Yugadiya Maavu... Bevu... Hoovu

Dharwad pyaatyag maavu... bevu... hoovu...

Bombay Mithai Gulaaaabi...!

Sllluuurrrrrp, Smaccck, Drrrrrooool....

Who hasn't coveted this PINKY PINK Bombai Mithai... Who hasn't been enticed by the magic of these wispy pink clouds on sticks...

This huge cloud of wispy spun sugar looked so enticing at the jaatri, that one had to throw a tantrum or two for it and get it eventually! And then began the fabulous journey of pulling out fluffy bits of that pink cloud, propping your head backward ever so slightly, opening your mouth wide and placing the wisp straight on your tongue and closing your mouth to sit back and let the Bombay Mithai do it's magical bit of melting all over your tongue...

Hmmm, wasn't that a heavenly experience...! :)

By my tears! Onion flowers can be stunning...!

I call it a white sun-burst and Joanna calls it white fireworks...!
Whatever! These flowers are simply stunning!

The most lazily thrown together clutter of flowers...
Yet it manages to appear utterly aesthetic...!

The eager beaver...
Holding on patiently to his excitement and waiting in the wings to burst forth...!

A bunch of green pungent straws...

Spreading an aura...

A miracle called spring...!

 Yesterday the twig was brown and bare;
To-day the glint of green is there;
Tomorrow will be leaflets spare;
I know no thing so wondrous fair,
No miracle so strangely rare.
I wonder what will next be there!
L H Bailey

Do you spy the specks of green?
Very soon the pepul is going to be full of fresh green tender leaves,
Shimmering in the winter sunlight like sequins,
Quivering with nervous excitement,
The fever is catching on,
... And the streets will burst with the freshness of spring,
Ah! What a joy to be in this pretty little town called... Dharwad

 
A few days back I'd spied the specks of green on this stately pepul that heralded the arrival of spring in Dharwad,

And today this sentinel on UB hill like it's lovely counterparts elsewhere, is flush with verdant green leaves quivering with excitement in the breeze and glistening in the morning sunlight...

What a wonderful sight it made! And I'm so glad I got my camera back in time! I didn't want to miss capturing this stage, this spectacle, for within a few weeks this lovely shade of viridian green will disappear, and the leaves will be back to a dusty nondescript green.

These are the first few pictures I shot the moment I got my camera in my hands!
I do hope you enjoy the experience as much as I did... :)

 
A week later... the tree is flush with bright green leaves...

The huge trunk is barely visible through the horde of excited leaves...

Very soon, these bright green leaves will settle down to a mellow darker green and probably not elicit the same excitement, the same awe...! Wonder whether anyone would even glance up at it...?

I know what I have to do! Just like I managed to draw a small crowd and many curious glances, everythime I pulled out my camera and spent a few moments around the beautiful trees of Dharwad.... I have to keep going to these trees when ever I can and put up a small show to attract attention to these treasures...

And hopefully giving them a glance would slowly become a habit... :)

The apparition...

This morning while I was walking from Yemmikeri towards Mahishi road on my photo jaunts, I decided to step into one of the more shaded lanes as the young summer sun was getting the better of me...

As I side stepped into this lane, I spied an old old house with an even older mango tree spreading it's grotesquely twisted branches all over the the crumbling house...

As always I was immediately drawn to it as I am to all things old, crumbling, rusty, mouldy, mossy, fungusy... I trained my lens on the ruined part of the house and looked intently through the view finder to get a good composition. That's when I see this old woman in a typical Dharwad seeri and kupsa with something in her arm. It seemed like she came from nowhere, for just a few seconds back, before I'd fixed my eye to the view finder I'd seen no one and there she was in the frame right now!

For a moment my hair stood on edge and a chill went down my spine. But then my aesthetic sense prevailed, for she lent her slender waif like self so appropriately to the picture that I had no time to waste... And I went CLICK...!

Even before the clicking sound had died, my eye had peeled itself from the view finder and was fervently looking out for the lady... or was that an apparition...! For, folks I spent a whole five minutes looking for her inside and around the crumbling walls, she was nowhere to be seen...!! I'm sure she must have walked away as quickly as she had walked into the frame... Hopefully...

Now, that was some spooky start to my Saturday photo jaunt... :D

Come play hide and seek with me, said the squirrel

The giant malabar squirrel did indeed put up a special show for us...

Idu namm manig hogo daari...