Fence and flowers

Here’s another beautiful fence and flowers shot from the same evening walk (in wheelchair) at the neighbourhood and this was taken at Besant 4^th avenue road unlike its sibling Blue Cross road (both are popular for local photo-shoot) here. After my Nilgiris trip last month, I haven’t stretched my walking beyond our streets but I’m thinking of catch up this weekend… let see what I get to shoot.

In the above picture, you could see the yellow bell flowers bloomed inside the fence that protects the roadside garden along the 4^th avenue and the pink flowers above the compound are bougainvillea. The following one has red-orange flowers, which I have no idea was shot few meter away along the fence. 

Linking this post for  Good Fences by Gosia and Floral Friday Foto 

Fence across Golf Course

The photos were actually focused on the scene behind the fence, the Ooty golf course and fog making way through mountains and trees, but the fence was taller than our car to prevent interruption. The images were captured on the Old Pykara Rd that lead one side of the golf course and I have been on this road earlier and I like the serenity and with tall trees of eucalyptus and pine it always remains cool.

The road is entirely scenic and I find many yellow flowers in this area which has some education institutions and the popular Ooty Gymkhana Golf Club also reside on this road. I heard bison’s (Indian guar) are often spotted here, though I find some people taking walk on the road without any fear as it was evening by then. At the end of the road we explored a beautiful temple little further from the main road, which I will post on later. 

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Wild Fence and Flowers

A post shared by Jeevan Kumar (@jeevan.grp) on Mar 19, 2017 at 8:41am PDT

During an evening walk in my wheelchair at the neighbourhood and across the Blue Cross road in Adyar (adjoining Besant nagar) I capture this piece of fence that I find it to be wild. The entire road has been fenced one side that belongs to former Besant school (now The school KFI) and was covered by canopy of trees. Sadly many trees fallen on this road in recent cyclone Vardha, but still the road continues to hold charm by greenery and shadows. I also found some little flowers bloomed pretty in pink covers some area of the fences… and I do think this is some kind of wild flowers thrive on its own. 

A post shared by Jeevan Kumar (@jeevan.grp) on Mar 8, 2017 at 11:28pm PST

Linking this post for  Good Fences by Gosia and Floral Friday Foto 

Kallar Steel Bridge

During my visit to Ooty in 2014, I come across the steel bridge at Kallar on the foothills of Nilgiri. The Kallar Steel Bridge on the Mettupalayam-Ooty main road was built in 1925 by Jessop and Company, following a wooden bridge that was earlier washed away in 1891 floods. In 1894 a masonry bridge was constructed but in 1925, the steel bridge with a capacity of 10-tonnes was built alongside to accommodate more vehicles. 

The ruined masonry bridge was demolished lately and to give more way to vehicles an addition bridge is come up right beside the steel bridge, but I am not sure will it be attentive like the steel bridge. I loved taking photos on the steel bridge from the moving car and in the morning light the bridge was delight to watch and the Kallar River passes beneath. Having plan for visiting Nilgiri in about a month, i hope to explore  more on Kallar area while staying at Mettupalayam. 

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Gate and Yellow Bells

Last year during the visit to Kumbakonam and while coming from Ariyalur we stopped at a village and I just came close to this yellow flowering shrub grew in front of a house. And the gate came into the image without an intention of shooting it and it gives a neat look to the house and I also liked the design.

The yellow flowers, named as yellow bells aka yellow trumpet bush has become a trend in Tamil Nadu and many people has been planting this shrub esp. in front of the houses. Apart for the ornamental use, people started to grow these mainly for the purpose of Vastu (a traditional belief of bringing harmony into the home and Vastu means dwelling) but I like this plant for its charming and bright yellow blossoms. I really want to have this plant for me and will try to get one soon.

Yellow Bells are a perennial shrub in the trumpet vine family that is native to the Americas and it is heat and drought tolerance, vigor and pest resistance. The yellow flowers are 2” long with trumpet shape and hangs in showy clusters at the branch tips and forks, bending the wigs into arches give the name Yellow Bells. It has a very long flowering season, from early summer to late fall; the shrub reaches 15-20 feet height and attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirds for its flowers. 

