Monday, October 05, 2015
Thursday, October 01, 2015
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
Labels:
Adyar,
Chennai,
Environment,
good fence,
home,
People,
Picture
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
An update on grandpa and my health
My grandpa went back to his home
happily last week, after staying with us for about 4 months. He spent only
couple of days with us after discharged from the hospital and knowing his
desire we didn’t stop him going to his home but also felt this change or
transfer to his familiar environment could improve his health condition and the
thought of coming back to home will give him confident to do better. His back
sore due to confine to bed in the hospital is also healing well and he started
to have normal food like before but only he couldn’t stand and walk. But we
hope he regain the strength very soon and able to walk by doing physiotherapy.
I never thought a person could
change such drastically in a very short span, though I don’t want to refer directly
who he was, it certainly affects the lives of my grandparents now. My grandma
was in need of a helper to support her in taking care of grandpa. Until being
here, there doesn’t need someone as we (and my uncle family) supported her in
every way in taking care of the grandfather, the attitude of drop out from
their own son seems trouble them surely.
I feel that supporting someone is not that only physically assisting but giving
them hope to believe (if they are elders or disabled) that they are not alone
and even if you could not talk in a way, a small gesture and smile could do
much better.
Apart grandpa, I experience some
issues with health lately to put me feel trouble, though they aren’t anything
serious, at least now, I went for a respiratory functional test last week and
found poor breathing ability/capacity. I had some difficult with breathing last
week, which was very unusual for me and without any delay I check with my
doctor and took the functional test in Fortis Malar. It is a diagnosis
conducted only in big hospitals, because this kind of test are not taken
frequently by many and being an muscular dystrophy patient trouble with
breathing is a normal thing after certain period and the main cause for this is
believed to the severe lung infection I had 5 years back or due to some other
reason my lungs have been shrunken little to make inadequate breathing space. But
right now I have no trouble and I breathe easily but I am more careful to do my
breathing exercise regularly and increase in terms.
For the last few days, my back pain
takes new shape and shifts to my upper back to hold breath sometime. My therapist
suggests it is perhaps problem related to neck and was advice to sleep without
pillows and reduce my usage of laptop or change the position of viewing. To make
my problems little difficult my new wheelchair was sent back for rectification
and it expected to take more than a month (according to the manufacturer) to put
right things I needed. I had certain comfort in that bucket seat and nothing
felt painful when reclining towards its cushion back seat. Hope they haven’t
took much time to settle my wheelchair before things become more difficult.
Monday, September 28, 2015
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Bird watching @ Thandikudi: Asian Brown Flycatcher
Thandikudi is a wonderful place
to enjoy bird watching and it’s a paradise for birds. When i was staying amid the coffee plantations
and canopy of trees, in the Narumana Kudil (fragrant huts) maintained by the village
council there, I got to watch many birds and listen to distinct voices of same
and one of it was the cute little Asian Brown Flycatcher.
The Asian Brown Flycatcher is a
small passerine bird in the family of flycatcher – Muscicapidae, and it is an
insectivorous species which breeds in Japan, Eastern Siberia and the Himalayas.
It is migratory and winters in tropical southern Asia from southern India and
Sri Lanka east to Indonesia.
This species is 13 cm long,
including the cocked tail. It is similar in shape to the larger spotted
flycatcher, but is relatively longer-tailed and the adult has grey-brown
upper-parts, which become grayer as the plumage ages, and whitish under parts
with brown-tinged flanks. Young birds have scaly brown upper-parts, head and
breast. (source of info: wiki)
Linking this post with SATURDAY CRITTERS
Linking this post with SATURDAY CRITTERS
Labels:
beauty,
bird,
Environment,
favorite,
Fun,
Hill station,
Nature,
Pleasant,
Travel
Thursday, September 24, 2015
A house, fence/rail and flowers
This is a house opposite to my
great aunt’s in Neelankarai, Chennai, and I casually shot these photos at
different time period and it is a pretty house with flowering shrubs around and
my point of shoots here, were on flowers.
It was kind of bungalow and I
have seen it from the day of building and the house sits on a high platform or
basement that was supported by deep foundation! As I know a couple of elder people were
residing there along with their son or daughter, both seems to be married.
The house has two spacious baloneys
extends from the first floor, has a tiled roof and portico... they have also captured
a theme of red, green and white to the building that colors the roof and balcony,
and grills/rails and windows to look neat.
