Stork-billed kingfisher

Birdwatching never got easier, or more fun.  And it couldn’t be a better time of year to match the voice with the bird.

Imagine that you are at an opera that begins at 6 in the morning and goes on until 4 in the evening.  Imagine that every singer is top-notch, and out to give his best  (yes, there are no divas here, only male singers).  Imagine that you have an open invitation to daily shows, and that you could choose your own seat, rotate seats to get the best view of your favourite baritone, and even have your own box.

Well, that is what Savista is like now.  An opera house.

The first fingers of summer are reaching out across the countryside.  The trees, which were bare five days ago are now breaking out in new leaf, but the foliage is still not dense enough to hide the vibrant feathered singers.  And every singer is using this to be out there, showing himself off, and singing as though his chest would burst.  What a display for the females!  And for us, lucky bystanders to these courtship preludes.  It was never easier to bird-song spot.  Just choose your aria, and you will be able to sight the singer.

Yesterday, we spotted a new visitor to Savista.  The stork-billed kingfisher – 38 cm and, reportedly,  India’s largest kingfisher.  We were able to identify it by its very heavy large red bill and dark grey-brown head,  its back the trademark ‘kingfisher blue’.  We believe that he may be new to our area, because until now we have only been familiar with his white-throated kin who is one of our established residents. What caught our attention was a more powerful and persistent ‘kingfisher trilling’ than we had hitherto heard from our resident white-throated kingfisher.  On following the trail of the song we were able to sight the visitor easily, perched alone on a tree, displaying his “stork-bill” and the absence of the chestnut brown head and neck (characteristic of his white throated counterpart).  Since then he has obliged us with many more performances.

Bye for now.  Got to get back!  Another aria has begun, and we need to see who the singer is!

White throated kingfisher

Pictures from wikipedia.com and surbirds.com, respectively

BIRDWATCH: The stork-billed kingfisher and white throated kingfisher is a post from: The Savista Blog

In villages and cities the streets come alive with Holi colours well before the festival

The winter just gone by at Savista was what we might call a ‘normal’ one, i.e. temperatures were as expected.   Throughout the season our gardens remained green and lush, and the fields around us a verdant green-yellow with wheat, mustard and garden peas.  The days were cool, and the nights cold.  The sky at sunset was a palette of shades of blue and pink.  And the nights gave us a virtual planetarium of stars and planets on crystal-clear  display. Our 85 odd resident varieties of birds were up and about but relatively quiet, going to bed early and waking up – and waking us up – late, except for the insomniac nightjars that, true to form, kept erupting into sqawks of alarm possibly caused by bird-nightmares.

Our spring dawned as expected.  As it unfolded, we witnessed the daylight hours stretching by just a few extra minutes everyday.  The birds which did not seem to be able to find their voices until almost 7 in the wintry mornings began to call as early as 6 (and as we move into the summer they will be up by 4!).  They also appeared much more active and their numbers increased. The winter crop of garden peas, and most of the mustard crop had been harvested around the beginning of this season.  But there continues to be plenty of food for the birds as the  rich green of the young wheat crop turns to the dull gold of  mature wheat  ready for the harvest.  With long daylight hours available for courtship, the mating season has begun in earnest.  We have also been witnessing the first “Fall” of the new year, with some of our local trees – Neem, Gulmohur, Lesva, Kesariya-shyam, Palash, Silk-cotton – carpeting the ground with their aging leaves.  New green leaves are ready to sprout.  The air  is suffused with an inexplicably pleasant and heady perfume – a bouquet combining the scent of various blooming flowers, wood-smoke, leaf sap, fresh grass and, who knows what else that nature secretly produces to delight us?  

