Monsoons - Magic or Mayhem?

 

This post is my humble attempt at making sense of the mayhem unleashed by the monsoons this year. Incredible amount of water has rained from the skies, especially over the Indian subcontinent. So much that Delhi has surpassed its annual average with 4 months to spare, which is a rare achievement given the drought-like conditions that prevail every other year. 

Dark rain-laden clouds that brought a lot of precipitation 

And it is an El Nino year, that is touted as a phenomenon where the warming of the Pacific leads to hotter temperatures throughout the year.  The part that is conveniently ignored is its impact on the rains. Because hotter does not mean drier...

Cute snails in our local park

El Nino years have always had significantly more severe rainfall and cyclones, leading to waterlogging, floods, and typhoons in many places, and resulting in massive losses of life and livelihood. Yet we prefer to be tone deaf when it comes to a climate change conversation. Till we end up with something catastrophic like what happened in Nepal. I believe glacial melting would also be higher in the El Nino years but no warnings are ever issued. 

My only wish is to live in a world where technology is used more to benefit mankind - with accurate predictions, timely warnings, and faster disaster response being the benchmark. Unfortunately the world we are currently inhabiting seems to treat humans as entirely dispensable.

I love the magic of the monsoons, as you can see from the pictures in this post. But I am seriously worried about the mayhem it is causing in our part of the world.

Mid-year Update

 

A little over a year in our home city, and life has been a mixed bag. We survived an intense summer, struggling with niggling health issues. 

But thankfully, most of my plants are thriving despite the soaring temperatures. Especially the old and sturdy ones - like umbrella palm, hibiscus, Swiss cheese plant, and jasmine. Though I did lose some pothos and chrysanthemums in the horrendous summer heat. Made up by planting some chillies and bitter gourd in containers, hoping to recreate my passion of growing our own food. However, the paucity of space is a big challenge here.

Meanwhile, there has been incessant rain this year, and subsequent waterlogging over most of Delhi-NCR. After years I am seeing parks full of water, and can hear the frogs croaking through the night without worrying about finding one or two inside my home. We  can finally enjoy the rains again! 

As the skies darken at midday with rain- laden clouds, it feels like living in a rainforest, as the son rightly said. Thankful for the choices made and the decisions taken last year.

The iconic Charbagh as seen from the Lucknow metro 

We also made a couple of weekend trips over the last two months. I felt they were easier to do from Delhi somehow, perhaps because of lesser travel time and better connection. 

Inside Keoladeo in Bharatpur 

Hoping the remaining months of the year go by well. Fingers crossed! 

Sunsets

As the days grow longer and the heat factor cranks up, here are some snapshots taken at the golden hour.

While the evenings look so gorgeous, the very same sun gets difficult to handle in the daytime.

Frequent spells of rain have brought some relief....and given us these beautiful sunsets. Those pink and orange hues have my heart - Nature's canvas for all to admire.

Hope your part of the world gives you something to be happy about. 😊

The Shortest Spring

 

Spring just sprang away this year! So here's a visual recap of the few high points.

A bed of blooming cornflowers that I spotted in the local park had this beautiful and unusual shade of purple.

This time my favourite season was surely a blink-and-miss, such was the intensity of the sun. We tried keeping cool with some yummy strawberry and cream. 

The daytime heat is almost touching 40 degrees and we are not even in mid-March. 

But thankfully we managed a lovely outing last month when the warm sun still felt good.

Bracing for a tough summer ahead...

Balcony Bliss

 

I am currently rediscovering the joys of a balcony. After living on the ground floor for the last half a dozen years, I am happy to be strung at treetop level again. 

Maroon chrysanthemums brightening my balcony 

Though I miss the expansive garden from our last home, including our backyard and veggie patch, the simplicity of container gardening has its own charm.

Parakeets are frequent visitors

Most days the first neighbours I see and hear are the feathered varieties. With open skies and a multitude of trees facing one balcony, birding comes as an in-house advantage.

A glimpse of the greens through the frosted window 

While the second balcony faces the road and a row of apartments, my greens give me ample opportunities to enjoy the space.

Republic Day flypast 

And on Republic Day, we viewed some amazing flypast by our armed forces since those beauties zoomed past right in front of our balcony.

Fresh Starts

 

After being away from this blog for a whole year, it is time to bring it up to speed. 2025 was quite transformational as we switched cities.... again! 

Only this time it was a return to the roots. To known haunts and familiar places. Except that we didn't realise how much our city had changed in the intervening years...

Every new beginning comes with its challenges.

Can you spot the rising sun in the smoke-filled sky?

Being in the most polluted, and the most densely populated city, are certainly tribulations not to be taken lightly. Both the human congestion and the man-made smog have been overwhelming to deal with.

Add to that the extremes of temperature, and one has quite a cocktail on hand.

