RGB Monday

Every year the Pongal festival leaves me with some colorful Kolams that I could use for my RGB Monday series, but this year it left me with some beautiful Kolams to shoot from the neighborhood as well as from our home. The following collage of Kolams is from one of my childhood friend Karthik's home, and his wife drew these Kolams on the eve of Pongal.

As soon as his wife completed the Kolam, he Whatsapp me the photos of the Kolam, and what you see in the collage above is what he sent me that night.  And the following photos are of the same shot by my mom in the morning on my behalf.

My friend's house is located right behind our house and narrow by street, doesn't allow the Kolams to last long, or until the evening when I go out shooting Kolam in the wheelchair. Karthik's wife is a talented woman and does well in artworks, and I have seen a few of her's on Facebook and while admiring her work, I appreciate her patience, which I think is mandatory when creating art. I hope you guys like her elegant work in Kolam. 

Raintree Greentree

The Indian raintree with fresh tender leaves
 after the shedding process since winter leaves. 

The raintree got a new coat of green

Grinning at me, like a degree holder

Succeeding the hard times of winter

And shedding leaves to regain a green cap.

 

The sun was shining brightly,

Contrary to the deep blue sky

The raintree lit a smile tenderly

despite being rough in tendency.

 

I want to cut off one of its trunks

For being an obstacle to the touching breeze

And views of my neighbor's rebuilt garden,

its different shades of green garnishes.

 

With few brush-like blossoms

And hanging down of dry pods

Makeup the tree, to shimmer,

Like a new bride of summertime.

P.S. Guys did you notice? I changed the template of my blog, but it wasn't quite a change, as I just retained the size and design of the blog content and sidebar; I chose the travel theme as background with simply an open book to the left side. I also changed the header after a long time with an image I capture from the pretty White Town (French colony) in Puducherry.

Can Poverty Be Eradicated?

I pondered over the thought of eliminating poverty the other night of sleeplessness and how politicians swear to abolish poverty from society on every platform they get to shout. I turned to sleep, but the thought haunted me to be wakeful, and I think, not so deep or the element didn't allow me to break as if it made of a coco de mer shell, there isn't a gingelly gap to infiltrate the poverty out of the society.

We can't say when and where it all began, and it's inevitable, and we have to live with poverty as an infinite part of the world. Like in a seesaw, if one goes up, the other comes down automatically, and if one becomes affluent and the one less possessed comes down the line of equality. Though we can't consider it as poverty, this could be stepping down the process to push one to the poverty line. The reason for poverty could be plenty, and I'm not complaining or protesting that none should become affluent, but all wealth stored under particular leaderships denies the right of people in need.

I think poverty cannot eradicate as long as there are more and more ups and downs in society. In the way, rich become richer, poverty advances to a stage of the same. So, the thing that needs to change is to create more opportunities for the poor to lift themselves the way they needed. And either poverty is removed or not, we need to make sure that no one dies of starvation.

Neighbor’s Rebuilt Garden and Flowers

The neighbor, from the opposite side, has rebuilt his garden damaged in the cyclone and monsoon. I count this house and garden as one of the unchanging faces of our neighborhood. The home dwellers are always the ones who prioritize their privacy and never socialize with others easily.  As neighbors, for about 40 years, we aren't well aware of either world. Perhaps, because we aren't in touch with them for 12 years, as we relocated from 2005 - 2018, but I don't think they would be socialized even if we continued face to face. 

The view of the house shot from the 3rd floor of our house (by my mom) and the garden view was blocked by the Indian tulip tree before the flood and rain.

Due to the rise of the road, the house and the garden went down, though they raised the driveway, long back, the garden remained to the low level.

The house belongs to a 94-year-old retired wing commander, and he maintained the garden until he was active, and later his son took over the onus. I see he inherited the interest in gardening from his father, and he even overtakes his father in bringing a lot of flowering plants to the garden. The Nivar cyclone that hit us on Nov 26th (the same day of my brother’s wedding) had flooded their house and garden, and the extended rain had further worsened the situation.

I think it's the passion that kept him in the recovery mode of the garden, and man, no one would have spent like him in bringing back the garden when the situation for priorities are different. He had dumped many truckloads of rubble and fertile soil to uplift the garden and the works were going on for weeks before he got back his beautiful garden.

I watched the entire progress of the work from the balcony and also the hall, as our door and the window opens up overlooking the garden; I entertained by the elegant work of the gardeners from the nursery in the next compound. I saw the fall and rise of the garden, and I'm glad he decided to give life to the garden instead of giving up.

After leveling the ground, the instant turf laid at the center of the garden, and many tiny plants were laid around and across the lawn beautifully.  In between this, he bought many plants, as he used to, and continue to do; he replanted them in the new and old pots and neatly arranged them in the front of the garden and close to the gate and along the driveway. I see people stop by the gate and fence to look at the plants, thinking he has kept the nursery.

He has planted different kinds of hibiscus in the pots he had kept close to the fence, and it allows me to look at the flowers and take photos in the camera. As I have only a point-and-shoot camera, I have limited zoom length to capture the flowers at a distance of 20-30 feet doesn't get me fair pictures of the flowers, but still, I feel content with the result of details.

I see different colors of flowers every day, but they last only up to a day, and the next day there's another. I don't know how long they continue to bloom, but I keep an eye on them and take photos whenever I see them bloom. And these are some of the photos I shot on different days after rebuilt of the garden. I wish I could continue to take more photos of the plants and flowers to share here as long it blooms or exists. 

RGB Monday

A couple of colorful Kolam from the neighborhood, shot on the day of the Pongal festival last month. 

Since I took this from my evening walk, the Pongal pot kolam (above) drawn in the morning was scattered a bit at the bottom as people used by.  

Both the Kolams above were from the same house in the neighborhood.