As spring advances into summer – for two days last week it looked at though this had happened all too quickly, but mercifully the spring cool returned - the earth will start to be dominated by shades of brown, and even the well-watered Savista lawns will turn a pale green under the relentless summer sun.  But the flowering shrubs, trees and birds will compensate for everything else.  The flowering shrubs – notably jasmine – will drench the night air with their exquisite perfume, making the night come alive with mystery and longing.  In  the early mornings, the sweet smelling parijat flowers will join the jasmine in bringing joy to humans, birds and butterflies, alike.  Wearing their new coat of green and blooming with brilliant and fragrant flowers the trees will attract and sustain Savista’s birds. And the birds will sing their hearts out.   Together they will keep us humans happy. In fellowship with them all,  even summer in this semi-arid region will seem worth experiencing!

Not that we are in a hurry for that yet.  We are still enjoying our memories of playing with Holi colours earlier this month.  Holi is a collective celebration by an agrarian society of the successful  harvesting of the winter crop, the growing warmth and lengthening rays of the sun following the cold season,  the bursting into bloom of flowers, the beginning of the mating season for birds,  and last but not least, the surge of love, romance and longing in the human heart symbolized by the eternal love of Radha for Krishna.  Love was the theme everywhere  this March – in the colours on people’s faces, in the dancing at the temples of Vrindavan where Radha and Krishna’s love for each other is most exhuberantly  celebrated, in the Sufi poetry being sung everywhere exhorting people to rise above petty preoccupations and engage with each other and with the world in a spirit of universal love…Ultimately, that is the message of spring.

Perhaps it is in keeping with our sad world that this is the shortest season in northern India….

Spring at Savista and the Spring Festival of Holi in Jaipur is a post from: The Savista Blog

"The sky over Savista on a winter's morning"

One of our Team@Savista – a native of the U.S.- remarked with wonder at the climatic diversity in Rajasthan that she was able to observe over an eight month period here, and announced that we should surely do a blogpost on this aspect!  We have also observed  that several of our Western guests arrive with a bland view of India as a uniformly “hot” country round the year (with, perhaps, the exception of the Himalayas which, again, are often mistakenly believed to be uniformly snow-covered).   

So, here we are with a little note on the nuanced nature of the seasons in this part of Rajasthan.   We have several seasons – a few long ones and a few short ones.  The two really significant ones – the polar opposites - are summer and winter. The rest of the year is peppered with shorter seasons, within which are embedded further sub-seasons.

Summer is the longest season (three months, from mid-April until mid-July), when the climate is unrelentingly hot and dry, approximating desert conditions.  During the day, the sun’s rays are sharp and brilliant.  But, as in the desert, midnight to early morning temperatures could even drop to cold.

Winter (around eight to ten weeks, from mid-December until end-February) is cold and crisp in the mornings and evenings, with late night temperatures dipping sometimes even to zero.  Day-time temperatures, though, could be quite warm. 

Close on the heels of summer come the life-giving rains (around six weeks, from mid-July until end-August).  The rainy season in Rajasthan is not the ‘monsoon’ that one associates with other regions in the country.   It is  more  a period of dramatic cloud formations, loud claps of thunder and intense bouts of lightning.  Teasing clouds may appear in the skies for days on end, with not a drop released.  And showers when they occur may tend to be few, short and hesitant, leaving the earth feeling dry within minutes of their appearance.  In a good year, where the summer has gone through several strong dust/sand storms (called aandhis),   many of these short showers could be heavy, accompanied by gusty winds and madly swaying trees, and could even cause flash floods.  But whether weak or strong, these showers – even the weakest – can make nature come incredibly alive as nowhere else in the country, with multiple shades of brilliant green covering every inch of the ground.  By and large for humans, this is a season of long and pleasantly-cloudy days, when outdoor temperatures are comfortable.  

 The rains are followed by a ‘short summer’ ( of around two to three weeks, roughly early-September until end-September or early-October).  This is a season of humidity – the only one of its kind in this region – when the recently-nourished earth goes about its business of regenerating life. There is an explosion of insect life within the dense young grass and vegetation that the rains had set off.   And in turn, the availability of insects  supports a proliferation of bird-life as there is plenty of food to feed the newly-hatched chicks sitting out the rains in their precariously swaying nests.  Without too much labour, parent birds help their chicks grow strong and learn to fly away.  For humans, this is a great birding season.

