) with a km ahead to ECR toll gate, when coming from Chennai, and the beach comes to view at the end of VGP Uthandi Layout. The road to the beach was well laid in concrete and has a police booth at the entrance of the road and also bears barriers across the road to prevent speeding. The layout has moderate number of houses and bungalows to look beautiful and could see many taking walks along their pet dogs – perhaps, because of the strange feeling and loneliness and calm being.

It was about 5.45pm and the place was turning darker as sun hides opposite leaving little light for capturing image. I find the beach to be neatest and pretty clean, perhaps because of fewer visitors and frequented by local residents alone. The new beach also has restrooms to my amazement, with ramp facility and dustbins indicates to keep away trashes. I didn’t take my wheelchair but could experience the serene from inside the car with a desire to be there again on my wheelchair to explore the pretty lanes and houses. I also saw some wonderful gates and fences there, which i like to capture sometime for good fence meme. Hehe... 

wow... we got to see little beach crabs there (one left on car bonnet to shoot)

oo

Shooting Wood Fence

The lookalike country fence here was erected for a film shoot (Shanker’s “I”) and it was shot during my vacation to Kodaikanal in year 2013. The fence along a gate (click here) was pretty good and represents a real farmhouse entry and this location was shot in such a beautiful way in the movie I. The setting was put up on a little mound facing grasslands, pine and eucalyptus plantation/forest near Kavunji, about 35km from Kodaikanal. And Mannavanur is a place very close to this location, which has been shooting hub for many movies with rolling grasslands and sheep farm.

Linking this post for Run a Round Ranch's Good Fences

Tribute to Aachi Manorama

There are certain things happen unexpectedly and Aachi Manorama’s lose was such and she is a greatest Indian legendary actress and senior artist where no one in this word would have achieved like her. She’s the only actress in the world to be acted in more than 1500 films and 5,000 stage plays! I was thinking about Manorama’s contribution to Tamil cinema lately and was feeling grieve that no one took notice about her and truly wished that someone take a grand function for her when she was alive; commemorating her appearance in almost Indian languages and character that nothing left behind.  An amazement rise up every time thinking about her and I always think, apart being an actress she’s someone very special and no Indian actress would have received such recognition and withstood for a period of long time or more than 60 years in film industry.

pic courtesy: google

I think it is her base that kept her existed for record breaking years in film industry – the drama or theatre performances she continue to do beside her acting in movies.  As a mainstream comedian and character artist, she had done milestone performance in number of movies and in emotional and mother characters there was a time no one couldn’t defeat her or no films made without her.  There are number of films I admired her acting, but I haven’t been familiar with movies of her in earlier stage. Samsaram athu Minsaram, Paati Sollai Thattathea, Chinna Thambi, Chinna Gounder, Nadigan, Guru Sishyan, Kizakku Vaasal, Pangali, Thillana Mohanambal, Aboorva Sagotharangal, Savaal are some of her many films I enjoyed her role. Not only acting, she’s a wonderful singer and has sung about 300 songs and all her songs are super hit and her vocal is something distinct and standouts.

Though I feel there’s something absence in recognizing her presence while she alive, the crowd that gathered for her final procession towards the funeral is not everyone celebrates. In a decade, not a celebrity or artist gathered such crowd (after Sivaji’s demise in 2001) and almost Tamil cinema had paid their homage to her at her premises. The actress had acted with 5 Chief Ministers and her association with Chief Minister Jayalaitha, in cinema, is too close and her personal homage to her is quite appropriate and an honour that entitle everything. Though being an epic chairperson in acting her association with actors and public always seems to be simplest and her record doesn’t showcased anywhere and she lived a life that everyone will appreciate and adherence. She’s a role model to all actors’ esp. who wants to long stand in film industry and for an actor he/she should be ready to take any role rather doing only hero and heroine. Manorama has broken this practice and had done what she itself wouldn’t have expected. Until cinema/theatre is there, she will be alive in memories and film and digital rolls. 

Sunday Photo and Update on week

Sky and Leaves

For last one week, I haven’t been quite well! Begin with the symptoms of cold and fever, touched the peak in couple of days to influence me on the routine taking me on its own control and route. I wasn’t interesting on anything rather watching TV (just to defeat boring), and had headaches ever like before and high fever keeps me awake for two consecutive days/nights. I was in medication for more than a week now and continue to have it for some time since my x-ray reveals mucus/sputum in lungs and was also going through some mixed feeling about my health lately. I checked with a cardiologist last week for my difficult with upper body and chest pain sometime... but I was glad to know everything related to my heart was healthy and normal. The doctor also suggested some medication for muscle strength (since my upper body doesn’t get any exercise, the muscles  get lose or tight to feel uneasy) and this is first time a doctor lead a medicine for strengthening muscles in muscular dystrophy and I hope it helps better.

The entire week has been hell for me and I wasn’t suffered that much and was forced to take a nap one afternoon which is something unusual for me and it happens only if I wasn’t really well. Right now doing much better and you might know about the situation from the post itself as I could write blog after a week but still something bothering me to keep not quiet. I hope nothing serious happening with my body and will be completely ok soon. I will try to be active and catching with blogs.

