Fleeting frames of glowing magic...

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The winter morning sun casting a warm ethereal glow, my pretty grape ivy and my camera... The result? Chimerical frames of glowing magic...!
This glowing drama lasts for just a few minutes. I've gotta catch it while it lasts. Or, poof, it's gone no sooner than it's begun... 

 

Stepping back in time...

Spotted this tiny shop that showcased all those quaint implements and tools that we'd seen around the house as kids. Back then, we never bothered to even give them as much as a second glance... And today, we wonder where they've disappeared... Each trip to the market, and our eyes are fervently looking out to see if we can spot even one of those...

The tiny verandah/jagali of this narrow tunnel of a house on Lakshi Narayan Gudi road, is a treasure trove of all those long lost everyday thingies...! For, there is still a large section of homes out here in these narrow lanes that still sport these utilities and actually use them everyday... There's everything, right from the heavy iron dvashi hanchus, deep rotti tevis, stone/wooden hitta naado koluvgis, haarikallus, eelgis, iron baalgis with large handles, wooden lattuguni manis, kurchgis, kudgols, koitas, and so many more of such items that we've almost forgotten. This shop even had wire rat-traps, that I was fervently trying to locate for a long time...!!! (I still haven't managed to spy a wooden one though)

A few minutes of rummaging this shop and you are transported back in time to those days when going to the market with avva/moushi/maami/kaaku/ajji and searching the lanes and by-lanes for simple everyday stuff like this for the home (That was got literally at a steal) was what made our days complete...

The elusive rat trap... spotted at last...! :)

And when I turn around, what do I see? Most of the stuff from the shop being sold by two enterprising women, raste myaale, right opposite, at a better deal... Yen antiri...? :D

Ahmed Bhai and his tenginkai angadi...

Ahmed Bhai's quaint little coconut shack is the first to greet you as you get down the stairs to the kaipalle pyaati...

Ahmed Bhai's is from where we bought coconuts, right from the time I came shopping for vegetables with Granny way back in the early 80's. Back then, his shop was just a small three-by-three carpet made of sack cloth sewn together and he was a sprightly young man carrying sack-loads of coconuts day in and day out...

Today, 70 year old Ahmed Bhai owns this modest six-by-eight shack fashioned all by himself out of old wooden crates, tin hoardings and loads of sack cloth... He is assisted by his son who does most of the hauling now.

There's something about Ahmed Bhai, his quaint lil shack, these lovely brown coconuts that always fascinated me no end. This beautiful monochrome, almost sepia frame was what I feasted my eyes on every time I was in the Pyaati... Even today, two years after having shifted to Kalyan Nagar, I still make it a point to take a bus to CBT, walk down to the kaipalle pyaati every once in a while... And kaipalle shopping isn't complete without a "Salaam Ahmed Bhai. Kaise ho? Do achhe nariyal nikaal ke do please..."

Namma Dharwad Pyaatyagina Dasara...!

 

This spot (Near Ghisulal Mehta's shop) on Subhash road, is where the sale of Dasara flowers, mango leaves and other auspicious paraphernalia begins...

 Opposite the old Maniyar fancy store...

That is the old old building that houses the Arya Vysya bank...
The old building and the rain tree beside it are my favourites... An artists delight...! Don't they make an utterly aesthetic twosome?

 The gray building in the background is the newly renovated Tikare General Stores...

 I'm sure it must have been difficult making a choice...
Today, every single flower was as fresh as could be...! :)

 It was a rare moment indeed, when their hands stopped just for those fleeting few seconds... and my camera went click before those hands began flying again and I lost the chance... :)

 Ah, finally a deal struck for the lil boy...!
I'd been watching him all along. He was waiting eagerly with just one bunch of jowar stalks from long... Everyone walked away without even so much as a glance. And then finally this guy on the motorcycle chanced to stop right in front of him... :)

 Towards the far end of Subhash road, opposite Mehta Sadi Centre...

 At Kamath Circle...
This guy and his two brothers are regulars at this spot since ten years...

 One of my dear Dasara/Diwali friends Gangavva (In blue) from Narendra village... She very proudly introduced me to her new daughter-in-law Parvati, who had accompanied her to our Dharwad Pyaati for the first time... :)

 Kumbalkai, another favourite... :)

 Was fortunate to get all four in one frame... :)

 Tireless hands and a never ending mound of flowers...
I bought as much chandhoovu as I could from her and a few others. I just hope all of them were able to make a fair profit for all the effort they've put in to grow these lovely flowers...

 And then, my new friends- sweet lil Dyamavva and her brother Parshya (Parshuram) with their mother...

 Parshya hopped alongside me (Smiling and chatting away) all through till my feet were sore from walking and it was time for me to leave for home... :)

Lil Dyamavva gave me the best smile I've ever seen...! She lit my day and made it all the more special...!! :)

Evening silhouettes around my muse...