It is a relief when autumn ( eight to ten weeks, early-October until early-December) dawns cool and lovely.  Long balmy days and cool nights, ideal weather for exploring the outdoors or relaxing in the shade of the spreading trees.    Both insects and birds have by now come to terms with their respective life cycles.  Trees stand testimony to abandoned nests, some trees completely festooned with the intricate hanging nests of the Baya weaver bird.  The cooler weather acts as a dampener on population explosion among insects.  Butterflies and sunbirds take the place of insects as the royalty of the outdoors, as colourful flowers begin to bloom everywhere and the trees continue to wear their mantle of green. This is one of the loveliest seasons in this part of Rajasthan. 

Matching autumn in every respect is spring (six weeks, early-March until mid-April), that comes after the winter, when the days and nights are cool and flowers bloom everywhere. .  Alas, an all-too-short season. But it is a period of festivity and celebration culminating in the uniquely north Indian spring ‘festival of colours’ called Holi. 

Embedded in the spring and winter are two  mini-seasons of Fall, when many of the  local trees shed their old leaves to make way for new ones.  In late spring as the heat of summer begins to make itself felt,  the Neem, Gulmohur, Lesva, Kesariya-shyam, Palash, Jacaranda and Karanji begin to uncover their branches.  This allows the birds to show themselves off on the bare branches and send out their mating calls.  In early winter it is the turn of the Khejri trees to shed their aging yellow leaves leaves and almost simultaneously sprout tender green ones.  Embedded in mid-summer is a season of strong desert sandstorms (aandhis) that create the conditions for plentiful rains.

The Changing Seasons in Eastern Rajasthan is a post from: The Savista Blog

                                                    Sunrise Over Savista

                                         (Photo by Signe Wolsgard Kroyer)

”We cannot have harmony and balance in our lives if we forget to include the earth and natural rhythms in our lives.

Nature, in all its myriad forms, is the most powerful force on earth. Although mankind has tried, we have not found a way to match its awesome power, but we have found ways to work with it. Science often confirms the wisdom of the ancients who observed and then harnessed nature’s rhythms and cycles to shape and enhance their lives. We can begin to do this in our own lives by first paying attention to our own natural rhythms, such as when we wake or when we feel the need to sleep. If possible, we may want to try to rise and sleep with the sun or live without electricity for a weekend and then monitor how we feel. We can make the choice to eat the foods of the seasons and to seek fresher, locally grown, or organic produce whose own cycles have not been tampered with by technology.

We can create harmony in our homes by making a smooth transition between our indoor and outdoor spaces. By bringing some of the outdoors inside and taking some of our indoor décor out, we can simultaneously enjoy nature and the comforts of home and the feeling that our living space is expanded. Then, whether inside or out, we can lounge on a comfortable piece of furniture and feel the wind, inhale the scent of deeply breathing plants, listen for the many songs of life, and observe the moon and the stars. As we do this more often, we may find ourselves noticing the pull of the full moon on bodies of water, as well as the water in bodies, or the music of the night acting as a lullaby.

When we seek balance in our lives, we want to balance not just our roles in life but also the natural elements in our spaces. Having representations of the elements in the colors, shapes, and textures of our homes will appeal to our mind, body, and spirit. We may find that when we sync ourselves with nature’s rhythms, we ride the waves of energy to feel more in harmony with life and the world around us.”

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 The above piece was sent to us recently by one of our well-wishers (“Daily OM”).  And the picture of “Sunrise Over Savista” by another friend (thank you, Signe).