Linking this post for Run a Round Ranch's Good Fences
Linking this post for Run a Round Ranch's Good Fences
Labels:
beauty,
Chennai,
Environment,
good fence,
Nature,
neighborhood,
Picture,
Pleasant
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Grandpa back to home, with a tendency for his house
My grandpa had discharged from
the hospital and was brought back to our home against his wish to go to his
home. He’s doing much better now and breathes easily. He had been admitted to
hospital with complaint of chest pain and whizzing on Sunday night (13 Sep) and
was kept in ICU for 4 days and transferred to ward when his condition becomes
stable. He had been on oxygen mask almost his stay and until his breathing
becomes normal. His diet had been completely depended of liquid food and he was
fed through tube and only a day before his discharge he was on normal feeding
through mouth. So he looks frail to even sit on his own balance and his back
was exposed to sore due to confined to bed all these days in hospital. This has
been a great setback in his journey after his post hospitalization (3 months
back) and he showed great improvement in his health and activity after doing
physiotherapy. But now it seems everything has to be started from the much
earlier stage and would be very difficult to achieve what he had gained these
days. Doctors have said his heart is very weak and he could not be active like
before and also anticipating him to do much is not possible.
He’s very intense to go to his
home and only because of his pressure we moved him out of the hospital, but more
than moving out of hospital he’s eager to go to his home rather coming to ours.
He was in anticipation to go to his home with 3 days ahead before he was
shifted to hospital with chest pain make him feel disappointed. Once moved out
of ICU, but being there no one was allowed to interact with him and being on
oxygen mask, he couldn’t talk as his whiz when try to speak, he openly and
indirectly conveyed his wishes to go to his new house and his attitude also
conveys the same. I heard, he seemed vigorous when said go to his home and at
same time when doctors extend his stay at hospital the expressions become anger
and he showed less response to others. He arrived at home in ambulance, as he
was unable to stand, and thinking that he had come to his home he was seen happier
and seeing me he enthused as if I was visiting him at his home. We understand
his desire to go to his home, but practically it seems very difficult with
grandma handling him alone. Though there was his son and in-law, but being
there always for them is no possible as they have their own family and work to
look after, we decided to hold them sometime until grandpa put pace on him. But
I am not sure they stay that long and to make him feel not frustrate, he will
be transfer to his home in a day or two to decided to return back or stay over
there.
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Sunday Photos – Ganesh Chaturthi
Ganesh
Chaturthi is a grand festival in India, devoted to Ganesha – a prime deity worshiped
by Hindus. Here I like to share some photos relevant to festival at home and Ganesha
procession from our street temples.
The clay
idol of Ganesha, bought for the festival at home
Feast in front
of the idol as a dedication and part of worshiping
A
worshiping process (burning camphor) before the clay idol was put to immerse
Clay idol of Ganesha immersed
in tub water to dissolve... to be poured for plants and shrubs once turned
liquid. This is a process we have been practicing for last 5-6 years, rather
immersing into water bodies that result water pollution.
Couple of Ganesha procession (above and below) from our
street temples on the day of Ganesh Chaturthi
Labels:
Adyar,
Chennai,
Festival,
home,
neighborhood,
Picture,
PowerShot Sunday,
temple
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Park Fence
Last week I went to a corporation
park in the neighborhood, in my new powered wheelchair before yet to send it
for rectification. Though it isn’t a big park, there’s a nice footpath to come
around and it has a fence portion where some shrubs and flowering plants and crotons
are preserved to look good and feel greenish. The other part of the park has a
play area for kids to enjoy swings, slides and seesaw and also has some colorful
benches (made of planks and concrete) for elders to sit and relax while kids
play around.
A pretty flower though fence |
I spent some time there watching
things happening around and fun checking kids sliding and swinging around. I
saw a couple with a pair of kids, who were left to play while they work on the
laptop, and in between their job, perhaps looks some office work, the mother put
the kids to play. An elder man got to occupy a bench for long time, keep
watching me taking some shots using the mobile, and a middle age couple was relaxing
aside after taking some walks around the park.
A tree close to the entrance gate |
The fence that covering the green
area seems to be a kind of chain-link, daubed in green. Seeing the fence I couldn’t
avoid thinking about Good Fences run by Run a Round Ranch, so clicked to
present/link here.