Linking this post for  Good Fences by Gosia and Floral Friday Foto 

One fence, two different birds

During an outing last year, on ECR and near Kovalam, I come across these tiny birds skipping here and there on the fence of a farm house. If you remember the Gloriosa Lily, the state flower of TN, I shot along with a fence? It was on the other side of the farm house I found these birds. The little birds have been very active then and I had to click number of shots to get these few shots on the birds. I actually thought, before observing the photos in detail, the birds (in photos below) belong to same species of birds. Though having a shade of yellow, the first two are Purple Rumped Sunbirds (male ‘n’ female) and the last one is a Common Tailorbird.

Purple-rumped sunbird 'male'

The purple-rumped sunbird is an endemic to the Indian subcontinent and like other sunbirds; they are small in size and feed mainly on nectar but sometimes take insects, particularly when feeding young. The males are brightly colored, whereas females are olive above and yellow to buff below. Males are distinguished easily from the purple sunbird by the light colored underside while females can be told apart by their whitish throats.

Purple-rumped sunbird 'female'

Both the genders of the sunbirds are tiny at less than 10 cm long, and have medium-length thin down-curved bills and brush-tipped tubular tongues adapted for nectar feeding. Actually I was bit confused with the female Purple-rumped sunbird, which looked alike Little spider-hunter, but I was only sure after studying the detail.

Below one is known as Common tailorbird. I only remember the name of the bird from the school text book and haven’t seen alive before, perhaps due to its tiny shape (size from 10 to 14 cm and weigh 6 to 10 grams) I couldn’t observe or captured well.

The common tailorbird is a songbird found across tropical Asia and it’s popular for its nest made of leaves sewn together. Although shy birds they are (a common resident in urban gardens) usually hide within vegetation and their loud calls are familiar and give away their presence. This passerine bird is distinctive in having a long upright tail, greenish upper body plumage and rust coloured forehead. 

Linking this post for SATURDAY CRITTERS and Good Fences by Gosia at Looking for identity  

Temporary fence @ Elliot’s Beach

Few days back I was at Elliot’s Beach in the neighbourhood and found fences being erected along the sea front. 

The fence build with Casuarina woods is laid for the New Year eve to prevent people entering or swimming in water. During New Year eve, people throng the beach and keeping away all from the water is not possible and so was the fence and the fence seems to support till Pongal festival (Jan 14-16), with Kaanum Pongal as the last day, would pull crowd.  

The photos were shot two days after New Year and being a weekday there’s very less people around. 

Linking this post for Good Fences by Gosia's Looking for identity

Gates at neighbourhood

Here I share couple of gates I got to shoot during a causal outing on weekend…

Both were shot on the same street somewhere in Thiruvanmiyur and the blue gates easily caught my sight, featuring detail in gold coat. I also liked the light fall across the house tuning the color contrast of the image. The following is a simple one with net frames, and it is a cornet house. 

Post under self-interested meme, Good Fences

Gloriosa Lily – The state flower of Tamil Nadu

During my Sunday outing last weekend, I was surprised to see the state flower of Tamil Nadu – Gloriosa Lily – which I was looking for some time. Alike it’s other common names including flame lily and fire lily; the flowers bloomed like fire flames on the fence of a farm house near Kovalam.

Kaanthal, the flower called in Tamil, has six tepals each extends up to 5 to 7.6 cm long and generally looks bright red to orange and sometimes with yellowish bases. I found two flowers; one with yellow base and the other quite bright red makes nice difference between the young and old that exhibits wavy margins.

Gloriosa is a perennial herb, native to much of Africa and Asia, climb or scramble over other plants with the aid of tendrils at the ends of their leaves and can reach 3 meters in height. Despite its showy and ornamental flowers as it was cultivated worldwide and also as a medicine, the plant is poisonous and toxic enough to cause human and animal fatalities if ingested. 

Linking this post with Floral Friday Foto  and contribute to Good Fences conduct by  new hostess Gosia at looking for identity blog

Roadside garden Chain-link fence, dedicated to Tex Girl on bid adieu

Last week I was close to Elliots Beach in my powered wheelchair, testing the battery stability, as I have a doubt about its duration, come across a stretch of chain-link fence, protecting a roadside garden along the 4^th Avenue of Besant Nagar, Chennai.

