Backyard Bonfires

 

Earlier this month, as the Sun-worshipping harvest festivals of Lohri and Makar Sankranti or 'Poush Parbon' arrived, the hubby decided to light a bonfire in the backyard as we had a large pile of twigs lying around after our autumn tree chopping. And guess what, his impromptu plan turned this into one of the most memorable celebrations ever.

We first started attending the community Lohri bonfire since the time our kids arrived, just to make them experience it firsthand. Now with restrictions imposed by an oft-raging pandemic, doing our own bonfire made sense.  

A celebration of the frosty cold weather involving sun worship

The festival days were cold and grey, with low maximum temperature and the sun barely visible through the dense layer of fog. Windows remained frosted for a large part of the day. As we shivered through the day, we prepared the token specialities that were associated, just so the kids got a feel of the festival.

Plateful of patishapta with kheer fillings

Growing up as a kid in a typical Bengali household, I never much cared for Sankranti because it involved eating certain delicacies I wasn't particularly fond of, and I'd see my mother slave for hours in the kitchen after a tiring workday, and that didn't really seem worthwhile to me. However, time and age have wisened me enough to find workarounds or easier alternatives, thus ensuring that everyone can enjoy.

Lohri/Sankranti bonfire

So on Lohri and Sankranti evenings, as our bonfire crackled, we had a chance to get together as a family and add our special twist to the traditional celebration. We were novices at keeping the fire going, and used every combustible material on hand - right from oil and camphor, to newspapers and dried leaves from the mango tree. 

The second day we even baked veggies in the wood fire. Had roasted potatoes with sour cream for breakfast the next morning, along with roasted tomato/eggplant and garlic bruschetta.

And all these things made it a 'Poush Parbon' worth remembering!

Autumnal Garden Wonders

 

After a substantial and longer-than-usual spell of monsoon last year, the garden was going wild, with each plant showing extraordinary growth. Meanwhile, the absence of gardeners ('maalis') due to the waxing-waning pandemic didn't make things any easier. 

All the trees in the front yard had grown tall and excessively bushy. Baba's attendant Ramu was already helping with chopping the lawn grass and had no time to give to the trees. That is when the hubby decided to take matters into his own hands, and brought home a couple of fresh blades to saw the trees.

One fine November morning, hubby finally got to chopping the red hibiscus tree. It had been flowering through October, and so was one of the last trees remaining uncut. After pruning a few branches, as we were putting together the wood in manageable piles, we noticed the bright green Jewel Beetle sitting on the main trunk of the hibiscus tree.

Jewel Beetle

Such a gloriously pretty colour it was! Though I recalled seeing one in bright ultramarine blue too, many years back. The next round of pruning revealed something even more extraordinary - a snakeskin lay entangled in one of the topmost branches of the hibiscus.

Snake skin entangled in chopped hibiscus branches

As we all watched in awe, we realized we shared our habitat with a slithery creature. In fact, we had found one sunning itself on our porch on a cold morning. Maybe the same fellow had shed its skin on the hibiscus.

Snakeskin held by Miss P

Gingerly extracting the delicate snakeskin from the tree branches, we examined the patterns on it before putting it away in a box. A gift to treasure from the garden!