September - The month of butterflies

Puddling on Cow Dung.



Clicked on Thursday Sept 3, 2009.

The jungles on the hill of Janapao near Mhow. My uncle who is visiting from
Kerala wants to go and see a Shiva temple on a hilltop. We are walking through the forest when I see these butterflies feeding on cowdung. I also see some smaller groups on rocks too ... fascinating...

When I posted this in my facebook account this is what Priyanka - a fellow blogger and nature lover- commented: "Many butterflies feed on nectar from flowers, but they also get essential minerals and salts from mud and animal manures. This large gathering on mud or manure is called mud-puddling. Many an entomologists create their own mud puddles in their gardens in flower beds to attract a wide range of butterflies."

Pic below: Perched on a cactus is a Tailed Jay. Sept 21, 2007 at home.



Pic below: This Common Emigrant had perched on my shoulder and then it floated onto this flower. Clicked on Sept 21, 2007 at home.

Soccer at the Shankar Laxman Stadium (Garrison Ground),Mhow

Sept 18, 2010 - Rajeshwar Vidyalaya Mhow defeated Jagdale School, Indore by 1-0 in the finals of the Mir Iqbal Hussain trophy for schools.

Soccer and hockey have been two of the most popular games of Mhow. Not surprising considering the Army presence here and the support that these sports got from the various regiments stationed here.








We also have a new plaque, a rather huge one at that, in honour of Honorary Captain Shankar Laxman the legendary hockey goalkeeper who was born in Kodariya village of Mhow and had joined the 5th battalion of the Maratha Light Infantry. Being a proper Mhow walla he was one of those who bridged the civil military gap in Mhow.

From Mhow to Slovenia in 67 days!!

A postcard to Slovenia took 67 days to travel 6098 km (3789 miles)!!! Posted on 12 July and received on 17 Sept. Now it is my turn to receive a postcard from a randomly selected sender :-)





About three years ago I had registered at the site http://www.postcrossing.com The idea was to send and receive post cards from all over the globe. But after registering I forgot about it. Finally I decided to use my membership and requested for an address to send a card to. The site sent me the address of a young student in Slovenia.

I had a difficult time finding a picture postcard in Mhow. Luckily Zenith Stationery on Main Street had a bunch of old cards. Young Shabbir could not believe that someone was interested in buying these :-)

Anyway I sent the card after purchasing stamps worth Rupees fifteen from the Mhow GPO. Yesterday, 17 Sep I received an email that my card had been delivered adter 67 days!!! Now that my first postcard has been received my address will be given to a randomly selected member and I will soon be receiving a postcard from some corner of the globe. Will upload the pic the moment I receive my card.


I came to know about this site through a lady named Kate Russell. I must thank her and her column Webscape which is part of the program 'Click' which is shown on BBC TV and is also available on the BBC website
Click here to see my card at the website.

The Grave of a Child of the era of the British Raj

The history of Mhow especially the British presence here from 1818 to 1947 is something which fascinates me. I have spent hours exploring the two Mhow cemetries and photographing old British graves. This January I came across the grave of Sandra the infant daughter of Major and Mrs J Drudge-Coates of the British Army Corps of Signals. She had died on Feb 15 1943, aged 15 months.


The epitaph reads: "In Loving Memory of Sandra, youngest daughter of Major and Mrs J Drudge-Coates, Royal Corps of Signals, whom God called suddenly, Feb 15 1943, aged 15 months. An angel took my flower away, yet I will not repine. For Jesus in his bosom wears, the flower that once was mine."






During the early days of the Raj wives and children did not come to India. But the advent of steamships and later the Suez Canal changed that. The Gora Sahib in India stopped keeping desiwives when the ladywives started arriving. Of the many British children born in India many attained eminence. Some names I remember include Eric Blair (George Orwell), Lawrence and Gerald Durrell, Rudyard Kipling, Spike Milligan, the mathematician Augustus De Morgan and even the infamous cricketer Douglas Jardine of the bodyline (Ashes) series.