However, a new year is meant to instill hope, and that is what floats our boat in 2026! Looking forward to a happening year that connects us to old friends and new experiences.

Pickled!

 

Today I patted myself for having come a long way indeed. From being that carefree girl in my 20s who didn't know how to cook and neither was interested in learning, to this awesome aunty in my 50s who is not only churning out three nutritious meals a day but also preparing perfect seasonal pickles or 'achaars' (right from gajar-shalgam to amla to red chillies). 

Wonder what my mum would say had she seen me in my present avatar. She always complained to her relatives that though I had a thriving corporate career, I just wouldn't learn cooking. So much so that when my then boyfriend (and now husband) came to ask for permission to marry me, she tried to dissuade him by saying what good would it be marrying a girl who couldn't cook!

But coming back to my achaars, I'm loving just how my little extra efforts have paid off well (thanks to a sunny winter). The family is enjoying each of my preparations and that gives me the encouragement to try these again next winter.

Joys of Backyard Birding

 

This month we have been birding in our backyard.... well almost, since the birding site is right behind our lane. And an unusual one at that - it is actually an open plot of vacant land that mostly lies undisturbed. Situated right next to the dispensary, it is an enclosed area with very little human footfall. Due to the growth of wild vegetation and tall grasses through the year, the area is preferred by the avian population. 

Many a times it is used as a breeding site. We have seen peafowl, egrets, lapwings, and herons before. This year due to the accumulation of stagnant brackish water, there are waterhen and black winged stilts as well.

During our walks around the neighbourhood, we make it a point to stop by this unusual birding site while it lasts. The chirps and twitters are pleasant to hear, especially in the evenings when the slanting sunlight gives the area a golden glow.

However, while the birds and their graceful flights look great, this swampy area actually points to a deeper malaise within the locality. Local residents are aware of the issues but the powers that be choose to ignore it. Six years of living in the neighbourhood have made us realise that systemic changes are impossible to pull off; the only options are to close our eyes to the problem, or grin and bear it. Of course there are more drastic measures that one may have to eventually take... 

But for now, I am loving this opportunity for backyard birding daily.

Update: Indian black glossy ibis spotted at this site on 15Feb2025.

Shiuli Season

 

When we moved into the ground floor apartment in Gurgaon, one of the first trees we planted was the Shiuli, more commonly known as the Harshingar or Parijat. Though my mother always had a shiuli plant in her well-maintained container garden, it had been a cherished wish of mine to have a shiuli tree of our own. Those lusciously fragrant dainty white flowers with their characteristic orange stems that fell as a carpet at the first touch of the sun tugged at my heartstrings. The sheer number of flowers laden on a tree planted directly in soil took the experience to another level. Those flowers and their heady fragrance held a lot of pleasant memories - of pujo, of the change of seasons and the onset of autumn, of my very identity as a Bengali. 

Shiuli flowers from our tree

The shiuli is a fairly large and tall tree, and an evergreen. It grows rapidly in the monsoon and requires a good pruning, so the flowers can come by autumn. But the flowering happens for only about a month in the entire year. And that month coincides with the peak festival season in most parts of India. Another reason why a glimpse of those flowers has happy associations.

Now the shiuli we planted in our front lawn started flowering right from the second year, giving us handfuls of white and orange every morning during season. As soon as the first rays of the sun touched the flowers, they would start dropping off, creating a fragrant carpet on the grass underneath. So we had a tradition of picking these flowers early morning, as soon as one was through with the morning ablution. Or sometimes between sips of hot tea. It was a revered tradition since the Bengali associate the shiuli flowering with the rise of the Divine Feminine.

Family tradition of Shiuli picking

But each morning as I plucked the shiuli, a few flowers invariably landed on the aloe vera shrub next to it. And aloe has thorns. Every attempt to reach the fragile shiuli flowers and brush them off the aloe reminded me of simple life lessons.

That much like life, the good and bad, the soft and the prickly, always show up together. And we have to navigate through the thorns to get to the beautiful flowers. Just like in life we have to wade through the unpleasant doggedly to get to enjoy a span of charming times. Then again, life is mostly mundane; the high points come only once in a while, like the festive season. And like the flowers of the shiuli. 

The last of the Shiuli flowers this year

So enjoy the good while it lasts, like the month-long shiuli season.

Chorchori Chronicles

Traditionally the Bengali staple mixed veg preparation called chorchori is supposed to have potatoes and spinach along with any three seasonal vegetables. As my mother taught me, there are five main players, hence the alternate name paanch-mishuli. So in winters, veggies like radish and cauliflower routinely make it to the chorchori mix, while in summers one finds bitter gourds, brinjals and pumpkins getting added.

