THE BEAUTY OF TREES - WHEN WINTER WORKS OUT MAGIC

These pictures were shot around Renton, Washington State, U.S.A. Winter weaved magic all over the place.

THE BIGGEST FIND

Saddled with the burdens of life,
That sowed in me, seeds of strife,
I sulked at most of what life gave,
And wanted more of a perfect wave.


And while I was on an evening stroll,
I heard a kind of rock and roll.
And there I saw up in the sky,
The clouds dance with spirits so high.


I asked the clouds on what I saw,
As I watched the sky in stunning awe.
They told me that it was party time,
For all that life gave them each time.


Looking again, at the deep blue sky,
I just thought, and wondered why,
The sky looked great with a clouded drape,
But the clouds did lack a permanent shape.


I asked the clouds on what they felt,
On lying loose like wax that melt.
They told me it’s a role they play,
Where they loved being used like potter’s clay.


I told them that I could not see,
A bold and distinct identity,
They told me it’s a role they play,
Where God above had the final say.


I warned them that they would go on a loss,
When the winds would take them for a big toss,
But they told its best to lose oneself,
In serving others and thus find oneself.


I then realized how true it was,
To lose oneself while working for a cause,
For the best reward that we could have,
Is to find our self from all that we have.

LITTLE ROCKETS IN THE SKY

My daughter lit a little rocket,

And it took off in all speed, into the sky,

It filled the dark sky with all sparkles,

But then the sky was dark again.

And then went another rocket,

And then another and another,

But still the sky remained,

The same dark expanse as before.

For a moment I felt,

That we all should sometimes be,

Those little diwali rockets surging into the sky,

To keep our life bright and cheerful.

For the dark forces will continue,

To bring eternal gloom into our lives,

Wars, terrorism, sickness and poverty,

And a lot more will always remain.

But let us always strive to be,

Those little promising rockets of fire,

That will incessantly continue to bring,

Light into the darkness of human lives.

THE BEAUTY OF TREES - WONDERFUL FORMATIONS

These snaps were shot around Renton, Washington State, U.S.A. Autumn had just set in. 

A TWILIGHT SILHOUETTE

This is the Kapaleeshwar Temple at Chennai, India. This was a random shot from my camera. I love the golden hues of clouds in the backdrop, with the temple's silhouette standing tall as dusk is slowly taking over. And of course that coconut tree you see right through the door....

TWILIGHT FROM A CAR AT TOP SPEED.......

I shot this when me and my family were heading back to Renton from the San Juan Islands in Washington State, USA. It was a great trip and I feel nice that I was able to take this shot while in the car, whilst the sun was still holding on out there heading for another sunset.

MILKY WHITE SNOW SPOTTED WITH CONIFERS

LIFE'S SEPARATED DRIVES

Faraway from you in a distant land,
Filled with chilly wind and snow,
Nature’s magic wand,
Seems to make everything, around glow.

The Almighty paints in majestic aura,
This winter painting in snow white grandeur,
Spotted with a myriad of flora,
Leaving every envious artist to revere.

But blind is my mind,
While nature unveils this beautiful face,
And a joy in this I cannot find,
For my eyes do a mere empty gaze.

You know I am here to make some penny,
Having daily trysts with loneliness,
And what’s money without you honey,
With me wallowing here in emptiness?

The pressing needs of life drove me here,
And so did dire situations keep you there.
You will agree on all these, I am sure
Else, to separate us who would dare?

At a station often looking yonder,
Dreaming that you would by some train arrive,
These parallel tracks make me ponder,
Whether our life would be one separated drive.

Darling will not that day come?
When destiny will bring us again together,
And also bless us with money handsome,
To meet our pressing needs forever.

P.S: I wrote this poem while I was at onsite, seperated from family. This snap came along with a lot of other snaps from my friend Anirban Chanda, during his visit to Japan. But it was this snap in which I found, that there was so much that I could relate to, from my perspective and also from the body language of my friend as seen there.

DREAM STREAMS THAT QUENCH

Our heart is replete with dreams,
Dreams that we hold on with such passion.
It runs through our life like streams,
Leading to the sea of our mission.

We see oysters of coarse talent,
Lie within us as in a deep sea.
Let’s gather the hidden pearls without relent,
And exhibit them for the world to see.

For a thrust of love we yearn,
For a pat from a dear or near one,
Who could drive us in our zest to learn,
And explore all the oysters under the sun.

Let us work to realize that big dream,
When every pearl of our talent refined,
Would prove to be a quenching stream,
For mortals with lives confined.

RISE O'MEEK SOUL, RISE

The life of every human is a sequence of wars,
That he battles to realize his inner self, everyday.
The chivalrous are proud of their battle scars,
But the meek pant and struggle to find their way.

When some morose moments of failure in life,
Drag the meek into straits that are dire,
Deep down their hearts, they cry in strife,
As embers of glowing sorrow break into emotional fire.

O' fellowmen, don't you know you are at fault,
When you laugh at the failures of the meek, like preying hounds,
For your ridicule is like burning salt,
Applied on searing battle wounds.

