Changing Colors

 

From tender green to rusty
leaves cling to different colours
revealing the various stages of life
identical to mortal.

From a baby like shoots
leaves thrive to greenness
mushroom a layer of bottle green
mellow yellow as they grew older.

From a chapter of a tree
leaves unfold to different phases
as bystanders of better or for worse
built on the creators' standards.  

From summer to spring
leaves don’t stick to green
akin to the season's change, leafage
alter colours n gives way to new shoots.

RGB Monday

Colorful row or line houses at Senbahanoor, a neighborhood in Kodaikanal. 

P.s. The state government of Tamil Nadu had further relaxed the lockdown by allowing public transportations – the operation of busses and metro trains only within the districts and inside the state – opening of malls without functioning of theatres and no pass for elders and kids; and work places with 100% employers and extended time limit for shops to be opened in evening and reopening of resorts and lodges but e-pass had been made mandatory for visiting any of the tourist places and it will be issued by district collectors. By this move life almost seemed to turn back to regular mode or at least within the districts the movements would be easier for the people. And for a country with high population and closely living community social distancing is a far difficult custom to follow and so far I think the lockdown had hold back people in someways and what opened in front is a challenge. People are so happy by the move but I don’t feel for it as these relaxations cause a fear of increasing Covid cases and it is up to people to make it safe and profitable at same. The situation doesn’t seem favourable for kids and elders as the government advised them not to come out but the increasing cases and death rate is really raising the anxiety and any kind of indifference or indication makes around make feel the same. Take care all

RIP, the Man of Laboriousness and Success

Undoubtedly his company's the No 1 dealer in India selling home appliances and we can’t easily point out someone who sustains the top rank continually and firmly for the last 35-40 years and it’s impossible without laboriousness.  Vasanth & Co is the brand name created by H Vasanthakumar (a member of parliament) who himself was the ambassador of the company and products he sold and he continued to taste the success in the competitive world even after the arrival of online shopping.  He’s someone who earned people’s trust in selling quality products, because people don’t trust anybody easily unless there's some truth and we have personally experienced it and as a regular customer we’re proud and content with any of the products bought from him. More than half the appliances that exist at our home are bought from Vasanth & Co and my first choice still to pick a product rather than online could be his and I always recommend purchasing from the same.

It’s really shocking and sad to know the man behind the successful brand is no more - he died at the age of 70 due to Covid 19. He picked up his business as a seller of home appliances from door-to-door in instalments and later opened his own shop in the shopping centre – T. Nagar, where our first television was bought. In 1984, a year before I was born, my parents bought a black and white Solidaire TV from him and he had enquired them about their income and the ability to pay the install amount, with personal care. My parents had mentioned this many times to us, and now watching his news of demise couldn’t stop them repeating the same. Should I need to mention anything more, how could he have come up this long (with 80+ showrooms across south India) without the concern and care about the consumers and supply of quality things? And he hasn't stopped there, rather chosen the field of politics or public life to serve the poor and simple people, as he himself comes from the same he understands the people's need and did what he could from his source of income and the posts he held as a Member of Legislative Assembly and Member of Parliament.

He chose Congress as his political party following his father and elder brother – Kumari Anandan, a veteran congress leader – and he shone well in the state politics and held office of working President and Vice-President and the Chairman of the Traders wing of Tamil Nadu Congress Committee. Upon everything, it is his laboriousness that put him on all these chairs and what everyone would admire him as an entrepreneur and his life is a good lesson to read by anyone to reach various heights. And like a gem on his crown he has written three volumes of his autobiographical book series Vetri Padikattu (Ladder to Success) focusing on his entrepreneurial success and community building initiatives which I really want to read sometime. He’s such a simple and humble being lived to easily access is what everyone close to him says and he is a familiar face of Tamil Nadu and never a day passes without seeing his smiley face on television. Though it's all for the business, his reach and popularity at the homes of Tamil Nadu is not easy to dismiss. People will miss him but not his face.

RGB Monday

 

A fruit vendor on the street... pushing the tricycle loaded with fruits.

We usually avoid buying fruits or vegetables from these vendors as they sell mostly at overpriced but during these lockdown times where people are advised to stay home these vendors are an easy choice to pull off in front of the house. The government also allowed selling vegetables in mini trucks and they came around the streets with a loud speaker calling people to buy veggies. But for us, having a vegetable shop beneath the house next to us, we don’t need to look after these vehicles (and what they sell isn’t fair enough and good to encourage) and we purchase it fresh daily rather than loading the fridge with veggies (like before pandemic) bought from the market once a week.    

Even though the partial lockdown still exists, the activities on road make feel almost back to normal and the only change was many of them wear masks. But I can’t say all!

 “The WHO says young people are increasingly driving spread of virus”

I believe it's 100% true. I see people on the street and mostly it was the young people coming out without wearing masks. I wonder if they really have any sense or are they alien to earth to have any idea about what's happening around. I believe they knew everything in the smartphone era but still they come out in indifference, thinking only about their healthy self rather than those weak at home. With strong immune power, young people come easily out of corona but who fall prey were the elders with chronic diseases. We all pray for the legend singer SP Balasubramanyam. He seemed to be asymptomatic at first but now fighting for life against Covid but how come we all forget someone like him at our homes whom vulnerable to infectious.

I wish people stay away, stay safe, wear masks and strictly follow the social distance.    

A Weather, Reminder of Mountains

The weather has been pleasant and cools these days (in Chennai) and it wasn’t raining either but still, the clouds, continue to seize the sky, kept low the temperature that lures me to dream of mountains. Though not exactly, I feel a mild cold in the air to embrace me and my mind cling to the memories of the same feel. It’s been more than a year I visited mountains or stayed overnight other than the home esp. this cool weather is impossible to restrain the thoughts of Smokey Haven or what I call a bird paradise – Thandikudi – nestled in the lower Palani hills of Kodaikanal. It was a place that wasn’t too cold as Kodai or hot as plains but comfortable weather to stay all day out exploring the locality of coffee and pepper plantations and listening to birds in woods.

 

Glad my uncle built his wood houses there, so it was always a hassle-free and home-like stay for us and it would be fun if two more families of my uncles join the stay. I too used to the comfort of the woodhouse or to say my uncle had built the house easily accessible by the wheelchair so that I could visit it anytime without difficulty. He knows how I enjoy staying into nature or travel to hills and the woodhouse was first executed for personal use before the idea of renting happen. The weather is one pleasing thing about this place and no matter what the season was, it never drops out of comfort and the weather in Chennai right away is something that makes the mind think about. Perhaps due to Aadi (the season with high wind blow, falls between July-August) is believed to bring a successful year of rain and these cloudy moments brings hope as the southwest monsoon had smashed this year.
 

I leave you with some nature and cool images for the glimpses of the locality from different times of the visit. I love being there any time of the season and it has something to please or offer with the arrival of differences in nature like the migration of birds, flowering environment and wind.  

Linking this post for  Good Fences by Gosia