A visit to Bryant Park

One evening we went to Bryant Park in kodaikanal and it has very nice footpaths now; to sustain smooth movement to check the beautiful flowers in clusters to various types, colors and fragrance. The Flowers on exhibit has many lovely roses on the right side, looking away the fully bloomed and damaged, the little ones draw me a lot.

The Bryant Park on the eastern side of the Lake is one important tourist attractions in kodaikanal and this park was planned and built by H.D.Bryant - a forest officer from Madurai, in 1908 and was named after him. The 20.5 acres of landscape garden has 325 species of trees including century old and conducts annual flower shows are in month of May.

There nothing attracts me like the flowers and being crowd less there’s no pressure of disturbance. The way it all arranged, simply observes. The dahlias seem so tiresome and head falls, and only to think so it was even-tide with minutes to go dusk, and looking away those purple flowers stands alike sticks, strikes me when I see it near to realize those are leaves that turns purple and pink when elevate.

The park has green gardens that elevates with few conical trees and one tree has its part to attract to take few snaps with no fair back-ground. The other side of the park has thick grass floor to play and roll, and it has some designed structures of fruits, being cut down to sit around the white pillar, painted national flag and emblem on the top. I sense much cold here with tall trees closely surrounded.

It has an artificial pond looks alike and the flowers on exhibit looks pretty cool from the higher place. The park also has glass houses that said to have saved mist to keep some flowers exist and taking photos have been prohibited here, the steps doesn’t allow me to visit though. We spent sometime chatting over there on garden and enjoying the cold weather with clouds getting together to look alike yet to rain.

There was a young couple, seems like came over to honeymoon, brought a camera man along with them and takes varies shots around the park, and comes up with some romancing shots lying on either laps. Everyone at present turns a quick look at them and few express in envy to have not such opportunities in there life at there early marriage. There was another guy lied down by facing the pillar, with hands as his pillows seems like thinking about his future and his mate sitting beside busy with cell phone.

Reflections of rain – here

It rains here, from minutes before September dawns
and rocks throughout night in droplets of rain crashing earth

Its warm here, sense the same lazy yawns of noon hours in school
and comfort inside the blankets in response to the cool fans

Its pleasant here, so as it feels the off-season spring of hill stations
and delight in the diminish of light and heat in response to cold weather

It’s wet here, throughout lands and woods in hanging droplets in leaves
and silent source of birds and insects buzz near and faraway

Its odor here, since the droplets touch the earth to fragrance soil
and later unpleasant to the decay of plants and trash.

P.S. Welcome the month September with this pretty flower from Zinnia's family and let this month be so bright and delight to everyone to feel beautiful alike this flower.

Marble soda

After long time, I tasted one of my favorite drink ‘goli soda’ (marble soda), when I was near chengalpet – a town near to Chennai. It’s a common carbonate drink, enclosed in a bottle and sealed by a toy marble. There’re different types of sodas, known as color soda, paneer soda, ginger soda and lime soda. The color soda comes in three flavors such as cola, orange and green. In all these, I use to drink Paneer soda the most and I love the savor which tastes alike rose water. Since it was the only soda sold in our area then, next to the typical one.

There are times I wonder at marble sodas, that how came the marble inside the bottle and how it was sealed. Having seen many a days, how these bottles are arranged on the handcarts and pulled by man to deliver it to shops, I haven’t known how these marble sodas are sealed, until I checked this video.

One of an incident I could not forget was on the way through a village less than a decade ago, where I find color sodas on a store suddenly and indirect my dad who was driving! Thus he missed the speed breaker ahead and the car bumped huge and displaced everything inside the car and then stops the player to sing never again. From then, whenever we come across that village and sometime on huge speed breakers, this incident comes at instant.

Near to my grandpa’s home in Chennai, there was a marble soda company named Gugan & co. Whenever I visit my grandpa’s home and from their balcony, I used to watch the morning activates of this company being carried out the soda bottles in handcarts and rearranged it as per there delivery. The bottles would be arranged in wooden boxes, with a set of bottled keep upright and another set in inverse position to adjust the space, and every bottle seems alike, I used to think why the old man (who I usual see there arranging bottles) just keep on changing the bottles from one box to another.

