The Nightmare.............more pics

Thank heaven's my E3 is back. I can go back Woodcrawling. At least I won't have to witness this heart wrenching scenes again!

Nightmare on Mango (S)tree(T)

Freddy Kruger was better. He used to finish his victim of with one slash. My horror story is quite unlike that and every passing day sees my lawn littered with the half eaten victims; my poor mangoes.



I am witness to one of the most ruthless massacres this side of Hitler's gas chambers. Literally. The tiny striped devil's have no heart. Each time I gaze up I see another victim slashed and strung up, half eaten. Over a few hours the green rind disappears and the yellow, exposed pulp starts shrinking.












Some even fully eaten with only an tiny umbrella of rind attached to the seed hanging from it's stalk.

The summer shower's have passed and the brief welcome cool has since faded away. As the mercury climbs back to the 40s, I feel my brain getting cooked in my cranium. What can you do with a creature so tiny & ruthless?




The culprit has no inhibitions. Hanging to that stalk upside down and gorging mouthfuls while looking down upon me with disdain. I can only look upwards in anguish, my gaze shifting from a fast disappearing mango and the heavens.

More pics here

It's Raining......... Summer Shower's here

2.00 PM

I was gazing wistfully at a mango seed.

No. Not on the lawn but on the tree. I was furious, and justifiably so. The mango thieves were having a ball.
Not enough that they were stealing, they were even mocking me.

It's not enough that the sun was being merciless; the mercury was still at 42, even nature seemed to be putting on it's worst show.

How else can I interpret that forlorn looking seed hanging by its stalk.

My dreams of juicy mangoes seemed to be evaporating every passing minute.




5.00 PM

The sky starts darkening. There is a cool breeze gently caressing everything in it's way. My son runs into the clinic shouting, "Papa, it's raining. Let's go for a drive."

We went on a drive, smelling the fragrance of the First Summer Shower of the season. The parched earth was soaking up nature's benevolence. The rattle of the raindrops on the car's roof was music to my ears.

8.00 PM

My humidity gauge reads 85% (from 50% in the afternoon) and my thermometer shows 23 degrees (from yesterday's 42).
Someone answered half my prayers. Now, if only they ensure that these green mangoes turn yellow and juicy without someone , other than me, getting their teeth in them!

It's Raining Mangoes

It's HOT, in Capitals & Block Letters.
The mercury has already crawled (no pun intended) past the 42 degree notch and there is no sign of the summer shower.

Instead, it's been raining Mangoes, not the juicy ones yet but still mangoes are mangoes. My car has been getting dented by the incessant rain of hard, green unripe mangoes and I'm unable to nail the culprits.





This year, when the mango blossoms appeared, I was gloating. What a feast was in store for this summer? Now I'm wondering; will I get even one juicy mango to sink my teeth into. Just close my eyes and I can feel teeth sink into that pulp even as the juice stains my lips. Mmmm.....






Now, the last two weeks have been a bad dream. My lawn is sprinkled with a daily dose of unripe juveniles along with half chewed ones. My sweeeper threatens to leave if I did not bring the culprits to book. I can do nothing but throw up my arms skyward in helpless anguish because the "culprits" are beyond those outstretched arms.




How, do you arrest horde of ants, bees, butterflies, birds, bats, squirrels & wasps?





I can't climb a tree like I did during my Tarzan days, and neither do I have wings. In any case I don't think the branches were designed with me in mind.

Someone. Help!

I'll share my mangoes with you!!