 It is possible for all of us to establish connections with nature… in small or big ways, and  wherever we may happen to be.  At Savista, we feel grateful for the opportunity to experience the rhythms of nature in this little corner of India.  Whether in our traditional architecture, where our courtyard brings the sun, moon, stars, trees and birdsong right into the haveli … our interior décor, where we extensively use materials and colours from nature…  our diverse open and enclosed spaces, which we try to creatively adapt to the dictates of the weather and seasons… our weakness for flickering candles  and oil lamps,  that help us stay in harmony with starlight in the late evenings … or our homegrown/locally sourced food that makes us feel close to the earth…Life at Savista brings with it a lot that is good about nature. 

But there is also the ‘bad’, that we have learnt to take in our stride.  It has helped us learn the wisdom that what is “bad” for us – comfort-loving humans – is almost always “good” for nature (which is probably why the “bad”  is there in the first place! ).   

For example, we remain open to guests for only eight months of the year, when the weather is cool and comfortable; this means losing business for the remaining four months of the year.  But we have come to terms with the loss of revenue, rather than opt to keep our air-conditioners running 24/7 through the summer months, involving profligate use of energy.  Paradoxically, starting spring and through the summer are when the birds are at their busiest, which makes it the ideal bird watching season!

Again, during phases in the hot summer,  we have to cope with masses of sand flying into our open-air pool, due to fierce sandstorms that also wrench leaves off trees and hurl them into the courtyard.  If there were no frequent sandstorms in this part of Rajasthan, there would be no plentiful rains in that year.  We have therefore learnt to welcome the sandstorms, and to simply avoid using the pool on the days that it has taken a beating. Not having guests during these periods does away with having to be apologetic about what is a perfectly natural occurrence. 

In the humid ‘short summer’ that lasts for a fortnight to three weeks at the fag end of the rains, the luxuriant growth of insect life in our surroundings renders the late evenings somewhat stressful if we use too many electric lights, as the bright lights have a fatal attraction for these insects.  When we have guests staying with us, we need to use full lighting, yet keep insects under control, for enhanced guest comfort.  This raises the huge – for us – ethical question of whether to spray?  or avoid chemicals altogether and let nature take its course? (see our blogpost “To Spray or not to Spray”, October 6, 2011).   In our neck of the woods, our resident starlings love the taste of the local insects.  On the morning after a particularly insect-filled evening they fly into our courtyard in pairs and within a couple of hours achieve a complete clean-up .  During particularly humid ’short summers’, therefore, we avoid taking bookings, thus resolving the dilemma of how to assure guest comfort while remaining true to our environmental ethic. 

Again, for about two weeks in the spring when the late mustard crop is being harvested, the tiny flying insects that live and feed in the mustard crop through the growing season are forced to flee their habitat.  Death, then, is their only alternative, and the only death they know is death by drowning.  As if by instinct, they make their way to our swimming pool and commit mass suicide.  If we come to know that some farms around us are about to harvest a late mustard crop, we decline bookings for that period and simply allow what must happen to happen! 

These are a few of the ways in which we at Savista try to go with the rhythms of nature and our immediate environment…

‘Earth Living’ at Savista: Following Nature’s Cycles is a post from: The Savista Blog

Last week one of our guests needed emergency medical assistance.

We were having a yoga session when suddenly, during a standing exercise, this young European swayed with her eyes closing and head wobbling loosely and fell to the ground, all within a split second. We were able to revive her soon enough, apply an ice pack to her head, and get her to lie down for the rest of the day. But by the evening her travelling companion came down to tell us that she was giddy and nauseous. What could we do for her?

With her lying down in the back seat of the car head cradled in her companion’s lap, we drove to our doctor in the city. As a former professor of the leading medical college in the city, a cardiac surgeon by specialization, and a general practitioner by default, we decided that he would be our first port of call.