I do not feel particularly sad when I see the graves of British soldiers in the Mhow cemetry. It is possible that there may well be a hundred thousand British graves in all the cemetries of the Indian subcontinent. The British were here to keep the Union Jack flying and it did not come for free. I remember reading these lines of the poet Rupert Brooke from his poem The Soldier when I was in school:

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England.

Rupert Brooke had died in World War I along with other famous poets like Siegfried Sassoon and these lines were dedicated to the hundreds of thousands of English soldiers killed in the horrible trench warfare in Europe but the same spirit well applies to graves in India. When one is walking among these graves one does feel that one is in England so well have these graveyards been built.

Seeing the graves of women and children is a different matter and I must admit that seeing some of these grave makes me feel sad.


© Dev Kumar Vasudevan., all rights reserved.

Adieu Lt Colonel (Retd) VG Sowani, SM (1920-2010)

On 01 May 2010 Lt. Col (Retd) V G Sowani, SM passed away. At the age of ninety he was the seniormost surviving veteran in Mhow. He was also one of the few surviving veterans who had joined the Army in the pre-independence era. According to a blog of the Corps of Signals these are some of the details about him:
1. Date of birth: 11 Sep 1920
2. Date of Seniority: 04 Feb 1942
3. Date of retirement: 03 Feb 1970



He had settled in Mhow after retirement. I do not remember seeing him in my childhood though my parents knew the family. I remember him from 1979 onwards when I was in my late teens. He and I would often meet on our evening walk. We both would be with a dog. My father had been allotted an official quarter on the Mall which was known as Burmah Shell ka Bungla by the locals of Mhow. And the Sowanis lived diagonally across the road in a house they had purchased after the Colonel had retired from the Army. I also remember him for the side car attached to his Lambretta scooter. And for his impeccable manner of dressing - something very characteristic of officers commissioned in the pre-independence Indian Army.

We left the Burmah Shell Bungalow in 1980 when my Dad retired but we were always in touch with the Sowani family. There is a feeling of sadness when I think of veterans like Colonel Sowani and my dad. These are soldiers who were born in the nineteen twenties and and had served during historic times.





Mrs Vasundhara Sowani and their daughter Dr Abhijeet were kind enough to let me have access to the old photographs in the family albums. I am uploading some of them in this post as a tribute to the deceased soldier.

Marshall's Iora - A beautiful bird

July 2, 2010

I clicked this Marshall's Iora in the Swarg Mandir area of Mhow. It was sitting on the branch of a Chikoo tree.

The One And Only Traffic Lights in Mhow

Chinese Dies!!!!

Anyone will die if the chef is vindictive enough :-))

An old photograph

Station Road Mhow in 1918 when Mhow Cantonment was a 100 years old. This is most probably by Guerra and Sons.

Source: The internet.

The Jarul blooms in May

From my archives. Clicked in May 2008.

New Year greetings from Janak and Jimmy McGilligan, Barli Development Institute for Rural Women, Indore.

www.barli.org

The Spotted Owlet In Her Nest.




more here.

A Fruit Seller In Mhow




p.s. He stands at one end of Main Street. I have promised him a copy. I had clicked a picture last winter but could not give him a promised copy. Will not break my promise this time.

Visiting the Barli Development Institute For Rural Women, Indore

"Being remembered for books and theories is not enough. One does not make a difference unless it is a difference in the lives of people.” – Economist Joseph Schumpeter

Monday 9 November 2009

I and a friend drive down to Indore to the Barli Development Institute For Rural Women to attend the 97th course completion ceremony (Deekshant Samaroh). I had received an email from Janak Palta Mc Gilligan, the director and life force of this institute, inviting me to attend the function. I love visiting this institute in Bhamori, Indore. This must have been the third or fourth time I was attending such a function. Janak Palta , who is from Chandigarh, and her husband Jimmy McGilligan (James McGilligan to be precise) who is from Northern Ireland, UK had set up this institute way back in the mid eighties.


Pic above: A smiling Janak at her desk. August 2009.


