deponti

http://forestparkowls.blogspot.com/2009/11/peregrine-falcon-lecture-at-st-louis.html


A lecture on Peregrine Falcons...half an hour walk for me in St.Louis...of course it's a little longer to walk to St.Louis Zoo from Bangalore!

See this



The only thing I can cavil at is the reference to a "little lady"...but other than that..

premkudva, can you insert that oversize smiley of yours here?...

I left St.Louis, to come home and do some wildlife trips...but I did not realize that we were going to have our own wildlife there...





How rare would it be to have a Lion in St.Louis!

Halloween

The word comes from "All Hallow Even"...as the sun goes down, the spirits are hallowed, and rule for that night, until the approaching light of dawn dispels them again.

While in St.Louis, I


walked for ALS


...and later just before leaving, I took part in the

Walk for Autism

on October 10th.





The turnout for this walk was phenomenally large compared to any of the other fund-raising walks I have been participating over the years. Obviously, the problem of

autism in children

strikes a very responsive chord amongst people.

Here's the official tee for the walk:





You can see just how crowded the walk was!





Another worthy cause which I could not join (I had already done an hour and a half of walking in the Park, and was meeting people for breakfast) was on Oct 17, the very next week.

This was the

Second Wing Lung Walk


Second Wind Lung Foundation






This walk is to benefit those who need a "second wind" that a lung transplant can give them.

Here are the details of the walk:



The slogan is, "Every breath counts"...and indeed it does...it's up to us to make each breath count, not only for ourselves, but for those less fortunate than ourselves, in so many different ways.

Such walks help me realize the extreme good fortune that I have in my good health...

Walking for a cause is such a great way of combining exercise, meeting people, and contributing your litte mite to research.

Hm, as a fond gramma I hope this was only accidental and not deliberate...






Isn't she the most beautiful baby in the whole of the universe? (Of course she is, that was a rhetorical question!)

I remember the baby that was the logo of

Murphy Radio

...I didn't know I'd be looking at a similar tyke one day....

Well, here are three generations of women:




(photo by KM)

....and here's Recycle, Re-Use, but DON'T Reduce! For a few minutes, The Biddles was the center of attention of several people at the airport and everyone had a hearty laugh!

The

Clark bridge

which I thought was a suspension bridge but is actually a "cable-stayed bridge" (look up that link above!), is that amazing blend....a thing of both utility and beauty.

Here are the imagesI took of the bridge, that spans the Mississippi river:






Closer up:





And on the way back from Alton to St.Louis, against the sun:






It stayed in my mind from the time we followed D for his Century Ride and I felt happy that we were going there again for the fall colours.

Except for the shining gold-y finish, the bridge is somewhat similar to the

Cable-rested Bridge at Krishna Raja Puram (K R Puram) in Bangalore

on the highway leading to Chennai.


I didn't realize it, but I love bridges.....I still don't know how they are built on a river-bed rushing with deep water....!

Can't decide where "home" is. Home is supposed to be where the heart is, but my heart seems to be in two places now...I have never spent more than 6 weeks away from Bangalore before, and my heart seems to have put down another set of roots, without weakening the first set in any way.

When I decided to spend a longish time period in the US, I resolutely set my mind against thinking of several things that I would miss from India...and I did have a wonderful time there.

But when I stepped into the flat early this morning, when I spoke to friends and felt the warmth of their affection, when I lay down in my OWN bed and just luxuriated in the feeling.....the emotions I had denied for six months just came rushing back, and I wept...I don't know why....I can't call it happiness when I miss GD and my family so very much that *that* also hurts....

I did miss, I realize, the warmth of my friends' affection here. Everyone needs friends of their *own*. I must say that....SOME... of DnA's friends in St.L, did treat us like their own friends and talked to us as equals without relegating us to the "boring geriatrics" shelf...but the fact remains that I had not been able to make many friends of my own (though I certainly managed to make one good friend, Dawn, with whom I enjoyed the Muny, the Zoo, the Balloon Glow, and one lovely long chat at home!) and it was only when I came back that I realized how much I had been missing this.

But...you can now call me Miss Deponti instead of Ms Deponti, as missing is going to be one of the main themes of my life. I am going to miss...first, and foremost... MAGITKU....that Most-Adorable-Girl-In-The-Known-Universe! From "Biddly" she's moved to becoming "Boodi" for some reason (the more I love someone, the more nicknames I give them. A has about 22 nicknames, each worse than the last.) Boodi just happened, but it means "old woman" in Bengali! I also call her "Titumi"...asakiyume, does this word mean anything in Japanese?

I also miss...the wonderful

Public Library

With the pathetic library facilities that I have in Bangalore, it was so lovely to be able to browse through books, magazines, CD's and so on, from around the world. The library allows a member to borrows AS MANY BOOKS AND CD'S as one likes, for a period of 3 weeks, which can be extended twice. Can you beat that? The library also has free Internet access....

I will miss the clean, smooth roads and pavements (er, footpaths) of the city, with plenty of trees being planted (not being cut down), sidewalks which are sunken at the corners so that baby strollers and wheelchairs can easily cross the road....orderly pedestrian crossings where the pedestrians ALWAYS have the right of way....

