A most enjoyable trip up into the hills

It was yet another enjoyable trip up to Ketti valley for the Executive Committee meeting of the Old Georgian Association that was held at my friend Colin O'Connor's new home overlooking the old school - the view of the old school from almost every room in Colin's house is spectacular and is something I would give an arm and a leg for!



We had 30 OGs and their spouses in attendance and the deliberations took place on the top terrace (there are two of them!) of Colin's beautiful home. I am sure there will be plenty of pictures of the Executive Committee meeting online soon enough. The cold surprised me who always thought I knew the weather in Ketti better than I knew the weather in Chennai! It was biting cold that evening and I even overheard somebody say he had trouble taking a pee because he couldn't find his member! The bon homie between old school buddies was to die for - we had a great time getting together and lots of very useful discussions were had on the sidelines too because there were quite a few Board members in attendance.

Congratulations to Colin and Geeta for selecting such a lovely place for a retirement abode - can only say I will always envy you for the great views you have of my favorite valley. Attached are a few pictures of the flora of Ketti Valley which is another thing that draws me to this beautiful valley. By the way, quite a few folks have asked me what the common name of those ubiquitous yellow paper flowers found all over the upper Nilgiris is - it is Bracteantha bracteata - it obviously presents in more than just the yellow form, its available in white, pink, bronze and even cream colours - a picture of the white specimen may be found below.

Witness to some of Nature's bounty!

Yesterday I had the good fortune to watch an interesting little aside in Nature.
Two parrots, presumably a male and female, were exploring a largish opening in a Raintree here in Chennai - the two had either laid their eggs in the tree-hole or were planning to. They suddenly discovered the presence of a red crested woodpecker nearby and decided it had no business to be anywhere near their abode in the tree so one of the parrots attacked the beautifully colored woodpecker who immediately took flight and went further up into the Raintree. Then it began to descend along the main tree trunk, very quietly, very stealthily by kind of rappelling down (only there was no rope!) the tree trunk much like a mountaineer would descend down a vertical face - it had splayed its legs to lower its centre of gravity and the parrots were blissfully unaware of the woodpeckers approach! They were up in the tree, looking out for a flying object while the woodpecker was at the door of their nest!! Ofcourse, they went for the woodpecker when they finally discovered that he was planning to enter their tree hole! Check out the sequence of pics below! It was fascinating to behold!

Lt. Cdr. Rahul Nair

Sometimes one needs to sit down and try and understand the way of the world - it was not even a month ago that we had the pleasure of the company of Lachu (Lakshmi), Rahul and their extremely cute son Rohaan at Ammu's engagement in Kochi, they had come all the way from Goa. Rahul was a Lt. Commander in the Indian Navy and we were all very proud of the fact that he flew for the Sagar Pawan team - the Indian Navy's aerobatic team - only two navies in the world have their own aerobatic team and the Indian Navy was one of them. At noon today we got news that Rahul was no more, he and his skipper Commander SK Maurya had crashed while performing an aerobatic maneuver in Hyderabad for the Indian Aviation Expo - he was only 33.

Somehow, life just doesn't seem to be fair - how do you tell a three year old kid that his doting father is no more and that he will never see him again? Lachu, Sudha's niece, was married for just five years and lived an enviably happy and contented life - Ammu was a great fan of her Lachu chechi and Rahulchettan - when they were based in Mumbai Ammu would spend extended weekends at their home babysitting little Rohaan. It is amazing how close Ammu got to the three of them over a couple of years.

I wonder too what makes people choose these risky vocations - is it bravado or is it just one of those needs to prove that you are up to any challenge? I ask because I spent a while on a submarine a few days ago - when you get into one of those behemoths you cannot but be amazed at how cramped and confined the space inside is and how many valves, gauges, pipes and instruments have been crammed into that confined space. When you have to spend long days in one of those boats below the sea with almost half the normal oxygen levels and completely inadequate sleeping arrangements it really must appear that only crazy folks will opt for such a vocation! One can only hope that Ashwin and his ilk who opt for such a life below sea level enjoy what they do and at the end of the day feel they have lived up to the standards they set for themselves.

I hope Rahul too feels this way and wish that life, at least in the future, will be fairer to his lovely wife and child.