Kili Josiyam & Yeli Josiyam - Pick Your Tarot With Parrot or Guinea Pig

கிளி ஜோசியம் (Parrot Tarot card reading) never fails to fascinate. I've done it once long ago! Now, this kinda fortune telling has become a part of entertainment, be it family get together, birthday party or just in front of restaurants. But, when we went to the Southern Terrace @ ECR, Chennai, for the first time I came across எலி ஜோசியம் (Mountain Rat Tarot card reading)!

Mooshika (mouse) is the vahana (vehicle) of Lord Ganesha, so the fortune teller justifies that the mouse can righteously pick up tarot for men! The rodent came out of the cage, did a couple of peppy circles and started to pick the card one by one from the stack using it's mouth and drop them down. After few cards, the rodent held a card and looked at the owner. Now, the drama started, the owner questioned the rodent in a lilting way if he is sure about the card, and if yes, asked the rodent to go in front of the deity and pray for good fortune. Surprisingly, our எலி (pronounced as eli) went in front of the deity, bowed it's head and then passed on the card to the fortune teller!

Our World

Our friend, the eli, was rewarded with few grains and sent back to the cage. The fortune teller opened the card, showed us the deity, and it was Lord Narayana with Lakshmi, which is auspicious and indicates wealth and general well being. But, the fortune teller opens his guide and rattled off his interpretation. His predictions on the past was generally true, am still wondering how this could be, because he gave some specific indicators which, he wouldn't have a chance to know by just seeing us! Well, it could be the trick of his trade. 

Now, it was my turn, so he invited the parrot to pick up the card. Again, கிளி is Goddess Meenakshi's favorite, so ideal to pick up tarot for ladies. Same process was repeated, like eli's.

But, once the parrot decided on the card, instead of going in front of the deity, it just hopped towards the caged eli, and was asking for his consent!

The owner prompted the parrot to whistle, utter few words, and the parrot too promptly whistled & spoke. What a training! I was also rewarded with good reading.

When it was time for us to move, we asked how much did we owe him, for which he said that we could tip him whatever we feel like, again that was quite unusual. Later when we spoke to the restaurant guys, we learned that this fortune teller gets paid by them, no wonder he accepts what ever we pay :) Overall, feel good factor was pretty high, unlike my earlier experience.

Flights of fancy

To do list:

1. Archive and organize tons of pictures

2. Do a travel without a set date/destination

3. After every drive or a photo-shoot, write 

4. Learn to swim properly 

5. At least 30 mins of outdoor everyday

6. Learn to stop the thought process @ will

7. Try not to juggle few tasks

See the list goes on...and am oredi multi-tasking, instead of focusing on the list, out of no-where I remembered this shot and started editing...so why not make this itself as a blog post!

பறவையை பார்த்தான் விமானம் படைத்தான் - Our World Tuesday

Biking - Back to Nature

Cycling was the most cherished outdoor activity of my childhood. Outdoor, literally means out of the house door and on the road, but not in a natural surrounding! Those were the carefree days when I used to roam around the streets of my hometown during afternoons, that too without my dad's knowledge. The minute he finds out that am on roads, I would be grounded :(

Of late, the most enjoyable activity, was driving and exploring offbeat beaches and villages. But, during my last visit to Melaka my friends suggested that I could borrow a friend's cycle and join them for a ride in the neighborhood kampung (village in Malay). At that time I never knew what exactly was a bike ride. But, the passion to explore the unknown urged me to accept the offer, and I agreed to join them. When my friend commented that we take the simple route, it still didn't give me clue as to the distance or nature of the ride. I was in for a world of new and exciting experience.

Loaded for the ride! 

With great enthusiasm I packed my DSLR and the additional 70-300 mm lens too and assumed that the weight of the camera wouldn't matter, how naive of me!

After less than a KM in the kampung, we were trying to find the right direction to reach the river side and then frog farm, but we were lost in the fields.

Sky Watch

So we stopped by a traditional wooden Rumah Melayu (Malay house) to ask for directions.