Pic above: Jimmy with his solar cooker. Aug 2009.


According to their website, www.barli.org , a visit to which I would strongly recommend:

'Barli’ is a common female name among Bhilala Tribes in the districts where many trainees come from. Barli denotes the central pillar which supports the tribal house typical of these areas, highlighting the belief of the Institute that women are the central pillars of society.

Based in Indore, the Institute conducts residential training programmes for rural, village and tribal women who did not get the opportunity of schooling and those who dropped out school. Most of the trainees come from western Madhya Pradesh, many also come from other states and areas of India. Priority is given to the socially and economically disadvantaged, i.e, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and backward classes, the physically challenged, orphans, widows, divorcees, the abused and the neglected. In Chattisgarh region there are three extension centers in Kanker and Imlipara where the girls trained from Barli are running these centers.



Pic above: Tribal motifs on the parapet wall of a well at the Barli Institute.


Pic above: Solar cookers at the Barli Institute. August 2009.

Janak was honored by All India Water Works Association, 1993 for educating rural and tribal women in safe drinking water and eradication of Guinea worms in 302 villages of Jhabua district.


She has also received the Global 500 Roll of Honor on behalf of BVIRW conferred by UN to the BVIRW at the Earth Summit Rio De Janeiro, Brazil on 5 June 1992 for its outstanding Achievements in the field of environmental efforts. BVIRW, if I remember rightly, stood for Bahai Vocational Institute For Rural Women – the name by which the Barli Development Institute For Rural Women was known by.



Janak and Jimmy are members of the Bahai community in India. Jimmy is an expert in solar cookers and has received an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in the honours list announced by Buckingham Palace in 2009.

The Barli Institute in Indore is an unbelievable place. It is a beehive of activity. It exudes very positive vibes relating to work and creativity. It also receives students from Europe and America, among other countries, who come here and live and work and enrich themselves.







Pic above: A beaming Janak with a bank official and members of a village self help group (SHG) in a village in Mhow tehsil of Indore district. The SHG was provided with a solar cooker by the Barli Institute. Pic courtesy: Barli Institute.



Pic above: A tribal family with a solar cooker they have received from the Barli institute. Pic courtesy: Barli Institute.

This blogpost is a salute and tribute to this lovely couple who have given so much to underpreviliged women in particular and to society in general. I am glad that I met them accidentally on a trek. This was in 1995. Almost fifteen years ago. And we clicked well from the first moment. They are a very friendly couple and they have this remarkable ability to draw the best out of everyone they meet. I wonder whether I qualify in any manner to write about them but I am glad that fellow bloggers and readers of this blogpost will come to know about them, their work and their beautiful institute through my words.



Pic above: Trainees finishing a sewing session. August 2009.


Pic above: Trainees who have completed their training singing a group song at the passing out function on 9th November.


Fuel pellets made from biomass and paper. On rainy days these come in handy to cook food at the institute when their solar cookers cannot be used. This time on November 9 we had a lunch cooked by burning such pellets as the overcast skies prevented the use of solar cookers. On earlier occasions the lunch I have had on such days was cooked on the solar cookers.


Rotis made using the solar cooker and being kept hot. August 2009.



An article on Jimmy titled 'Here Comes The Sun' which had been published in the Hindustan Times.

Click here to see the original version of this post which had been posted in my sulekha weblog.

By Road To Indore...
Camera: SONY DSC H9
A photo essay.

More here

Birds Near My House.

I decided to count the number of species of birds that I see in the garden of my house and within a one kilometre radius. The count comes to roughly forty species. Ten of these species can be seen in a blog post by clicking here.
Camera: SONY DSC H9.


Black Shouldered Kite

Dragonfly in the waters of Choral Dam

Where have all the sparrows gone?

More here

Sunny day and a suspicious mynah...
17 August 2009.
Camera: SONY DSC H9

More here.

Independence Day - 15 August 2009, Saturday

Picture clicked on the platform of Indore railway station. More pictures here.