A photo posted by Jeevan Kumar (@jeevan.grp) on Nov 12, 2016 at 8:34am PST

This stretch of road is popular among the local photo enthusiasts and film crews to take photo shoots, perhaps, because of less traffic; wider in space and almost quiet among the neighborhoods. The well laid fence on one side of the road, along the high wall of Olcott memorial school or Besant Garden, with nicely maintain garden and different kind of trees stretching out the garden is an additional attraction to this road.

As I carry mobile along with me, I took few photos along the road particularly the chain-link fence attached to green poles along the roadside garden with colourful bougainvillea, lookout of the compound wall take my attention. In evening I see many taking walk on the road (perhaps more in morning), but little cautious is much, as the road is almost empty the vehicles speed at their own.

A photo posted by Jeevan Kumar (@jeevan.grp) on Nov 24, 2016 at 1:53am PST

Linking this post for Good Fences by Run a Round Ranch, for last

P.S. This is supposed to be the last Good Fences link-in by Theresa (known by her profile nameTexWisGirl) of Run a round ranch, as she decided to bid farewell to her blog with this link-in for last. She has requested her link-in followers to carry on the meme… I hope someone take in charge of. Either it happens or not, I will continue to post under this meme on my personal interest. Thank you TexWisGirl… you will be remember always thought the good fences meme, and not only that way, but your support and sharing all these years in blogging. Hope you reconsider your decided later and turn back to blogging to share your support and interest. 

Church and Fence

Valparai, near Coimbatore, is a green carpet of Tamil Nadu due to its abundant tea plantation and rolling grasslands.  Each tea estate there has a small settlement that provides basic amenities to their employers including places of religious worship like temples and churches.

Each estate has a temple and church built in simple yet beautiful and colorful structure to capture our attention. But the church above stood opposite to our relative’s house in Valparai town at the residential area of the same. Named as St. Luke's R.C. Syrian Church, has a beautiful architecture that slightly lookalike crown and interesting steeple design beside the bell tower.

My first time visit to Valparai happened during Christmas time and this church was decorated by serial lights that continued to illuminate throughout the nights. They had also built a birth of Christ that was wonderful checking out… but accidentally all the photos taken that night was erased from camera and I even lost my DVD that hold my initial trip to Valparai in 2008. The above ones are shot in 2014 and I also liked the fence (with flowers) built upon the compound wall around the church. 

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Village Fence

A village fence, which was built to guard their houses, also plays a role of hanger where they put cloths for dry.

Pictures were captured at Mannavanur, a mountain village near Kodaikanal that overlooks rolling grassland and another side with terrace farming. Due to great source of meadow wild bison (Indian guar) frequent this area and thus also called as bison valley.

The houses here mostly seemed to build using clay mud and bricks and roofs thatched in iron sheets, which I perhaps believe is to withstand the cold weather and mountain terrain. 

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An ancient house @ Kanchipuram

Today we attended a cousin’s marriage at Kanchipuram and on way back, we passed the temple town (yes, Kanchipuram has number of temples to call alike) which is about 72 km from Chennai. Being an ancient town I find many old buildings and most of them are residential houses. But I couldn’t capture many of them as we kept moving, except this one taken at a brief halt.

I was fascinated by this house in colonial style of architecture where pillars supporting the veranda and balcony that has wonderfully designed rails that resemble wooden material. At ground floor the veranda is protected by vertical grilles framed in wood and the door also has a similar work with bottom covered by plank. Unlike many old houses I have seen with the year of build etched on the house facade, I am blank at the year this must be built. But I observed the house belongs to a teacher, perhaps due to the board I read (tuition center) outside the house.

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Forest Gate

During a long drive on the countryside of Kodaikanal, we stopped for mild refreshment and find this two pole gate making way through eucalyptus trees in the forest area.

In the woods

A photo posted by Jeevan Kumar (@jeevan.grp) on May 10, 2016 at 10:13pm PDT

This is one of the many forest gates on way the to Mannavanur from Kodaikanal and these jeep tracks are open for only forest officials to patrol. Once crossed the Kodaikanal town, its woods and forest take away the scenario and this area is often sighted with bison (Indian gaur). 

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Some Fence and Gate

Being Thursday, I was thinking about Good Fences and thought of sharing some pieces of fence and gate I shot during my evening strolls around the home. First one is an old damaged picket gate, belong to the neighbor and it is incline to their wall. The table fan aside the gate is a govt. freebie and it seems to be unable to mend to keep away… even the waste mart didn’t take away the fan during the clean-up explains its content.