When we arrived at his clinic, we were ushered in without delay. Following a physical examination he put us into an ambulance that took us to an ‘MRI and CT Scan Centre’ about 3 km away for a CT scan of her head. The scan was conducted immediately, and within 30 minutes we had the scanned images and report in our hands packed into a brightly-designed bag and were speeding back in the ambulance to our doctor.

The CT scan proved normal and our guest was already smiling. In the doctor’s presence, her companion phoned her insurance agency who then spoke to the doctor for his diagnosis. Before we left, the doctor prescribed medicines should any episode of giddiness recur during the rest of her travels. He also wrote down the generic names of the medicines for the reference of the insurance company’s own doctors. The whole exercise had taken us 4 hours, and had cost her INR 1800 (INR 1500 CT scan and INR 300 doctor’s fees). The equivalent of USD 35.

Our guests were grateful. The doctor had been very professional and was, obviously, very competent and widely travelled himself. Equally, they were amazed at the speed with which they were able to access first-rate medical facilities – doctor, ambulance, CT scan – in a mid-range Indian tourist town like Jaipur, from out of a rural resort, and walk away with a CT scan report in record time, a procedure that they said would have taken them at least a week to ten days in their home country. And they were amazed that they had spent only a fraction of what it would have cost them at home (which would be USD 1500 for a CT scan).

They mused that they were definitely returning home with a picture of India that was interesting and complex, but also admirable. They had seen the the Taj Mahal and the sights of Delhi and Jaipur. They had also experienced the reality of rural India from the comfort and safety of a novel resort located in the heart of the Rajasthan countryside. And they had come up close with a modern and professionally competent medical environment in a manner that was both timely and reassuring.

Travellers to India can be assured of finding prompt and quality medical services in Jaipur is a post from: The Savista Blog

When trying to dream up ideas of how we could evoke the atmosphere of Christmas in the Rajasthan countryside, we found the perfect candidate in the Babul!  With its dark, vertically fissured bark, straight stiff branches, sharp pointed white paired spines, and feathery leaves, the Babul comes closest to the fir tree, and became our “Christmas Tree” this year.  Babul trees  can be seen on the edge of the Savista grounds, and in the countryside all around Savista, and it did not take us long to find one with branches that appealed to us. Our enthusiastic staff – for whom a Christmas tree was a novelty – quickly got down to work, and within hours we had a sturdy branch about 6 feet long set in a pot filled with earth,  with tinsel wrapped around it and little coloured lights twinkling all over.  By the time it was sundown on the day before Christmas eve, our brightly-lit “Christmas tree”, with Christmas carols playing in the background,  truly brought home the  spirit of the festival!

Known as Acacia Nilotica and also called Acacia Arabica (from the Greek Akis meaning sharp point), the Babul (its Hindi name) is a wild tree that is native to all of Africa, the Arabian peninsula, and the Indian sub-continent, including Burma. It grows easily and is propagated by birds that feed on its pods.  In India, it grows abundantly in arid and semi arid climates, where it is also often deliberately planted as a measure to prevent soil erosion. Perfectly suited to sandy or degraded soils because of its capacity to make the maximum use of whatever little water is available to it, and with its leaves capable of folding up against the bright summer sun, the Babul is a tree that is superbly adapted for survival.  When travelling through Rajasthan – or even just hiking cross-country around Savista – it can be seen everywhere, often taking on a dramatic appearance with its tall trunk, spiny branches growing outwards, and dense cloak of yellow sweet-scented flowers when in season (July and November, its flowers giving it the name “Scented Thorn”).

The Babul has multiple uses for animals and humans in the Rajasthan environment.

