Life and Spirituality

Sparrow by   Laitche My home is more than two and a half decades old. I built it in bits as and when I got time off from work in other cities but right from the start I began planting trees around the boundary. Some became too large with the years and had to be removed. They were put to good use. Seasoned and converted into furniture around the home as it expanded. However, the most delightful aspect of the trees was that neighbors too loved the idea and planted more and a variety of birds moved in to nest in them. Their tweets delight the soul all day, beginning well before dawn. A few like crows were irritating but thankfully, they are not visiting the area now and there was that naughty kingfisher that ate all my lovely little fish in a tiny cemented pond in the garden. I stopped keeping ornamental fish since and keep the pond dry most of the year. In monsoons its is used to collect rain water. Unfortunately, a few years ago I had to remove a large bougainvillea bush that h

   A worldly wise uncle of mine had advised that soon after one begins work, one must start planning for a home that would be suitable for one’s retirement. The sooner one builds it the better. Just as is the case with most humans, my working life was spent in thickly populated urban areas spread across three countries including in Delhi, India, the country of my birth. However, it must be kept in mind that, “While one may be compelled to spend one’s working life in a crowded city, it is not at all necessary to do so when one retires. It is wiser to look for a home in quieter less crowded town and cities for retirement.” I am thankful that I did not choose Delhi to acquire a home because the pollution there now is such that many an aged person is  either running away from it or landing up in hospitals unless they drop dead first. From a practical point of view it is wiser because property and land is much cheaper in the countryside than in large urban areas.

A Picture from the garden of author's home W hen we were young Life was fun Worries were for Mama Life was to play and run Early morning we went to school Later we were off to work Mama said don’t be late Come evening, you must relax at home Mama and Papa to heaven have gone So we went to another home The home of love where lives the Lord Our Eternal Mother and Father So as not to be insecure and alone It was evening then, relax He said Come night, when you have had your rest We shall have a new dress for you For you to begin a game In a new life, new day, all over again Note: The different stages of a life may be compared to different parts of a day; read about that here: http://someitemshave.blogspot.in/2011/01/five-stages-of-human-life.html And through it all only a few lucky ones hear the seven truths, for it is not ears one needs to hear these truths, it is not eyes one needs to see these truths, yet there are s

A view of a Jamun (black berry tree), Morinda and grape wine in author's home T o produce all of one’s own food one would have to live on a farm. However, even the smallest apartment, even a small studio apartment can produce some of its own food and it is a pity if a home does not. Mung bean sprouts, a power house of nutrients can be grown right on a kitchen shelf. Just soak half a cupful of them for eight hours, drain and leave in a covered pot for two or three days while sprinkling with a little water every time you enter the kitchen.In three days it will fill up the pot with delicious mung bean sprouts. Many useful herbs such as celery, cilantro, parsley and basil are lovely in flower pots by a window. There is even a small pretty tree – the curry leaf tree – that looks lovely in a flower pot and its leaves are a delight when added to vegetarian preparations. Even nicer is a long rectangular container in which they may all grow together as a collage, your

https://twitter.com/Nature_You_Love/status/673723479611432960 W hile in graduate school in Canada, a close friend of mine, Brad, recommended several nice books to read including the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit (we are still friends). Ever since, I have been fascinated by Hobbits. Recently I found a lovely picture of a lovely Hobbit home on twitter that is shared with this note. If a human wished to make a similar home it is recommended they choose rectangular doors and windows rather than round ones unless you would like to hop into your home rather than walk in, and keep in mind the following points: 1. Choose a house or cottage plan that has doors and windows in front and back only and none on the sides. This blog has several such plans if one cared to search through older posts. 2. Sink in the home about three feet in the ground and have it six feet above ground to give room height of nine feet in the middle sloping down to seven feet to the sides.. Th

The gate to my home, always open to well meaning friends T his is a photo of the gate from the street to my home. F rom time to time I have included photos from my home in this blog, but they are so scattered throughout the three hundred posts that even I can hardly locate them most times. Therefore the thought occurred today to pool at least  a few of them in one single post for a quick view. The home was entirely designed by me and built with minimum cost, bit by bit as I took off to work and earn more in Middle east, Canada, Delhi. Mathura and the Nainital District to build more of it. I ensured that the workers I engaged to build the home were paid the best possible wages promptly, even if I had to save on materials, without the slightest of delay along with a cup of tea and lunch besides. Every penny was earned from hard honest work that contributed good to the world and the lives of my students as a Professor and if occasions arose to compromise on integrity and e

The new rockery T o begin with here is a quick gardening tip  - attempt to include the five plant types and five basic garden components, howsoever small or large the garden. Large gardens may include additional stuff like garden ornaments, drift wood streams and groves of trees, but whatever the components, let them be nature like rather than geometric style e.g. an  irregular flower bed rather than a rectangular patch, a mixed flower bed rather than one filled with just a single variety etc for maximum effect.. The five plant types are ground hugging plants and flowers that may be perennial or seasonal but less than six inches tall; other plants some flowering and seasonal that are taller; bushes; climbing creepers against walls and finally trees Patches of the sixth- moss are also great if one can manage to grow some in a blank patch.. Even in nature, forests that include plants from all the five plant families mentioned here besides moss are the most beautiful of forests

A Compost Heap in a corner of the Garden I f one lives in a home with even a small garden, a lot of leaves, clippings, dried out flower beds, cut grass etc. collects. Some people just discard it with difficulty, others collect it and burn it but that is such a callous waste and also harmful to the environment. It is really beyond common sense and logical thinking as to why people do it. It is very easy to collect it in some corner of the garden or home and it does not look ugly if you care not to add kitchen waste to it, or if you do to take care to hide it under other stuff of the pile. In a year’s time it converts into wonderful organic compost that may be returned to the garden. That is exactly what we do and the photo shows our compost heap under a tree in the south-east corner of the home. If you would like to do the same, then find a spot for it in the garden, dig about a foot or two of some ground at that place and start dumping your leaves and cutting there. On

A white rose bush at home W hile our planet has numerous pretty flowers, the rose somehow has a very special place. The sight of a rose never fails to gladden the heart despite the fact that it has thorns underneath, perhaps as a warning to life that beauty must be treated with delicacy and care or it will bite. The home in which I have stayed most in the past quarter century was built by me bit by bit in a rather dry and hot part of the country. As a result rose bushes do not come up as well as in cooler northern parts that I have lived in too from time to time in this quarter century. Nevertheless rose bushes may be grown and they do bloom well for a part of the year with a little care for the plant.  White roses My favorites are the yellow and white varieties but these bloom with less profusion here than reds and pinks. Therefore in the first fifteen years or so the yellow and white varieties died off quickly. However a change has taken place in the last seven y

A lot of my friends on facebook and other places liked a picture of my garden that is greener than other times because it is still the monsoons here in Jaipur. This time I snapped a picture from the north side to get a different view. There is a small pond towards the north with a small concrete bridge over it. At one time I use to stock it with gold fish but then the fish eating birds found out and that had to be stopped. Now it is a part of the rain harvesting apparatus of the home. Shyamu the boy who has looked after the home and garden for the last twelve years is shown standing in second photo and I am seen sitting in the first identical one. Just click on the picture for a bigger and better view of the photo. Our photos are tiny because the idea was to get in as much of the garden as possible rather than us. As you can well make out I have planted as many trees as possible all around my home and many on the street sides too. If I had more space I would have planted more