Roman Days - Spent with Caesar - He takes me for a walk

It was a balmy November evening and as always Caesar our 3 year old golden Labrador took me for a walk. Yes, unlike my previous pet Pomeranian, Caesar was the one who would lead the way. He would hold one end of the leash in his mouth – while the other end would be in my grip – and then he would decide the route for the day.
Caesar’s addition to the household coincided with my leaving for the college. The first 3 years were the years of great change for both of us. I was becoming a very thin, bearded engineer while he was transforming from a fluffy ball of wool to a slightly overweight, very adorable and cuddly golden lab. It had become hard for anyone apart from close family and friends to recognize me – while Caesar by accompanying Mummy and Papa on a 2.5 km morning walk circuit had become a well-known personality.

Anyway, coming back to that November evening when I was home during a semester break and Caesar was taking me for a walk. We were enjoying the peace and quiet when suddenly I heard someone shout:

“Aiyee – where are you taking the Vakil Sahib’s dog?”

It was none other than a neighborhood dairy owner, who as expected did not recognize me.My mouth went dry, as I frantically tried to recall the dairy owner’s name. Finally I could squeak it out and convince him that I wasn’t taking the Vakil Sahib’s dog anywhere and instead it was Caesar who was taking me for a walk.

My Guava Days

Or maybe my Guava months, or, better still years. And why restrict myself to guavas, I can very well say – my Mango days, my papaya days, custard apple, litchi, narangi and even jackfruit days.

Yes these are the trees I grew up with. Many of them, like the Mango and the  Guava are still there, while few like the narangi and the litchi have been chopped off.

The mango tree still bears the mark of the great fall. There was a period in summer holidays when we were monkeys and even had our breakfast sitting on the mango tree. One typical morning, after the breakfast was finished perched on the tree, I asked Manika – “What if the branch breaks?” – next moment both of us were lying flat on the ground. The mango tree still has the mark where the branch used to be. It does not look that great a fall now. The branch that used to be touching the sky does not look that high anymore. But it was pretty exciting the day we fell. Lots of turmeric milk to prevent any clots and a little pampering through the day.

Guava tree was another friendly tree we had. A tree we shared with parrots, squirrels, mynahs and cousins. We learnt from the squirrels the habit of tasting the fruit before plucking it – and after a while there were many half eaten fruits hanging from the branches – few bore the parrots’ marks, while others were from squirrels and yet other from my sister and me.

It is an art to find a comfortable perch on the guava tree. You see its branches are not smooth; many stumps and twigs poke you – and only after a period of discovery you arrive at the perch most suited to you. There is never a dull moment up in the tree. If you stay still you can observe parrots and squirrels. And if you stay hidden and very quiet, you can even catch red handed the neighborhood boy stealing your guavas.

Did you know that few good guavas can fetch you coke and snacks. Yes, when you take the ripe Allahabadi Guavas to your friends, and to your Buas and Chachas, you get treated well – cold drinks, samosas and sweets – all are offered to you.

There are many ways of eating a guava. The uninitiated might just cut it into quarters and eat. But that suits only the ripe ones. In the peak season, all of us used to have great fun harvesting the fruits. We would pluck the fruits in various colours and sizes – some small, some big. Some were bright yellow while others were little pale. Some had red pigments, while others were green. The less ripe, bordering on raw would go to Amma to be processed into chutney, the ripe and yellow ones to be quartered and eaten. The bright yellow ones had to be handled differently – outer juicy core had to be nibbled and the seedy core could serve as a good ball to practice your bowling. You might ask me – “What about the guava with the red pigments? How should that be eaten?” Oh that was a special one – something to fight for and gobble before anyone else claimed it.

Ah! Those were the guava days – their sweet and sour smell is still strong.

After a small gap

Haven't written much off-late.. coming back after a while.

It's a trip down the memory lane - triggered by a birding trip we went on this weekend.
I was never good at kite flying - but that did not take away the joy of accompanying my friends as they went about flying them. It was one such evening when disaster stuck. A vulture got stuck in the sharp thread of the kite and came crashing down.
It fell next to our boundary wall - and we rushed to take a look at it. I don't recollect now the exact type it was - maybe it was the Egyptian Vulture or who knows it might have been a white backed vulture. There were just too many vultures and no one loved them. Anyway, I was not so keen into bird watching back then.
We did not know much about what to feed it. We had a pet dog and I knew that it used to like milk. So I borrowed its pan, poured some milk and kept it next to the hurt vulture. Of course vulture did not care much for the milk - and we did not know much about how to take care of it.
How I wish - we all knew how to care of the vultures back then.
Fast forward to the weekend birding trip. Almost after a gap of 30 years, I was lucky to have seen a Vulture in its natural habitat. For my children, it was a first time they had sighted the vulture - can you believe it! What a rare sight it has become! It seems there are 20-25 vultures in the hillocks near Ramanagara, so we took a detour to it while coming back from Ranganthitu and were rewarded by the rare sight.
Somehow that "extra" sight was more thrilling than all the Ibis, Storks and Pelicans we saw at Ranganthitu. The bird was perched high up in a hole on the cliff. The camera battery was dying out - and the guard at the check-post was telling us to hurry - but we were lucky enough to click a snap or two and capture that bird and moment for eternity.