Labels:
Adyar,
beauty,
Chennai,
Environment,
Flower,
Fun,
garden,
good fence,
Nature,
neighborhood,
Pleasant
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Grandpa at hospital and desire to go home
Just 3 days ahead for my
grandparent’s to return to their home, as per their plan to shift to their
newly built home after staying more than 3 month with us following grandpa’s
hospitalization and ill being, he was once again at hospital from last night. Mygrandfather experienced chest pain late at night Sunday and continue to whiz
and find difficult to breath forced us to admit him in hospital without delay. It
was post 11 pm and we are yet to sleep after watching my favorite talk show
(Neeya Naana) in TV, grandpa waked up granny complaining chest pain and we gave
him Gelusil, thinking it may be heartburn. But he continues to sweat and whiz,
so we thought it could be perhaps cardiac arrest and doesn’t want to risk waiting
and watching. Glad he was able to stand and walk, so instead calling ambulance
we took him in the car to the hospital, suggested by the doctor on the call,
and he was admitted to ICU. His condition seems to get little worse on
admission and was put on oxygen mask to breathe ease. Doctors said there’s
‘fluid in the lungs’ and that’s why he had trouble breathing and whizzing heavily.
First they said he had no cardiac
arrest or any trace like that in the ECG, but later in morning confess he had a
mild attack following an echo-cardiogram test. For the last 24 hours he has been
in ICU and doctors had decided to keep him there for two more days to monitor
his condition and he still breathes on oxygen mask as his breathing ability
continue to be inadequate, he’s also on medicine to remove fluid in the lungs. Only
if his lungs become empty, it is believe he could breathe normal and during
this time his heartbeat also touched the lowest which makes us all worry. He has
been feeling chest pain more than a week, but he hadn’t told anyone of us and
we also haven’t noticed any symptoms about us as he continues to act normal until
hitting the bed that night. Being a Parkinson’s patient he could not talk much
and also experience unsteady mindset sometime to forgetfulness. He seemed
cheerful for the last two days as they anticipated going back to their home and
he even conveyed his adieu very early to me thinking of going home. Hope he gets
well soon and go back to his desirable home – the comfort zone and familiar in environment,
perhaps!
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Annoy with Meow!
Who don’t like cats and their
cute purr? Long time back we had cats as our pet and it used to be fun watching
them playing around. But that’s a different story for another day. For last few
weeks we were experience quite annoy because of the cat’s purr – Meow! The cats
are cutest animal and their purr is of course somehow pleasant, but the matter
is when they cross the limit and hangs around frequently on the wall and make
noise in a way disturbing, not us, but our pet dog, Maya. Generally it is believed and witnessed by
many that cats and dogs don’t go together and ours is no more different.
The cat in the image is the main culprit
interrupts the peaceful slumber of our pet dog often by its curse. Purr!
Actually she/he isn’t grown enough to become a cat, because I saw her/him as a
kitten less than a month back, perhaps he/she should be in her pretty teen now
to be naughtier. : D It all began from the day my grandma fed the cat with fish
heads, after cutting off the heads and cleaning fishes before progress with
cooking. Generally we don’t encourage cats and after owning a dog we stopped
petting any other and not only because our dog hate cats, it’s also not easy to
detach once become friendly. It is an experience we leant through many
occasions of losing pet dogs and cats, to keep us away.
This black and white kitty is so
daring animal and doesn’t seem to fear about our barking dog and come around
bravely with meow, how many times we shoo away! Other day, the cat quietly came
under our couch while we eating fish curry and mom was shook for a moment seeing
the cat there, which was a look strange for her rather the usual sight of our
fluffy white dog. It came in, when our dog was sleeping inside and didn’t move
out easily until we put forceful shoo. Apart this there are two more cats – one
with black and white with orange and other was a tabby cat, but they aren’t annoying like this BW though they come around our home often. Even while writing
this post it’s making purr from the compound wall to let our dog bark.
You might know the boldness of
this cat from the photos above, which was shot from closer distance through the
back door and in one of it; it was giving pose for us, looking at the mobile
camera.
Linking this post with SATURDAY CRITTERS - for the firs time.
Linking this post with SATURDAY CRITTERS - for the firs time.
Labels:
anxious,
critter,
Environment,
home,
neighborhood,
Picture
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Little gates and letter/milk boxes
Few weeks’ back I was at KK
Nagar and come across few streets where I find couple of gates of houses adjoining
one another. What interest me to capture these little gates were the letter and
milk boxes hanging from each other.
Both were ground plus first floor
and the house above was painted in bright orange and light green combo. The houses
on this street where built in a row and this house has a twofold gate with
three boxes – one red letter box and two blue milk boxes.