As we went deeper, there was no road, we were riding in muddy paths and came by a river side and we were in for luck to see a stock of Storks!

Migratory Storks in transit!

Before I could think loud, my friend suggested that she clap so that I could catch them in flight!

By now, I started feeling the weight of my camera and requested my friend to carry it for me. After this, we came across a fenced building in the middle of nowhere...

Bird house

And we heard loud recorded chirps! I was told that this place was meant for birds to nest and that music was to attract them!!! Bird's nest is an expensive delicacy in Chinese cuisine. I can't begin to imagine why would people want to even destroy the nests:(
Within few meters was the frog farm, they are reared for food. Yes, frog is another Cantonese delicacy and frog leg soup is quiet popular! Well seeing them in large number in various stages of growth was something new and it was a feast for my camera:D

Tadpoles

  

Halfway from Tadpole to frog!

Babies (Shadow Shot Sunday)

Matured

Until I captured the above closeup, I never considered a frog to be a beauty!

After this, we headed deeper in the woods and stopped by a moderate hill. Now, my friend told that I could take my time and walk up the hill, while they ride up! I tried to test my limits..tripped and fell off the bike. But, I was giggling instead of getting shocked, I was totally carried away with the adventure. Well, except for minor bruises I was fine, so we went further to Pineapple farm and then rode through oil palm plantations...

Pineapple

Oil-palm plantation (SOOC)

On the way, we ran out of water supply, so we drove through village and stopped at a petty shop. Oh boy, I was so glad to see 100plus and just gulped it with greed. When we finished our ride, my friend checked her speed indicator and announced that we just completed 19KM ride and almost my jaw dropped at that!
If I was told about the distance before the ride, I'd have chickened out. Thank my lucky stars, and friends' patience, I did it!!! In fact, throughout the journey I had a silly grin like a child on a treasure hunt! Certainly, it is one of the most memorable trips.

Playing Catch

It was pre-dusk and almost coming home time for the doves. Before calling it a day, I guess they wanted to spend all their energy, so they were nosily playing catch...

Game leader!?

Followers...or just sheep syndrome?

Last fella...

Chittukurivi - House Sparrow

It was raining rather heavily in the afternoon and I was busy in the kitchen. A familiar, yet long forgotten sound tempted me to open the wet area and confirm what I heard is true...

Poor little darlings, they were shivering in the wet and rather cold breeze. How long it has been since I've seen them!

When I was young, sparrows (chittukurivi or oorkuruvi) used to grace our terrace in the evenings and feed on the left over food that was kept for crows in the morning. Now, after seeing the beautiful household bird I tried to recall if I've seen any of them in my hometown during my visits in 2010, but I can't remember spotting them. Are sparrows getting endangered too?

Eastbourne Pier

For the past two days, weather was perfect and High Street was full of enthusiastic shoppers dressed in cool summer wears. Yesterday, I just planned to go down to the market to grab a couple of sundry items, but ended up with shopping for whole day with my friends. And, trust me I did not buy any junk, so I congratulated myself for that and bought myself a large pack of salted popcorn:)

Well, this sunny climate prompted me to write a long pending post on Eastbourne Pier, which is situated on a romantic pebbled beach

On that day, wind was chilly and strong and the pier bridge felt a bit shaky but we went to the extreme end of the pier where there was fishing club...

I was reminded of the lone fishing "experts" who hang on forever on top of the bridges and by the ditches in Malaysia! But, this place is a far cry from all those places. Here, I guess you should be daring enough to brave the strong winds and get down to the fishing area...in fact there was a sign board that prohibited spectators beyond that area and as usual I wanted to go beyond that point, but the minute I peeped in, I lost my guts, see it for yourself...

Then I just started to take pictures of the shore from there...

It was lovely to watch the birds soaring up and down to catch fish and at the same time see the sweeping shore. The place was perfect for...umm so many things, I meant only writing and thinking! :)

As you exit the pier, I caught this breathtaking view of the roadside, dotted with beautiful white buildings and flowerbeds.

As we were walking by the beach side, we caught site of a class diner at a Fish and Chips outlet and without getting noticed I managed to take video...