Now here I was cooking chorchori in the rains, so the essential spinach was missing. It is anyway advisable not to consume these greens during monsoon as they spoil faster and host a few creepy crawlies. So I decided to try leaves from my moringa tree instead. Totally not kosher, as any Bengali mashima would tell you! 

Moringa tree in the backyard 

But while being experimental I discovered that the moringa leaves added an interesting nutty flavour to the chorchori. Also since they grow high above the ground unlike spinach, their leaves do not get spoilt by the rain. And, their health benefits are many. 

A closer view of our moringa forest

Moringa is a hardy tree, pretty resistant to the vagaries of the weather. Then why not give a modern twist to the traditional chorchori and enjoy it every season. If the spinach is unable to pull through our current climate change, an alternative is on hand already.

Notes From The Backyard - II

 

The Sunbirds' Story

Our old friends - the Purple Sunbird couple - returned this year to raise their family in our home again. But this time they chose the backyard to expand their brood. And from all the options available to them in our rather expansive backyard (including a man-made hanger similar to last year's hen chime), the sunbirds chose the bare, flimsy-looking branches of the Laburnum for making their precious nest. The nest was so low that it was at my eye level, and we were scared of potential attacks by predators once the eggs hatched.

The original nest of the sunbirds

Well, nature has its own ways and who are we to question that! The bare branches of the Laburnum soon filled out with new leaves, providing the perfect coverage that was required for the nest. All was going well - the eggs were laid and hatched on time, and the nest was sturdy enough to withstand occasional gusts of wind. Till one afternoon the unthinkable happened.... the leaf to which the nest was tied dried up, shrivelling in the hot loo winds, and fell to the ground, taking the nest with it. But the sunbird babies were lucky and landed on one of our plant pots. All this while the parents were blissfully unawares!

The makeshift nest in a cardboard box 

With the diminishing evening light, we swung into action. A cardboard box was quickly procured to house the nest with the babies, a hole cut in the middle so the sunbird parents could safely latch on, and this makeshift nest promptly tied up at the same place as the original nest so the parents could easily find it.

Thankfully, the parents warmed up to the new arrangement soon and started feeding the startled babies in right earnest. 

But our joy was short-lived as the very next morning, one of the babies got impatient and in trying to chase its mother, fell out of the nest. As we ran inside to get something to pick it up from the hot floor, in all probability the garden gecko had a swift feast. Saddened by the loss we kept an eagle eye on the remaining two sunbird babies.

Comfortably ensconced in the new nest

And predictably in the next couple of weeks they jauntily flew out of the makeshift nest.

The last sunbird baby on our drying stand after flying out 

Another year, another happy ending!

Notes From The Backyard - I

Mango Out, Laburnum In

It is incredible how the passage of time brings about changes - in people and in places. Sometimes the change is quick and therefore more evident, and at other times it evolves at its own pace, slowly but surely, before one suddenly realises that things have changed. The same can be seen in our backyard.

As I wrote in some of my previous posts (that you can read here and here), the lush mango tree was the centrepiece of our backyard. Once that came down, the place looked a little barren, almost lacking character. But it also made the house feel much hotter, with no green canopy providing any shade. So last monsoon we decided to plant an amaltas or yellow laburnum tree in place of the mango.

Yellow Laburnum sapling - June 2023

Though many friends suggested we plant another fruit tree, but given the propensity for termite infestation in the area, we chose a flowering tree instead. Amaltas is also appropriate for the arid climate and clayey soil of Gurugram, and hence a locally viable species.

Yellow Laburnum in April 2024

Its abundant blossoms in summer, hanging merrily in bunches of bright yellow, look so beautiful as they spread a sweet scent in the air. So our vote went to the laburnum.

Purple sunbird nest hanging from a Laburnum branch 

Now barely a year old, the tree is already housing its first nest, all thanks to the sunbird family. Augurs well for the tree and the home, I hope! 🤞🏼🤞🏼

Celebrating April

 

April is always a busy and festive sort of month in our home. Sharing with you some glimpses of the month...

The first week we celebrate a birthday, and the next week we mark the anniversary of our move along with the start of the Bengali new year. 

This is also the month when the onset of summer becomes evident and the garden is full of the seasonal blossoms before the hot winds of May and June make everything barren. 

Our home has always been blessed with bowls full of sweet-smelling blossoms -- shiulis in autumn and bel or jasmine in summers. A tradition started by my mother and one that we happily continue.

For this year's new year celebration we served square rava idlis along with avocado on toast, a first for us. The avo guacamole turned out delicious and creamy and the idli-chutney combo made a hearty meal. Of course we prepared the traditional payesh too but forgot to click a picture.

Magical Milestone

Today we completed five years of living in our current abode. Five years that passed rather quickly, I must admit! 