The following one also belongs to the same neighbor and want lying on the wall is the leg parts of some wooden cot and the design wants me to shoot.

A long shot on our courtyard towards the gate and you could see our pet dog Maya is emerging out…   and dad’s former Scooty pep. He owns Honda Dio now.

A balcony rail of a nearby apartment, shot before it was rented. 

Our stray guest

Picture shot in front of our gate… couple of our neighbor's gates also visible in the background. I really need to say, the stray dog in the picture is a quiet animal and never seen aggressive unlike other stray dogs in our street. She casually enters our gate and walk out quiet without disturbing anyone, but our pet dog kept barking at her every time she sees. It is a female dog and seems to nurture cubs somewhere or I guess the cubs I saw couple of nights back were hers. 

Fences around mountains pass and valley

During my recent travel to Kodaikanal, I come around fences/barriers along the mountain pass that make certain safe passing. The photos (below) were shot along the Palani-Kodaikanal road in which I traveled for first time to reach Kodai. This is a former road to Kodai before the prime route from Batalagundu was carved out of mountains.

Fence along  the valley

 

Motion blur created by our  moving car

P.S. Sorry for not updating frequently here and miss reading many of yours… The weather is terrific hot here and I am almost feeling tired and unlike to eat anything… and also lack concentration on things to keep me away from here and other activities. Hoping for better situation to blog and continue reading. 

Park Fence

Hope you remember the beautiful sculpture of traditional women I posted here, and today’s image covers some of the sculptures the way they erected across the park, in a line.

The fence in front of it separates the parking lot and the small park of the restaurant where he had lunch during our trip to Kumbakonam. 

Cottage Gate and Pet

One of the cottages gates in Kodaikanal, where we stayed during a visit.

The picture was shot on a morning hour before we move out on sightseeing the pristine mountains, leisurely.  Our pet dog Maya was also ready to accommodate us and I was outside shooting some photos around, and Maya’s present on this photo is unintended but I liked it later revealing. Anywhere I go, I chose to be outside rather taking rest inside the room and not only because I believe life begins outside the window, I was always attract to the environment more than the structure we stay inside. 

Ride to Elliot’s Beach in Wheelchair

Last month I went to Elliot’s Beach couple of times in my new powered wheelchair right from the home. First time I was accompanied by my uncle and cousin and later with my uncle, it feels wonderful taking advantage of the powered wheelchair with more power than the older and riding all the way to the beach on my own. Though I was accompanied by my uncle, there’s so much difference in the way watching the beach (or visiting any other place) from the cabin of a car and wind boring open landscape.

It’s been long time I took on the promenade of Elliot’s Beach and moving on the pavement in tiles was caressing taking along the cool breeze from the Bay of Bengal. I went there in the evening between 4 and 6 to keep away from the road traffic and rather going on main roads I take some narrow streets to reach 4^th and 5^th avenues and move into the promenade near Urur Olcott Kuppam. Only from that side one could climb into the promenade where it slides to road surface. It’s really disappointing to see there’s no ramp facility to climb that one step that separates the road and pavement.

Other day we went earlier and the sun wasn’t settled down and sharply hitting the forehead, so we halted near the police booth where the sun was blocked by the KFC restaurant on the opposite side. There I find a silver fence or rail making a neat presence along the small space of green devote to the beautification of beach, but except the bougainvillea in red and white all are withered. But what really bothered or make me feel disgust was the stray dogs that were lying here and there (you could see one lying on the sand in the above image) and causing menace to the public visiting the beach. I won’t have minded if they were looking good but they were all lookalike expose to some severe skin disease and infectious.

I am not against stray dogs, and there are enough stray dogs in my neighborhood and not all are threatening, but the once with rashes and skins disease could cause trouble and also affect other healthy dogs. Wish the authorities take some step in controlling stray dogs or removing the ones in bad state to some rescue centers that could treat them and left free somewhere.

Karl Schmidt Memorial (the white monument, built in memory of a Dutch sailor who saved a drowning girl from the sea by giving away his life) is peeped through the fence

For those unaware about Elliot’s Beach in Besant Nagar, Chennai, it is the second most visited place in Chennai next to the world famous and second longest beach in world, Marina Beach. The Elliot’s beach is about 2 km from my home and this is the first time I making it through powered wheelchair. 

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