The marble soda always attracts me and marbles being one my favorite things to play then, I use to think about hoe to get it out. Today we don’t see much marble sodas in stores esp. in cities like Chennai. Opening the bottle is another excitement and it can be open in two ways, by keeping our thumb or a specially designed block on the marble and strike with our palm to push the marble inside. In marble sodas, it’s always a trouble drinking it quite, as the marble that remains in the neck of the bottle used to block the mouth of the bottle while we tilt, so we need little cause to drink the soda.

After much occupation of international companies, the marble sodas face a hard time to survive and it exists only in rural sides and hardly suburbs today.

One pleasant noon

It’s quite calm after we come across Barijam junction in kodaikanal, except few vehicles pass on, its more nature and we. In search of nice place to have lunch, we stopped somewhere to wonder that it was the same place we had our breakfast a decade ago. It’s a piece of grass land and green bush surrounded.

The wind blows so cold and pleasure; and we parked our vehicle beside and spread the mat. More than having lunch, it was the place that impressed me and wanted to finish lunch soon and to move few distance along the road. It was quite pleasure and I was on wheels, along the pine shrubs and eucalyptus trees for sometime. There was a pristine stream then and it still exists. But sadly it was surrounded by waste wrappers and dumped litters today.

On the way I saw this guy training his horse by sitting on its back, riding fast and on paces in kodaikanal. The horse sounds like worn horseshoes and seems like it was on sever training by his owner and thus the horse obeys his order, bearing the whips he gives. The strike just resonates still in my sense and the sound it response to his sudden brake, like a car strikes. I just wonder, how much strain does those horses that merrily goes around the Kodai Lake, should have born to bear visitors on its back to sustain and kind being!

With less than couple of rounds, he rides away... and we get packed and moved, after sometime being relaxed.

Scared night

Dad was off to an event and turned home lately by 11.30pm and after watching my favorite shows on television, waited sometime for dad to arrive and headed to bed in happy mood across mid night. After some conversation still lied on bed, I teased dad merely, for gone to the event (where people gather together) and warned to be cautious not to bring home swine and went into deep slumber soon.

More than an hours was past, I suddenly waked due to a mild constant cough and wanted to spit. I tried to control, and when I feel I can’t, I waked dad to bring split vessel and so he brought and I split. One may wonder what strange about this and it’s a usual thing everyone does in spite to split.

But what I split just put me in shook and scare, because it was pure red in color. I mean blood! I wasn’t expected and never like ever and after splitting blood and in between for sometime, I was feeling tremble in fear along with mom’s scare; and what put me more into scare is the amount of blood I split and it could be about 50ml. Dad was saying it’s because of heat and along in disbelief, they don’t know what to do and in hesitate whether to go to the nearby hospital or not.

Mom inclined me on her and embraced. I tried hard to prevent spitting and in sometime I laid on bed with raised pillows and fight to sleep, keeping away the fear and trouble. After couple of times waked in between, I caught up with cold fever in cause of fear and tremble, I lead the night in sustain fear and somehow the blood stopped coming and thus it gets me some symptoms of courage and confidence.

Only after early morning, I began to sleep slightly, with throat feeling hard to swallow even the saliva and it sustained for the whole day. Being waked away, I slip to see no blood to exit and it certainly put me in pleasure and brings hope that it was a reflection of heat and throat infection. Being clarified by aunt and uncle that it’s a general thing happens of heat and throat hurt, and that in my case blood had come more and makes me scare. After taking medicine, it was ok then and later.

Being Sunday the next day, our family doctor won’t visit his clinic, and though the blood stopped coming then, I took some antibiotic pills and felt comfort somewhat. But I can’t be just like that and feeling uncertain about the cause, I visited our doctor on Monday evening and he gives me much confidence that it was nothing than a throat infection and gives some piles. Now I feel much better and hope to be fine soon.