Due to its thorns, it is often planted as a boundary wall around farms.  The wood is durable and termite resistant, and farmers use it to fashion ploughs, cart-wheels and other heavy duty farm equipment.  The dark bark and pods have an astringent quality, making them ideal tanning and dyeing materials.  The leaves make for good fodder for camels, sheep and goats; they are also used to make a a poultice for ulcers.  The tender twigs are chewed by villagers as an excellent herbal toothbrush-cum-toothpaste-cum-mouthwash-cum-gum-strengthener (“Babool” toothpaste is a brand that figures prominently among the products made by a reputed Indian company manufacturing drugs and personal hygiene products based on Ayurvedic principles for modern markets).   The gum ( a dark resin) of the tree (giving it its other name Arabian Gum Tree) is an integral ingredient of medicines prepared by practitioners of indigenous Indian systems of medicine for a variety of uses, e.g., to cure wounds, and to treat diarrhea, dysentery, liver and spleen disorders, tuberculosis, typhoid, sexually transmitted diseases, etc.

Botanical details:

Family: Leguminosae

Sub-family: Mimoceae

TREEING OFF AT SAVISTA: The Babul is a post from: The Savista Blog

Walking to Fatehpura, a village about 4 km from Savista, is like an idyll.  The first and lasting impression is of the great and unspoilt beauty of the landscape.  A fairly smooth kuccha (unpaved) walking path is in existence and makes our progress easy.  We hardly meet anyone as we walk along comfortably; the only visual evidence is of nature and industrious agriculture.   On either side of the path stretch well cultivated fields showing the early tender green presence of wheat, garden peas, mustard and barley growing on  soil that looks dark and richly moist despite the generally sandy nature of the terrain.  Interspersed among the fields and along the pathway  are trees – mostly thorny sturdy babool, a tree suited to semi-arid soil conditions –  which provide shelter to busy birds exploring what the fields have to offer.

Between stretches of fields we pass a couple of homesteads. It would feel strange, indeed, if  in India there were not even such a minimal encounter with human presence.  A few young women busy with weeding or looking after their buffaloes look up and smile at us briefly.  A few small children, chubby and relatively clean and well clothed, give a startled and curious stare. It is still 4 in the evening and any older children must be still at school.  The men are probably away at work.  There are no idlers to be seen;  so different from the more urbanized villages that abound in the area.  Occasional patches of marigold, clearly being cultivated for the market,  add a splash of brilliance to the deep browns, greens and yellows on the ground and pale blue in the sky.  Little vegetable gardens hug the homesteads, from across the thatch housing the buffaloes; we can see thin green fingers of garlic and spring onions, the little leaves of fenugreek, potatoes, aniseed, spinach and turnips.  All this is evidence that the families in these homesteads are eating reasonably well.  Cowdung cakes are stacked to dry against the walls of the buffalo shelters.  These are families self-sufficient in grain, vegetables, milk and fuel.  Their men and women work.  Their children go to school.

At Fatehpura itself, beautifully-tended fields covered with crops reach for  the horizon.  The village houses are ranged along the other side of the main pathway.  They have large compounds shielded by high walls of thorny twigs.  Another striking image – even more so than the unspoilt and uncrowded beauty of the landscape – is the spotlessness we have encountered all along our route, and that continues through Fatehpura village;  the blessed characteristic of sparse populations.  The  homesteads along the route do not seem to be generating visible litter.  The feeling of being in an idyllic bubble begins to give way, however, when we get to the end of the village and closer to the main road that runs past it.   Although the landscape is still relatively empty of people, barring an occasional shepherd and his wife in traditional dress leading a flock of goats and sheep, or farmers on motorcycles also in traditional attire, plastic bags and plastic tea glasses lie piled up by the roadside. Evidence of modernity and prosperity in village India. Traditional knowledge does not equip people with the means to dispose of synthetic wastes.  And nobody is giving them the new knowledge either.   Apart from this, the idyll is still  intact, but we are reminded of how tenuous this is.

The Countryside Around Savista is a post from: The Savista Blog

Here at Savista, hibiscus is used for landscaping and can be found lining our paths as well as the alfresco dining area. And to keep it continually pleasing to the eye,  this sun-loving plant needs to be pruned and  thus well taken care of, performing best in the hot months. In our garden you will find white, red and pink flowers,  which is really only a short list of the colors existing in nature; it is a most fascinating species, which has the ability to change color from white to red in the course of a single day.

