The Log of Wood

Sometimes the smallest things hold the strongest connections, just like this log of wood in my garden.

So this piece comes from a huge peepul tree that grew right outside our windows.... in our previous apartment. The peepul gave us many interesting experiences - from watching the antics of mynahs, parakeets and barbets, to seeing the eagle family's annual expansion, tracking the visits of the migratory rosy starlings, to getting awed by the bees and how beautifully they formed their hive. We got a ringside view of all these and more.

One monsoon when the peepul grew rapidly, spreading it's branches into people's homes, it was decided to prune it down. And that is when I opted to keep one of its branches as a keepsake in my garden. My mom thought I was a nut to be doing that but now every time I look at the log, it reminds me of so many stories! When we recently moved houses, I chose to carry the peepul log into my new setting.

Weather-beaten and gnarled, now the peepul log rests on the blue garden table under the mango tree, holding some of my green treasures. Every monsoon it duly rewards us with a toadstool or two! And makes the perfect backdrop in all our garden photos.

Aah, the joy of giving in to our crazy desires sometimes! And valuing those little things that money cannot buy...

Cat Tales

Soon after we moved in to our new abode, we realized that a bunch of cats roamed the backyard regularly. There was the bossy black and white fellow, with a deep throated meow, who roamed around like the king of the area. There was fat tawny cat who hung around the kitchen window salivating at all the lovely odours floating out.

Then one fine day we discovered mommy cat and her two kittens. It seemed mommy was fed by the previous house owners, and was familiar with and comfortable in our backyard. So she often sat outside our bedroom door, peering in and waiting for her goodies.

Or caught a quick siesta as her kittens pranced around. She even suckled her babies right outside our door. Till one morning, when all hell broke loose!

As mommy cat came lingering around the backyard with her kittens in tow, the kids decided to befriend them. The minute they stepped out with biscuits to lure them, the kittens ran helter-skelter. Jumping over flower pots, toppling over leftover construction material, trying to climb on to walls that were too high for the little kittens.

Both mommy and kittens were scared out of their wits and in their confusion, one of the babies made the disastrous decision of climbing up the mango tree to a safe distance.

What followed after was a comedy of errors.... the kitten clambered up too high for its own good, and we were afraid it may fall out of the tree and get hurt. But every time we tried luring it down, it couldn't find a stable branch that would bear its weight and give it the option of jumping on to the adjoining wall. So up it went again.... slipping and sliding on the branches of the mango tree, often meandering too close to the edges.

Amidst all this, mommy cat and her second kid watched the drama from a safe distance but did nothing to help poor little kitty out of its predicament.

This crazy spectacle continued for a while till finally the kids came back indoors, leaving little kitty to figure its own way out. As soon as they exited, mommy cat came in, made the frightened kitten climb down from the mango tree, and finally led it away to the neighbour's yard.

Phew!.... that sure was a tumultuous start of our relationship with the cats in our backyard. :D