The Mango Tree Saga

The mango tree has always been an integral part of our love for this house. The first time we stepped in to see the house with our agent, the mango tree caught my eye. Green and lush, it gave the backyard a focal point and much-needed character. That it also produced fruits was not of much importance. What mattered was the perfect canopy it provided, given our location in the sunny tropics. 

After we had officially bought the property and repairs had commenced, the agent got the mango tree chopped a bit to give it a definitive shape. I remember it looked shorn when we moved in, and I missed its shady canopy. 

But in the next couple of years, the mango tree became lush again, and its canopy expansive. The shade it provided was so inviting that we spent many an afternoon working on our creative projects in its cool embrace. 

Situated right outside our bedroom, it was also a favourite with the birds, as their noisy chirrups woke us every morning. As we lay in bed on hot and endless summer days, looking at the lush leaves outside made us feel as if we were lying right under the mango tree. 

Just after moving in, we had an amusing episode with a bunch of local kittens who scrambled up the mango tree in a bid to escape us. You can read more about that here. For the first couple of years, the tree did not bear too many fruits. I made chutneys from the handful we got, happy to have gotten any produce at all. But last year the bees were plentiful and the tree filled up with flowers.

Soon there were fruits showing up aplenty in all the branches, filling our hearts with joy. Just the sight of them dangling cheerily, never mind the strong gusts of summer loo, gave us a lesson or two in resilience. 

And this was when the Delta strain of coronavirus was wreaking havoc everywhere. While we also lost loved ones, this tree and its bountiful fruits gave us hope. Hope that life always renews itself.

In June we harvested a huge crop of sweet, juicy mangoes that we distributed to family and neighbours as well. Basketfuls of the king of fruits right in our backyard was such an indescribable blessing!

Then in July that year, the rains came in torrents, filling up the roads and open stretches, and with water entering our houses. Even after the rains subsided, the ground remained wet and humid for weeks. That is when the termites came, making the mango tree trunk their home and eating away its roots. They ravaged the mango tree from its very core, despite all our efforts to fight them. And slowly the tree dried up, its leaves turning a sickly brown. 

We waited till spring, hoping against hope that something may sprout again. But when nothing showed up, finally last month, about a fortnight after we completed three years in this house, we had to let the tree go...

The backyard looks barren now, and we feel exposed and open to the prying eyes of neighbours. It has been heartbreaking losing the mango tree; it truly feels like losing a family member all over again. Such was the benign motherly presence of our beloved mango tree! 

A saga that ended much too soon...

Colours of Spring 2022

 

After one of the coldest winters on record, spring just didn't last long enough this year. Though this is a gripe I have almost every year, day temperatures warmed up so quickly this time that it felt as if we moved straight from winters to summers. 

But before we melt in the intense heat of full-blown summers, here are the best shots from the front garden.

I also changed my planting strategy this time and focussed on the hardy varieties that blossom easily without much fuss. 

Plus I created mixed pockets of colour all over the garden instead of keeping each area of a specific colour/variety. 

Decoratives and edibles blossomed side-by-side, like the poppies and brinjals.

Our newly created mosaic garden stake only added to the colours and drama.

Our red roses blossomed well, and were huge. Though we didn't get any cauliflowers, we got a profusion of gobhi-ke-phool!

In the final burst, lots of roses and some phloxes added a burst of colour. 

But they barely lasted a week since summer arrived a whole month early. And even as I write this post, Spring is already over!

Coolest Summer Ever

 

This year we are having the coolest summer in some seven decades! Logistics apart, there have been just a few hot days yet, and the frequent showers are mostly welcome (be it for cyclones Tauktae and Yaas, or the western disturbances). So here's capturing this cool summer in pictures for posterity.

Rainy skies brought gorgeous sunsets...

And a profusion of flowers and mangoes!

Our annual kitten litter also arrived.... all brownies this time.

The backyard turned visibly greener...

And the pumpkin flowers stole the show...

But nothing could beat the bumper mango crop after a two year wait - 4 baskets full and more! Must easily be a 5kg harvest. 

As each of us took turns to pluck some, I am hoping these memories and pictures will stay timeless.

Cat Tales Revisited

Remember the cat story I shared last year? Well, I have no clue what happened to those cats but this time there is a fresh feline family to tell about, so here goes....

As we discovered towards the beginning of the lockdown, living the cat life during quarantine isn't easy. Especially if you choose to produce kittens in Corona times!

So one fine morning, I spotted our neighbourhood fat cat jumping into our backyard with something in its mouth. Naturally, given her catty instincts, I assumed it to be a juicy pigeon or a large rat. With the maids already in absentia due to the lockdown, I was horrified at the prospect of cleaning up after the fat cat. Cleaning up our own lunch leftovers was already enough for me! In a bid to scare her away, I went running right out into the backyard, screaming like a banshee for added effect. Only to see the fat cat jump walls deftly and disappear into an upstairs balcony. So far, so good. But soon she was back, crossing through the backyard again.

Meanwhile, hearing the earlier commotion, hubby had parked himself near the glass door to oversee fat cat's antics. So when she returned this time, and paused near our vegetable patch to tighten her hold on whatever she was carrying, hubby promptly switched on his camera. And what did we discover - fat cat was ferrying her kittens across!

Tiny bundles of fur, two black and two brown, were taken by turns to a new location. Apparently, cats have a tendency to change their location several times when they give birth; that is a strategy to keep the mewing, helpless kittens safe from predators.

After the transposition was done, all was quiet again. Now, as luck would have it or maybe by sheer design, fat cat landed with her kittens in the milk hoarder's balcony. All was well till the babblers and mynahs descended on the mango tree in the evening. Sitting on the topmost branches gave them a field view of the balcony, and the occasional mewing of the kittens confirmed their presence. The birds put up a spirited cacophony but fat cat being a smart mommy chased them all away.

A couple of days went by peacefully till the milk hoarder's son discovered the feline family sheltering in their balcony. His screams, followed by his mom's screams, forced fat cat to again change her family location. They are now, in all probability, housed in the yard of an empty house next door. As fat cat is seen daily ambling across our backyard, in search of food in these lockdown days. And that is the story of a cat in quarantine!

  

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