One can find white, red, yellow, orange, purple and even pink hibiscus flowers with trumpet shaped flowers, single flowers or double flowers, all with at least 5 petals and maybe even heart shaped leaves. Of the hundreds of species of hibiscus, many will not take to Indian soil which is interesting because they are found throughout the country and are used for all types of beauty treatments, drinks and even ayurvedic medicine. Hibiscus is believed to cure coughs, stop hair from graying, and even stop hair from falling.  And despite this flowers inability to grow naturally, propagation is sustained primarily by cuttings.

In terms of usefulness,  the most obvious is landscaping for its aesthetic quality as well as its attractiveness to birds, bees and hummingbirds, making any garden instantly more beautiful. A second contribution of hibiscus is a unique flavor to tea, served either hot or cold depending on where you are in the world. In Jamaica, hibiscus tea is served with rum and with lime in Cambodia, turning it deep red.  As for edibility, dried hibiscus is considered to be a delicacy in Mexico; is made into jellies or preserves and another variety produces young fruit eaten as a vegetable, known as bhindi (Hindi), ladies fingers or okra. Many varieties of hibiscus are used as a natural diuretic, to treat venereal diseases, as a laxative, or as a source of Vitamin C. Studies have even shown that hibiscus can lower blood pressure.

The hibiscus also holds great cultural significance worldwide, particularly the red flower.  It is the national flower of South Korea and Malaysia.  Here in India, the red hibiscus is the flower of the mother goddess Kali. Kali is the goddess of change and time and images show the flower and goddess uniting. The same flowers are also used as an offering to Ganesha, remover of obstacles. And In the Philippines children make hibiscus flowers locally known as gumamela into bubbles by crushing the flowers and leaves and using a straw. Tahitian women wear the red hibiscus to show that they are single and looking to marry, fibers are made into grass skirts in Polynesia, and more ordinary uses include linoleum paints, lubricants, shampoo, conditioner and hair oil.

 References:

Bor, N.L. and Raizada, M.B. Some Beautiful Indian Climbers & Shrubs Oxford University Press, Oxford, England. Second reprint 1999 first edition 1994 Bombay Natural History Society 1982

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus

TREEING OFF AT SAVISTA: The Hibiscus is a post from: The Savista Blog

Diwali lamps

Today is Diwali, Festival of Lights.  Diwali Mubarak!  Naya Saal Mubarak! Diwali and New Year greetings to all!

 Diwali – from the Sanskrit Deepavali –  means “rows of lamps”.   Uniquely marked by the lighting of myriad oil lamps (now combined with decorative electric lights) in homes and public spaces; flower decorations to homes and shops, streets and parks; firework displays and the  bursting of fire crackers; the making and sharing of infinite varieties of sweets; the buying and gifting of new clothes and precious jewellery; and, most important, the reunion of families and friends – Diwali is one of the most joyously celebrated festivals of India.  It is India’s equivalent of Christmas in the West.

 The significance of Diwali is manifold, and there are as many symbolisms as there are cultures inIndia.  The two most important stories may loosely be termed the north Indian and south Indian. 

 In northern India, Diwali is celebrated as the victorious return of Lord Rama to his rightful throne in Ayodhya after 14 years of unjust exile.  It symbolizes the triumph of the forces of light, i.e., truth and justice over the forces of darkness, i.e., deception and greed.  Diwali follows within a few weeks of Dussehra, the festival celebrated across north India as symbolic of the destruction of the demon king Ravana by Lord Rama as a prelude to his return to Ayodhya.

