Around here

Day has just begun, prayer lamp is already lit...a street hawker is out, he has to spend entire day out, shouting out loud for old books/cardboard boxes, scraps, and in return he will get nothing but the amount  that will buy him just a handful of rice or flour...it's a long day ahead for him.  

I am sitting in the dappled sun, air around is heavy with scents of chillies, cloves, turmeric, and aroma of kahwa served in ceramic cups. Nearby Vihaan jumps with glee on spotting a tiny Adonis blue, beautiful wings fluttering in air, sliver spotted skipper and blue admiral are also seen close by, Vihaan smiles charmingly.  

In the garden, the Myrtle, heather, spurge, lily and daisy families are budding, blooming, and buzzing with life and Asian carpenter bee and blue bottle, nearby the silent spectator, the plumaged bee eater is waiting for the right moment to attack the bee, suddenly I get distracted by the faint cries of a lonely Alpine Chough perched on the mango tree, it's faint cries cast a spell on me.  

Tiny leaves are emerging from the axils of the mango tree, in the autumn the leaves had left the branches with the petiole.

I hear the melodies of the parrots, pigeons, barbets, hoopes, passerines and chickadees...Vihaan is holding a navel orange, crushing it with his bare hands, tangy juice on his hands and clothes  and aroma around him....it has a mouth watering effect on my gustatory sense. I pick a fresh clementine and neatly peel it, and savour it, a small bit is savoured by Vihaan as well...he closes his eyes and twitches his face...he knows all the spells and charms.  

Terrace is covered with the Bird's eye chillies, spread out meticulously for sun drying,  we add a lot of these for instilling flavour to our savoury dishes, the smaller the fruit, the hotter it is, I believe so or may be it is the shrad of my imagination.

At dusk beforing retreating indoors, I see heavenwards and see clouds, Cumulonimbus and altocumulus,  I name them, I know they presage rain.

Late at night, me and Vihaan, we snuggle up in the Applique quilt...while Vihaan is fast asleep I hear rolling thunder and I know what is coming riding the chariot.  I close my eyes, place my left ear close to Vihaan's chest and his beating lulls me, my lids get heavy and I see the blue Admiral,  the hoppoe,  I sense the aroma of the clementines once again and I doze off....