A beautiful song

Adiyea Azhagae is a just released single track from an upcoming Tamil movie Oru Naal Koothu. Like they say love at first sight... I fell in love at first time listening to this song, which gives a sense of soothing although it sounds familiar here and there. For the simple and realistic lyrics, Justin Prabhakaran has done beautiful justice/composition and in voice of Sean Roldan and Padmalatha it was nice listening. The move was led by Attakathi Dinesh, Mia George and Nivetha Pethuraj – a Miss India UAE, who also has a facial resemblance that reminds Trisha.

அடியே அழகே... மிக அழகு

Hindustan Photo Film, Ooty

The Hindustan Photo Film is one of the major industrial units of the Nilgiri district and a public sector enterprise. This unit is located about 5 Km away from Ooty railway station over a sprawling area of over 300 acres, near the Ooty Golf-links on the Ooty- Mysore road. The HPF was inaugurated by late Prime Minister Mrs. Indra Gandhi, in January 1967.

This industrial unit is currently producing Indu roll films which are used for taking photographs; Hindu X-ray films, the quality of which is acknowledged to be among the best in the world; Hindu bromide paper on which photographs are printed; and Hindu aerographic for geological and defence mapping, industrial X - ray film, laser recording film, CAT film, special film for space photography, oscilloscope direct print paper, photo typesetting paper and range of chemicals for the film processing.

Linking this post for Run a Round Ranch's Good Fences

Lost a dear one

We missed one of our dearest neighbour come aunts last week. Though being a neighbour our relationships with her has been kith and kin from a very long time or to say last from our grandmother’s time period. We moved out of our native area (Adyar) about 10 years back and being here, now, our relationships haven’t been any different but were a kind of reconnection (with old neighbours) and looking back into memories. Though our families know each other well, this particular aunt (whom we called from childhood as aththai – a Tamil word which refers to sister of father) has been so affectionate and holds great concern towards our family. Almost our close relatives know her well and she never failed to enquire me the times I come across her, and I always see happiness in her face every time she faces me (since we moved out of the area) but later become very unhappy and she couldn’t hide her dismay as she was seeing me from the birth – who has been very active quite, my inability to move around bothered her much.

Their house was in the backstreet of ours and during the childhood days it was our playground and most of the evening we are seen roaming around with couple of our best friends, whose house was also on the same street. Moreover, most of them on the street know us and our family being a long time resident along with many others, our parent allow us to play there in belief that we stay safe because of the affinity we got with coupe of families and the family of this aunt was more attachable.  My mom and great grandmother used to exchange words frequently with her, either she visiting their or they. She’s a hard working woman and had done milk business and reared cows.  Her husband is a car mechanic and owned a garage, but being addict to alcohol it was she who take care of everything, along bringing up her 4 children.  There was a great similarity between us (maternal side) who was also involved in milk business and reared cows, apart running a Tea Shop, my maternal uncle is also a car mechanic and had a garage adjacent to our home. 

Until about 15 years back or her children settled she continued to be a hard working woman and used to drive cows for grazing from vegetable shops to open grounds or wherever there is pasture. Most of their life was spent in thatched roof and her husband and my father were all grown together in their past and only in latter half (or after 2000) they transferred to concrete house.  It was happy for us to see them coming up in life and to a stable place and looking forward to the comfort, but the sad part was they couldn’t lead forward happily. The rapidly increasing cause among the Indian – Diabetic – struck both their lives and her husband due to increase consumption of alcohol exposed to kidney failure and has been living still through dialysis and this too because of her care taken and restrictions. This hasn’t end there, but herself experience problem with her body with diabetics being the main culprit and she also lost her toe in an advanced stage of sugar. And going through number of treatments and surgery brings drawback in their lives. Even though money becomes a matter not, she couldn’t live happily. Like they say health is wealth, and however they become weather with a bad health nothing seems to be cheerful.

The day wake up for us in the sound of drums and I was sure it was the sound of death but wasn’t anticipated to be her. Though she was not well enough and was admitted in the ICU at the same time and hospital where my grandpa was admitted for chest pain and whiz and she was going through the same problem and was discharged a day ahead to my grandpa. And she was breathing through the oxygen mask at the home as well and was suffering so much that she couldn’t explain what. Though she was admitted to hospital once again for a week before her demise, as her condition becomes unstable, the doctors couldn’t indentify exactly from what she suffers from and the diagnosis also fails to understand what make her feel agony. At the mid-night of Friday she breathed last in the hospital. But the breakaway news – drum beat – reached us only in the morning and silence is what remains inside. 

RGB Monday

Flowers in red, leaves are green and blue at the bottom

A distant shot, using maximum zoom length, on the flower pots of one of the neighbors. It wasn't a planned shot for RGB, but I find the image matching the theme. 

Gate gets painted and painters on work

Thinking about what to post for “Run a Round Ranch’s” Good Fences, I casually come out of the home and saw painters painting the gate of a newly constructing apartment right opposite to our house caught my attention. Though the three storey building rose even before we shifted to this home, the work has been reached its final stage only now with just paintings left to complete the structure. The builders have done some neat designing on the exterior, which I hope to capture once the building is completed. So now, here is a gate (one of the two) being painted in black on top of yellowish coating and I hope you like my candid on the painters J

Painters mixing colors... perhaps black!