Wordless Wednesday!

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5.57 am on Sunday, the 10th Sept.'17...Sunrise at Elliots beach, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India

 

6.01 am on the same day!

 

6.03 am on the same day!

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Sunrise Sunday!

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Foto Friday!

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Sunrise at Elliots beach (Chennai)! Click on the picture for a better view pl.

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Good Mornings Are Happy Mornings Too, Nowadays!

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Sunrise over the Bay of Bengal!  I took it today morning!

 All my friends who know me, know that both I and my husband go for our morning walks regularly.  We had stopped it in our old house because of the heavy traffic and mud road pollution, for a couple of years.  We were using the exercise cycle then.  Now, we have started going out in the morning again in the new house.  The area where we go for walk now, is, sort of, made for morning walks.  The road towards the beach road (Elliots beach, Besant Nagar),  has got avenue trees on both sides, mostly neem trees which have started blooming now. The neem flowers,  have got their own fragrance! We start around 5.15 am and come back around 6.45 am...the to and fro distance is around 4 km. We buy flowers, vegetables etc. on the way!  I had mentioned about the flower woman here.

The best area/road, for morning walkers...serene, peaceful!

We see all types of walkers here...young children, young adults, middle aged people, old people...everyone.  Some people walk, some jog, some walk very slowly/sit on the seat most of the time enjoying the scenery.   We have noticed that the area is more crowded on Mondays and Saturdays!  People might decide on Sunday to start walking 'from Monday'! Saturday is a holiday and they might think they have got more time! Some walk in groups, chatting, some hear shlokas, some film music...One elderly person drives his car and when he gets out of the car and walk with a cane, we guess that he has got some problem.  He drags one leg.  We admire his spirit.

Another elderly person comes by car with his young grandson who has got some problem.  Plays Frisbees with  him.  A couple walk with their hands held in front of their chest, just move them according to their pace!  Both of them walk in the same manner.  I see some foreigners too, most of them jog! Some do meditation in the sand, some do exercise on the pavement.  Some bring their children along with them on holidays...it is fun to watch small children running before their mothers and mothers shouting at them! Some young girls and boys come alone with music fixed in their ears! Most of the walkers are elders and they come in pairs. Many middle aged women wear chudidars now...easy to walk?! Include me in that category! Chennai is changing in that way!

It used to be quite dark until a couple of weeks back in the early morning but now, since the summer has started, sun comes out early and it is hot...typical Chennai weather. Now, to some pictures!

Click on the pictures to have a good view, please.

The area is full of stray dogs.  Some people give them biscuits.  They never fight with each other while taking biscuits from people! We see all sorts of 'walking dogs'! Labradors, pooches, poms...! Some people give them (stray dogs),  biscuits and they take them without fighting with each other.  They wait and catch biscuits when they are thrown at them, in turns! We sit here for 10-15 mts. and watch people and the Nature!

This area is full of crows! Here, they come to pick food particles dropped by the previous evening's visitors. One 'beach cleaning' group cleans the beach often and boards are kept everywhere to drop wastes in bins...we saw the bins in 4-5 places! But our people will never change.

This is beach gym! I always notice quite a number of youngsters using the gadgets!

This is the Aloe vera juice seller! They sell banana stem juice, arugam pul juice (Bermuda grass?!) etc. too on the pavements! Tender coconut sellers also can be seen.

He keeps the aloe vera pulp in the steel vessel.  It looks quite clean.  The aloe vera leaf is slit open by a knife, the pulp drawn out by a spoon. Then  he puts the pulp in the smaller vessel, mashes them with a wooden masher (we call it maththu, in Tamil).  It looks foamy.  He puts quarter cup pulp in a cup, adds curd and buttermilk, mixes and gives to the customers.  Without buttermilk or curd, it might taste slightly bitter, he said. It costs Rs. 20 and it tasted bitter...we had it today morning! He laughingly said, 'bitter things are good for health'!

This fisherman is very close to the beach.  We saw him lifting a small net full of fish, often! The boat was going up and down in the waves!

When we went near the water, we noticed this man,  tying a small wooden plank (5 x 3 inches) with a nylon rope.  I noticed small oval beads at equal distances of 4-5 inches in the rope.  He had earth worms in his hands.  He plucked the worms into small pieces, pinned them in a thin pin and inserted inside the beads.  Then, holding one end of the rope, he threw the plank  with worms, into the sea! And waited! It was getting late, so I didn't wait to see how many fish he caught on that day!

The beach sand is full of Snacks shops selling bajji, fish cutlet etc. All the waste was thrown on the sand! Most of the shops had Idea/aircel mobile advertisements!

Crows, crows...everywhere because of the food particles!

These boxes never overflow...all wastes are seen on the sand!

We never get bored, walking on this road! Some sort of entertainment is there on most of the days!  It was 'beach volleyball',  tournament, last Saturday! The tent was ready!

Beach volleyball net and tent! The next day the area was full of waste plastics!/torn posters etc.!

Group exercise on the beach road! Groups like this, come often and start exercising...just for a day or two! Different groups at different places on the road and sands, exercise, do skipping...interesting to watch!