I had, insensibly, come to think of St.Louis as home, too; I liked to read the local paper and find out what was happening in the city, a sure sign of putting down roots! I'll miss finding out all the interesting stuff that was happening and going to participate if I could....that was the way I went for the ALS walk,and Autism walk, went to the Zoo several times, to a glass-blowing demo, watched so many Broadway musicals, attended the Symphony Orchestra performance....went to do what bird-watching I could, when I could... visited Yosemeite and Lake Tahoe and Philadelphia...I am amazed that I seem to have found time for all this along with full-time care of GD! I think DnA co-operated a lot to let me do so much.

I'll miss the weather too...it was cooling down exactly as I liked (it was 7 deg C the day I left, and the previous day, with the same temperature, I was out walking from about 7am to about 11am!)...

But I've determined not to think of place B when I am in place A, and vice versa. (Vice versa= pornographic poetry?) Here, I'm going to enjoy being with friends, going out to eat inexpensive, simple, nutritious food that's not filled with cheese and calories....I'm going to enjoy every sight and sound that is dear to me here...

...or at least, that's what I am determined to do, but the mind is a monkey....I miss the feel of GD's soft baby skin, and her toothless grin....every bit of caring for her and communicating with her...I miss making the morning chai for D....U miss the lack of dust, the wonderful organization of DnA's home that made it a pleasure to live and cook in it...

OK, that's enough....I must stop thinking of the "missing list"!

It's tough to be torn between two continents, half the world apart from each other.

Somewhat scrambled and inarticulate post...but I'll let it stand, as I am tooooo jet-lagged and tired to rewrite it properly.

Most things (except for N's health) are going fine, and I shouldn't be feeling so mixed-up and torn, I suppose; I should actuallly feel fortunate in being able to be a happy part of two worlds.

Just this one tree will give my Indian friends an idea of the colours of the leaves during the fall season:





(  lots of pictures here )


I saw this cross set in the midst of the foliage!





It's a wonderful time of the year...the temperature is about 7 deg C, and it's so invigorating to walk in the mornings....!

However, my next post will (probably) be from....home....!

Inflation is when a dollar buns cost 4 dollars!







And recession is when people start selling their own clothes....






Sorry, quick pics taken from running cars are never good-quality...but you know my motto...POP..Post Orrible Photos!

I found, when I went to Tanzania and Egypt, I realized that African food is quite similar to Indian food.

In St.Louis, one of my favourite places to eat at, has been the restaurant that serves

Ethiopian cuisine

It's called

Salem


Here are the

Injera or Injira

on a plate that proudly announces the restaurateurs' love for their mother country!






It was only after I had a few bites that I suddenly thought of taking a picture of the platter, with many dishes on top of the injira (you can see the names of the various dishes on the Ethiopian cuisine link):





Service is a little slow, probably because we are generally the first customers of the evening whenever we go! But it's always service with a smile, and we have never failed to enjoy the food and the very nice, informal atmosphere of the restaurant.

We generally get enough leftovers to have a meal at home too...and since we are south Indians, the injira goes well with sambar and moLagAippodi! :)

Well, here

this most versatile human being


is...




If you want to know what I'm talking about, look at the base of the statue!

EVERYTHING in Philly is named after either Franklin or Jefferson! I was reminded of the visitor to Bangalore who said, "J.C." and "K.R." seem to be very popular initials in this city....I explained to him about Krishna Rajendra and Jaya Chamarajendra....then why do you people just say JC or KR, instead of respecting them by taking their full names? he then asked. I further explained about M G Road, R T Nagar, and so on....

I really like looking at sparrows here; I think they are very much like the Indian diaspora in this country. They are not native to the country, but have made their space here, and are thriving. They manage to survive very well, and yet, they keep a low profile for the most part; amongst the local people, but yet apart, keeping themselves to themselves, at a little distance. They are not interested in making waves or making themselves prominent, only in maintaining their lifestyles in reasonable comfort.

Indians...and perhaps other minority communities too...are the sparrows of America. And yes, I see boards in Forest Park (put up by bird lovers, no less!) which say that since sparrows are not a native species, their nests can be destroyed, and they can be shot...so sparrows are no stranger to mindless, illogical hate, either...

These two squirrels were just having fun....






This Kestrel was enjoying the sun....




OK, that's it for now, I have to run!

Madhu just took me to the very beautiful

Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul .




The gilded cross atop the dome beckons to the faithful (and the tourists):




( About the Cathedral, with digressions )

The mornings have,quite suddenly (with a couple of days of heavy rain) turned very cold; yesterday,since it was the weekend, I waited until there was some light before I set out for my walk.
I'm glad I went out when I did, or I'd have mist this:





Water in any form, and light,in any form, are both playmates and adversaries. Their interplay is always a visual treat....

Under my feet were mossy tiles:



Over my head was the sky,of infinite miles:

Wolves:






Big cats:





The geese, back here:





Monkeys (discerning ones)




(that was a packet of freeze-dried bananas)

and this Red-Tailed Hawk that roosts on an aerial right in front of Madhu's 12th storey window, and suddenly sailed past as we were walking:

Just outside the

Franklin Institute

near the

Fels Planetarium





was the

Budd BB1 Pioneer aircraft




One of the few aircraft built of stainless steel, which I would not have thought a great material for an aircraft...but it logged more than a 1000 hours!


( a few more places and sights that I saw )


The Cathedral Basilica of the Saints Peter and Paul (er, not Mary!) merits a post to itself; I must thank Madhu for taking me there..in fact, Madhu did an amazing job of spending a LOT of her precious weekend with me, walking around.

Let me close with this touch of humour: