My Colorful Town

Kottayam, the town which houses my beautiful village, was till recently famous as the land of lakes, letters and latex. It is also known as Akshara Nagari for its over 95% literacy. It has now another feather in its cap with the title Mural City and that is not without any reason. Majority of the walls of buildings, temples and churches are painted in different themes, by some 350 artists from India and abroad. The pictorial depiction of Noah's Ark on a church wall is considered to be the largest in the country!

Mural of Noah's Ark on a church wall

Thirunakkera Temple wall

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Thiruvananthapuram/mural-city-declaration-on-saturday/article4732343.ece

Summer Showers and After

Rain came as a comforter yesterday in this scorching summer. It was a relief to watch the wind and rain though at night it turned into a hailstorm. These are some of the pictures taken from the terrace during and after the rain. 

  

This was taken during heavy rain

 The wind swaying the leaves of the Gulmohar that overcame its travails and is surviving strongly

After the rain in the evening the sky looked dark with rain clouds. There was this beautiful sight of sunlight peeping from among the dark clouds.Very intriguing indeed!  

X'MAS

                                                            
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                                                    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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To all my readers,

The Blessings of Peace
The Beauty of Hope
The Spirit of Love
The Comfort of Faith
May these be your gifts this Christmas Season.

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR

Tablet to Tablet

This is not a discourse on medicines. I was wondering about the evolution of another kind of tablets. From clay tablets, to hi-tech electronic tablets, the distance is very long. Though both are media elements, the difference is vast.

In ancient ages people wrote on wet clay which were later dried under the sun. These were fragile and could not be carried in hand. These 'Eco-friendly' tablets were recycled and used! We now realize that recycling is not a new thing.

Now comes the modern day, revolutionary, long distance connector tablets with facts at fingertips. It can be carried anywhere and has en number of apps that enable huge storage of versatile functions. The distance between people of various countries is zilch due to this device. With the emergence of green tablets, why should we resist these changes? Go with the flow!  

Language Day

Our school recently celebrated Language Day. A few pictures of the models made by students.

  

The model of The  Poison Tree by William Blake

 

This smiling octopus presented the eight parts of speech on its tentacles.

 

The ravishing Rapunzel

 and the cute Cinderella

 Shakespeare's Seven Stages of Man

 

The Palanquin Bearers by Sarojini Naidu

                                           Goldilocks and the three Bears

Winged Flowers and Pachyderms

What do butterflies and elephants have in common now? They both are on the verge of being endangered species! A fact that hit me in two consecutive days recently.

Imagine a world without butterflies! It will be like a garden without flowers. An art work by a child on a used bottle pleading to save the butterflies from being extinct was really catching. Loss of habitat, apathy from people all contribute to its fast exit from this world. The butterfly sanctuaries that help preserve these tiny creatures cannot do much. Looks like the present generation will see butterflying (butterfly watching) turn into a thing of past in the near future.

The ivory bearer is another specie threatened with extinction. The October edition of this year's 'National Geographic' features a horrendous investigative report on elephant poaching. The picture of small tusks depicts the pinching fact that baby elephants are being slaughtered to make exotic curios. The heinous act, barred by law, persists. It is nature's balance of sustenance that is lost along with these perishing fauna.

If Winter Comes, Can Spring Be Far Behind...

Onset of winter. Entrancing dawn. The golden sun smiles through the dew a washed leaves of the tree that is at my backyard. The same tree that had the intruder bees once (http://soniajohn.blogspot.in/2010/11/bees-attack.html). The branch that housed the bees was ravaged by last year's monsoon. The smell of the fog, the chirp of the birds and the silence of the enclosing foliage refresh my mornings.

Our cozy corner has become cozier. Each of us spent some moments of closeness with nature these mornings. As the season advances the fog envelop thickens and the milk white curtains wait to be parted by the bright star. Like me, the drooping leaves seem lazy to wake up in the cold mornings. Wrapped in woolens, with a cup of hot coffee, on a chair by the window....I unwind with the nostalgia evoking lines of Shelly, 'The trumpet of a prophecy! O wind, If winter comes, can spring be far behind?'