One day, this group of young children were dancing and somebody was taking a video! Classical dance with classical music.  It was nice to watch.  Many people have taken photographs!

This has become a permanent attraction for me...the sparrows! Notice the green home made bird feeder! A male sparrow is sitting on the grill, at one corner! I hear their chirps always on this road.  They seem to love old houses, not flats! These houses have bushes, small flowering plants etc. unlike our concrete platforms surrounding the buildings.  So many birds seem to live here!

Hmmm...we try our best not to skip our morning walks.  It is good for health plus entertaining! We come back home with a happy feeling!


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Wordless Wednesday!

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My Latest Friends, Dummi And Others!

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This is a 'sort of' happy post! Remember, how I was brooding for shifting from our old house to a new flat, here?!  It was during last May '13.  Now, my mood has changed completely, thanks to the  clean environment here at the new place!  Yes, I enjoyed living among fragrant flowers surrounding the house, but the house was situated in the outskirts and so we had open drainage, which meant, dirty stench.   Now, the underground drainage is coming there shortly!  Apart from the flowers, I enjoyed the cats, their families, birds, their families, butterflies, etc.  We were watching many sun bird families too, but I couldn't capture them in my camera.  These pleasant memories of that house will always be there. 

Now, we are living in a flat.  The compound has many croutons and flowers without fragrance.  But they look green! The next compound has got many trees.  Though we don't see different kinds of birds often, we see parrots and sun birds occasionally.  We hear the lovely sound of Bul bul birds too! But we see crows, crows and more crows everywhere, nearby! So, I have started enjoying them, watching them which is not very new for me, though!  Have a look at my old post here!

I place curd rice in my kitchen window sill and many crows of all sizes and shapes, come here to eat it.  I see many andangaakka (Jungle crows) which have got shiny, beautiful coat! They take chapatis from my hands when I give them through my kitchen window!

I see other entertainers too, like these:

Baby Monkey came into our compound today! It was fun watching him!

Click on the photo and you can notice the make-up on his face, clearly!

The red/orange sindhoor-like teekha, eyes are full of kaajal and one black drushti pottu (what do we all it in English?! It is placed so that kisi ki nazar na lag jaye!) too on the cheek.  Some cloth is in his waist and one belt-like band too! Neck has got colourful beads! My maid said that he must have come here from the next door Murugan temple! One man sits there with monkeys, it seems.  He was making different types of sounds, sitting on the compound! We, flat people, were all standing in our balconies, throwing bananas, carrots etc. to him.   He ate just one banana! I think he was here for a couple of hours.  We were worried about the crows which were sitting on top of the trees waiting to peck him! I think he went home without any harm! The man should have come and taken him home.

This peacock is a regular visitor in our compound.  We give him fried grams! A small girl from one of  our flats, stands very close to him and gives him fried gram! He is also from the next door temple! This bird is Muruga(Subrahmanya)'s vaahana/transport!

This area is full of crows, I said...proof is here! These birds used to fly across the flat from our kitchen window to the other side via our balcony.  They started flying like that even after we occupied this house.  So, we tied the wire,  like it is shown below, to block them.  We lift from one side and place curd rice for them now!

 

This one is a regular visitor for our curd rice...he is a pest...keeps on making different sounds from his throat without opening his beak!  Sometimes he makes full-throated sound which blocks my music sound, which I hate! I love to hear Kishore Kumar's music than Kaakka music!

This one acts like a baby always! He was born here in a nest in the next tree.  He was always sitting in between his parents, for many months.  One of them always fed him.  He had a 2 inch gash at the back of his neck for a long time.  He was just sticking to his parents.  Now, his gash is gone and sits mostly here! He takes a piece of chapathi from our window, goes there, places on the branch and within minutes, a squirrel will come running to the chapathi and starts eating! He will watch from another branch...this happened even today morning!

This is Dummi!

Dummi is always there in the morning when I enter my kitchen, waiting silently.  Sometimes I give him one biscuit.  He never pesters me like the one about whom I told you earlier!  He just waits there till 8.30 or 9 am.  Sometimes he sits on one leg like he is in the picture!  Sometimes he keeps his beak inside his feathers and sleeps (I think so!).  Looks very innocent!  We call him 'dummi' because he is the fattest among the crows who visit us!  He silently eats and leaves.  He doesn't come back.  We see him only the next morning!

I notice one crow which is a bit thin, starts doing kabaddi steps around the curd rice, hopping to the left and right, without letting the other crows near the curd rice! He is a good sportsman, very very light on his feet!

The small box is waiting for the sparrows to nest in!

I have seen a couple of sparrows in the front side of this complex near the gate.  We have got pigeons too which I don't like...the only bird I don't like.  They spoil the place with their excreta ...huh, I am using a polite word!  I asked my husband to keep a box here, in the balcony for the sparrows or any other small bird to nest inside.  It is more than three months now and I haven't seen anyone even peeping into the box! Husband is planning to put a 'tolet for sparrows only' board here soon!

Now, I will tell you the Best Entertainer for our family...the Rising Sun!  We see him rising among the clouds and trees, everyday, with our coffee cups in our hands, sitting in our balcony! I have got some 183 snaps of the sunrise scenes! One is here:

I told you in the beginning, this is a happy post!

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