Rise O' meek soul, rise in faith and fight,
Like the Phoenix from the pyre, may your rise be invincible,
For the golden crown of victory awaits acts of might,
By the brave and indomitable.

BEAUTIFUL STRETCHES OF WATER...

When you take a drive from Coonoor towards Ooty, we have the Pine forest somewhere in between. Take a walk down through the trees and you will reach this beautiful piece of still water you see below..

The snap below is that of another spot closer to Ooty, the Pykra lake. We missed the boating stint out here, but enjoyed the view from this height. You will notice that the banks are plain, slopy and smooth and there is a kind of emptiness lingering all over here.

And the rest are that of the Ooty Lake. We had a boat ride here. The banks are full with green growth in total contrast to the Pykra Lake. We spotted more birds here and the emptiness was never there.

THE RESULT OF HARD WORK AND COMMITMENT

In Coonoor, in the little space of a small guest house, we spotted this beautiful garden. It's gardener Munnuswamy is a very diffident and unassuming person, known may be to a few in and around that place. But his enthusiasm, hard work and commitment is very much out here for all of us to see. Munnuswamy's garden bagged the trophy for the first prize again this year, at the Ooty Flower Show, and he has been consistently winning the same for the last 4 years under more than one prize category.

Often I analyze, to understand, if a human can generate hard work and commitment on the fly. The truth is that he can't. The main fuel that generates these two, is the interest and enthusiasm. We all have to enjoy what we do, and only then will our outputs reach higher planes of quality.

Many times I read about our great national leaders, sportsmen, business leaders and draw inspiration from their lives , from the way they carry about themselves, and from all the things they are able to do as though it happens with a wave of a magic wand. But we have ordinary humans in the small corners of this earth, who are never in the limelight, who are unknown to most of us, but still generate work and outputs of such high quality.

And Munnuswamy is certainly one of the very few, who have grabbed my attention, giving me a high and an inspiration in what I do everyday.

WHAT CAN WE DO FOR THIS MARSH AND THE BEAUTIFUL BIRDS OUT THERE???

Atleast thrice every week, I spend some time watching the Pallikaranai marsh from the top floors of my office building. This wetland is part of the Pallikarnai Forest Block in Thoraipakkam. This is a wonderful swamp with bio-shield reeds that saves Chennai from floods. It has been declared a Reserve Forest and approximately 114 bird species have been recorded.

This is the remaining part of the huge marsh that once existed and where a large number of birds flocked. A large part of this marsh got eaten up, by the dumping of waste and the still unquenched real estate thirst of real estate heroes that hit the city years back. Birds still flock this wetland and the surrounding trees in huge numbers during the seasons.…

An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem located within a body of water. Here we have communities of organisms that are dependent on each other and on their environment.

The Wikipedia states that the topography of the swamp is such that it always retains some storage, thus forming an aquatic ecosystem. It has been a home for naturally occurring plants (61 species), fish (50 species), birds (106 species), butterflies (7 species), reptiles (21 species) and some exotic floating vegetation such as water hyacinth and water lettuce, which are less extensive now and highly localized.
Recent reports of the appearance of the White-spotted garden skink which belong to the family of lizards, for the first time in Tamil Nadu, and Russell’s viper, the largest and the most widespread among Asian viper snakes, confirm its invaluable ecological status. Fish such as Dwarf gourami and Chromides that are widely bred and traded worldwide for aquaria, occur naturally in Pallikaranai.
Besides, the Windowpane oyster, Mud crab, Mullet, Halfbeak and Green chromide are some of the estuarine fauna present in the marsh. Birds like the Pied avocets and the Greater flamingo also frequent this wetland.

The pictures below are a proof, of the extremely bad situation of a part of this lake, lying on the opposite side, of the road that cuts across this lake. The city's garbage dump is growing in size out there and right now it's almost the size of a small mountain.What is seen as greyish stretches beside the water is the garbage slowly attaining mountainous proportions. We can see almost a small road running through this garbage mountain.


The waste and bacteria that seep out of these dumps, have started slowly polluting the water in this lake.

Extracts from an article published in the HINDU on the 6th February is below:
“Chennai is running short of dumping space: The Chennai corporation area has a population of 4.2 million people. The solid waste generated in daily is 3225 tonnes – ends up in dumping yards in Kodungaiyur and Perungudi. This is excluding 400 tonnes of construction debris generated daily. The city is running out of dumping space and fast. According to Chennai Corporation’ s estimates, the capacity of the dumping yards will be exhausted in eight years.
The non-composite waste like plastic has increased from 10 per cent to 30 per cent of the total garbage in recent years. The corporation should dialogue with ragpickers and recyclers, who play an informal and insignificant role in waste management.”
The Hindu, 6 February 2007, page 3.

The situation is so grave. I am still carrying on with my life......but am not sure what I can do to see some good things happening here for the birds, the flora and the fauna...not sure whether I can do anything at all..........

MUCH ABOVE A BIRD'S EYE VIEW