(both images captured on mobile and can be enlarged click on it) |
Like the red letter box, the blue
milk box is also slowing becoming my favorite thing and I find more gates with
milk boxes these days than the red letter boxes. Apart the blue milk box, in the
gate above, I also liked the simple design of the gate which seems patterned in
fishes!
Labels:
Chennai,
Environment,
favorite,
good fence,
Picture
Wednesday, September 09, 2015
Seven Spotted Cockroach
First I spotted this kind of bug
in the Theosophical Society in the neighborhood (Adyar), around a muddy terrain
and fallen leaves. About half a decade later, I was surprise to see this bug inside
our compound wall and again around the fallen (dry) leaves of Neam and an unknown
tree of the neighbor. I spotted the bug few months back and days after
showering, the bug was wandering around the dry leaves for its prey. And last week it decided to stick to the compound
wall sometime for me to shoot.
P.S. Thanks DI (Destination Infinity) for letting me know the real name of the bug in comment, which I referred early as white spotted black bug.
P.S. Thanks DI (Destination Infinity) for letting me know the real name of the bug in comment, which I referred early as white spotted black bug.
Sunday, September 06, 2015
My New Powered Wheelchair – Disappointments and Comforts!
I was looking forward for a new
wheelchair from the time I started to experience back pain (from the beginning
of this year) and that’s mainly because of the pelvic misalignment and mild
scoliosis in spine that we find through a diagnosis in April. Without delay we
approached a leading wheelchair manufacturer in Chennai to get a comfort
wheelchair that perhaps decreases my back pain and prevent further spinal
curvature. You might get more detail about the alignment and discomfort from my
earlier post here.
We placed
an order on May 20 after discussing with him (the wheelchair manufacturer) at
home; who came on our invite and as we know him already and being the
manufacturer of my old power wheelchair, I thought he perhaps know my condition
well and do his best to provide me the comfort I seek. Following his websites
and the models he posted there, I thought of picking one from that that suits
my need. But only listening to him at home reveals that those are models just
to give an idea about the wheelchairs they manufacture to those unknown and he
manufacture a wheelchair only on order.
He sent
me a quotation listing down the facilities on the powered wheelchair including
the specs I requested, with a notification on delivery within 45- 60 days. Though
I was quite disappoint with the days his delivery marks, I console later that
my normal powered/electric wheelchair took 30 days to deliver about 8 years
back, the deluxe perhaps take that much. But what really happened was I got the
wheelchair only after 100 days. We started inquiring about the wheelchair from
the minimum days to delivery, in hope he deliver as soon as possible since my
condition wasn’t comforting. But he keeps extending his delivery period from
week to week on a constant basis of our inquiry.
He
delivered the wheelchair on the day 101! To say the truth I was frustrated at
the look of the wheelchair, which stood like a robot with big boot and being
taller than expected I was somehow taken aback. I had no idea how he going to
design my wheelchair. Because he hadn’t showed me exactly how the wheelchair
would come up and also I hadn’t thought to ask him about the wheelchair height
(from the ground to seat) as I didn’t find great difference in height when checking
the wheelchair models in his website. Though the seat height is just about 4”
more than the old wheelchair there’s great difference when putting me to seat. Perhaps
it could become normal as we used to but right moment it matters lot!
I have
nothing to complain much about seating in this new wheelchair, which has a
bucket seat to sooth my back and very comfortable sitting to relax with reclining
backrest and elevating footrest and handling! The wheelchair is much powerful
than the previous one, where I used to drive in 3 of the total speed of 5. But in
this I get the speed of riding on 3 in 1 apart the top speed of about 10-12 km/hr
in 5 speeds. Though I feel comfort and increase in my level of confidence with
the power of the new wheelchair, I somehow dislike on the look. The base and
bottom of the wheelchair look disdain and the color of green isn’t likable and
rather being thematic it outshines oddly.
I am a person
don’t want to be noticed unnecessarily in public and the same goes to my wheelchair
and I want it to look decent and though it wasn’t appealing much, I wish it was
grayish instead being green. This wheelchair doesn’t come out exactly what I
anticipated but it need to be rectify a lot to be more comfort and we have also
stressed him to reduce the height of seat as main cause. I don’t feel any discomfort
with the height but my parents do find hard to put me on seat. I took the
wheelchair to road couple of times to check its ability and to see how comfortable
it was on the long run. And few days back I took it to the doctor clinic,
across the main road (LB road, Adyar) to check for my cold. The wheelchair is
said to run 15 km per charge, but I guess it should be giving less than 10 km.
Hope to test it more after the rectifying process, where the wheelchair will be
brought back to the company.
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