NEW DESIGNS HOME INTERIOR: October 2011

Monday, October 31, 2011

Birds from my window...

...and the antics they get upto by Ranjit Lal is a book I picked up for my daughter but haven't parted with it ever since.

I can't call myself a hard-core bird-watcher but like Ranjit Lal describes in this book, one can enjoy the antics of the birds even from a wide open window. I belong to the category of humans who marvel at the various birds with a big mug of hot chai in one hand and Salim Ali's book in the other trying to identify the bird.

Ever since we moved into our present home which has a terrace, we spend many hours gazing at the skyscapes at different hours of the day and the birds form an integral part of the routine.

I think I got deeply involved in bird-watching a few months back when a pair of Scaly-breasted Munia ( identified by Salim Ali's book) built their grass nest on our potted Ficus tree in the terrace. Watching the super active tiny birds flutter in and out of the nest in the morning and running up at dusk to see them return home became something of an unsaid ritual.

When I saw this book, it just seemed too familiar not to pick up.

The illustrations are by Prabha Mallya.

Looking at the dark clouds at a distance I wrap my bright Fuchsia shawl tightly around myself and settle down to read how the Magpie Robin who sang sweetly in the morning lost it's voice in the evening....

Enjoy your day!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

we lingered...

After a hectic festive Dusshera season we were looking at a quick getaway to recharge our tired selves (cells?)

Tripadvisor came in handy and off we went to Linger at Balur Estate, a serene plantation in the Mudigere District of Chikmagalur.

There is something very comforting about road trips, those excited high-pitched conversations, those stopovers for hot chai and breakfast, the super-saturated greens in paddy fields, the roadside mounds of just harvested golden corn, those "Please stop stop, I need to click" to Mr. Husband....

A good 6 hours later with two super quick stopovers, we reached Linger at Balur Estate tucked amidst deep green coffee plantations. The byline at the plantation says 'Just do nothing'.

Excited at the prospect of doing just nothing we entered this 150 year-old colonial bungalow with cool terracotta tiles under our feet.

Lovely huge windows that seem to be framing the beauty of the plantation and also an easy outlet for my daughter to sneak a few pieces of biscuits to the friendly estate dog~ Raja and his unnamed furry friend.

Raja waiting for biscuits under the window...

Beauty in what remains;-)

Bulbuls, barbets, drongos, swifts seem to be welcoming us with their musical chirps. It did take me a while to tone down my city-bread high frequency to a more nature inspired one, but I did get there soon:-)

A lovely cupboard filled with books...

We had the whole place to ourselves with Ratnamma, the hospitable lady cooking us simple home-ly meals, she could have been your ever smiling relative in your ancestral home with whom you would hang around in the kitchen helping her cut vegetables or learn the local recipes. Only here she spoke to me fluently in Kannada assuming I would reciprocate with enthusiastic Kannada jargons. Enthusiasm intact I struggled with my spoken Kannada, with few words of Telugu, Tamil, English thrown in and a good measure of sign language!

...and we communicated.

She made us cups and glasses of chai while we read, watched & dreamed...

The ever smiling caretaker Amza who is called Azma due to a spelling mistake. The Kannada speaking Nepali watchman Prem Bahadur, the dog, Raja who took the 'Just do nothing' byline of the estate too seriously. All of them played a part in making our stay at the estate an enjoyable one.

A few breath-taking frames from the 400-acres of the estate and what little we did at the estate...