Much water has flown under the bridge since we came in.... and nowhere is the growth more apparent than in the way we have settled into a routine about everything, despite the frequent changes that we seem to face here. And of course, the growth can be seen in the children - from gangly teenagers loathe to changing schools in their higher classes, they gracefully dealt with a pandemic, a few losses, and a plethora of life lessons. And have now transformed into beautiful young adults who make us both happy and proud. But I digress...

Us in 2019

Today, on the auspicious occasion of the harvest festival Baisakhi, we had moved in five years back with dreams in our eyes and excitement in our hearts. Many of those dreams materialised, while some surprises were sprung at us too. But then, such is life - a mix of sweet and sour! 

Us in 2024

As we stepped out on the front porch today to enjoy the rainy afternoon, an amazing experience unfolded. A large bunch of rosy starlings chose to present their magical dance in the sky right before our eyes. 

Watching their mystical murmuration right over our heads seemed like a divine gift to mark our milestone in this abode. And perhaps a portent of things to come... But we all were so absorbed in watching the spectacle unfold that we didn't realise the camera wasn't recording. Such divine experiences are meant to be remembered only by the mind's eye!

Another Kitchen Makeover

If you look back through this blog, I had shared a kitchen-related post way back in November 2020. Much has changed around the kitchen since then as it seems to be the one place in the house that requires constant work.

Kitchen in 2019

To start with, the house next door got sold a little over a year back. The new owners wanted to carry out renovations as per their taste. Since one of the kitchen walls is shared, their over-the-top tile work had immediate repercussions in ours. The dampness caused one wall to peel through the year, barely six months after I had a patchwork paint job done for the peeling in 2022.

Meanwhile the adjoining wall with a wooden cabinet fared worse. It suffered an acute termite infestation and the cabinet had to be discarded, leaving behind a marked wall.

Missing cabinet - 2023

We had to rearrange all the crockery and stocks that were in the discarded cabinet. We also got a made-to-order iron rack in the kitchen that could hold the essentials like flour and rice.

Kitchen in 2024

Earlier this month when a neighbour was getting a house-painting job done, we got our kitchen a fresh coat too. The slab is still crowded but at least everything looks spring-cleaned.

My learning from these repeated episodes of kitchen renovation: the modular style just does not work here for the long term. Local workmen fool residents into believing that the newest materials are superior and will make a difference but the reality is far from that. In a place prone to general dampness, termite attacks, and even flooding, the only viable option is a metal and stone kitchen. The kitchen in my parents' DDA apartment fared much better, lasting well over 35+ years!

A Rookery In The Making

 

Last month on our evening walks we noticed droves of egrets and herons flying overhead in a particular part of our block. It was a magical sight, no doubt and we wondered what brought these water birds to be so close to human habitats.

On probing further, some obvious reasons emerged. The upcoming expressway in the vicinity must have disturbed their earlier haunts due to the construction noise, pollution, and sudden influx of activities. Meanwhile, the shady clump of trees in this part of our block provided the ideal coverage for these birds to spend the night comfortably and undisturbed. Slowly their numbers grew...

Till a friend informed us that the people living in the nearby houses were struggling to keep the area clean. Droppings, dead birds, clumps of feathers, and that peculiar smell associated with water birds made it difficult for the residents to cope.

I researched some more and suggested that the clump of trees should be cut to limit their numbers. It seemed to work for a little while but then they returned. Once egrets and herons start nesting at a site, it is difficult to dislodge them. Really feel sorry for the affected residents but in the process I learnt about rookeries - a colony of egrets and herons.

Their graceful flight is a pleasure to watch every evening. I hope in future we come upon a solution whereby both birds and humans can happily coexist.

Winter Flora and Fauna

The cold has been pretty brutal this year, mostly because we have hardly seen any sunshine. What should have been a cheery first post in the new year actually got to the finish line only because I had done my homework in the last month itself, when the sun was still out and the year-end festive feels kept up my mood somehow.

Indian Pioneer butterfly 🦋

All the creatures you see here have long disappeared due to the intense cold, fog and sunless days. So have the flowers...

But just a month back the skies were so clear and blue, that it appeared every creature was in celebratory mode. Including our national bird, that gave us quite a few grand appearances on our evening walks.

Proud peacock 🦚

While our chrysanthemums were blooming, this fellow would appear almost every day to bask in the sunshine. But once the weather turned grey and bleak, the poor guy turned black and sluggish, trying to warm itself on our front porch.

Garden gecko 🦎

I was intrigued by the colour of its wings, and initially mistook it for a bumblebee variety. Till I discovered it's real identity and saw it furiously collecting nectar from whatever blossoms it could find.

Carpenter bee 🐝

Finally a glimpse of our Lohri bonfire this year to beat the cold. Was a very short window of relief but we made good memories.

Praying for the sun to be out soon and for the soul-withering cold to abate.