 In south India,  the story of Deepavali has a powerful king Mahabali at its centre.  Bali was a great and wise king, famed for his fabulous generosity; it was said that nobody who came to Bali with a request ever left empty-handed.  But Bali’s arrogance and complacency arising out of is own reputation proved to be his undoing.  So drunk was he on his own fame that God – Maha Vishnu – felt compelled to come down to earth to teach a lesson in equanimity and humility.  Taking the form of a poor midget Brahmin who approaches Bali with a timorous request for just three paces of land, God demonstrates to Bali the folly of arrogance which arises out of a false sense of self and ignorance of one’s place in the cosmic scheme of things.  In gratitude, Bali prays that his lesson be commemorated by the annual lighting of ‘rows of lamps of wisdom and awareness ’ to  dispel the darkness and futility of self-delusion that can entrap even the most accomplished of persons.      

 In Rajasthan, Diwali is the most important publicly celebrated festival for several additional reasons.  The day following Diwali marks the beginning of the traditional new year for the people of Rajasthan.  It is also the beginning of the new financial year for the trading and business communities that dominate the regional economy of Rajasthan.  Following a grand puja (dedication) to the Godess Lakshmi – the godess of wealth and prosperity – businesses and shops open their new account books.  Throughout the Diwali week shops and markets remain open,  entire market areas are festooned with colourful decorations, sweet shops spill out onto the road, and textile and jewellery shops lay out their choicest wares to tempt customers.  It coincides with the agricultural calendar -  the new harvest has just been taken in, and there is ready cash in people’s hands.

At Savista, every electric light on the property is on for this evening.  We have also lit oil lamps all around the pool, at the gates, all through the Eastern Court, and at various points across the grounds.  Against the dark of the moonless sky – Diwali is always on a no-moon night – the flickering lamps have imparted a magic to the property.   All of Savista’s staff received gifts of clothes, sweets and cash. Those of the staff who live at Savista are wearing their new clothes and preparing to set off fire works, and those who live in their own homes in the nearby villages – mostly women – are enjoying their holiday, wearing their new saris and sharing with their families the sweets that they carried home. Tomorrow their brothers will visit them and share in the feast that their sisters will have prepared for them, for Diwali is also an occasion for siblings to renew their relationship. 

Festivals of Rajasthan: Diwali is a post from: The Savista Blog

The neem tree is widespread across the plains of India.  It is particularly prolific in semi-desert regions such as Rajasthan, since it requires very little water and grows easily in dry, stony, sunny climates.  Its sturdy fruit is mainly propagated by birds who carry it around; when the birds drop the fruit, these effortlessly take root.  This is another reason why new neem trees can be seen sprouting right next to existing grown trees of various varieties.

The neem is particularly valued across India as a medicinal tree, and has an over 4000 year old presence in Ayurvedic medicine (one of the India’s indigenous systems of medicine).  In fact, one of the Sanskrit names for the neem tree is arishtha which means reliever of sickness.  It is even referred to as the “Gateway to Heaven”,  and planting a neem tree is seen as a sacred act.  Every part of the neem is used for its medicinal properties.  The bark acts as an analgesic, and when ingested in the form of a tea is known to bring down high fever in case of malaria and severe headaches caused by  fevers.  The pale cream-coloured flowers which bloom in the spring are dried in the shade and stored in airtight containers for long-term use.  When mixed with honey, yoghurt or butter, they are believed to cure intestinal worms.  The leaves have anti-bacterial and antiseptic properties.  They  keep away insects and mosquitoes, and purify and cool the breezes blowing through them, so  the tree is generally planted close to habitations.  A wet paste made by grinding the leaves is used by village folk as a poultice in case of major and minor cuts or  wounds.  In the case of skin infections, allergies or rashes, neem leaves are steeped in boiling water which is then added to the bath water.  Newborn babies are protected by laying them in a bed of tender neem leaves.  Neem sticks are used even today in villages as a combined toothbrush-toothpaste;  before the advent of factory manufactured oral hygiene products, neem sticks were universally used for brushing the teeth.

Savista has numerous shady neem trees all around the haveli, and new ones can be seen sprouting everywhere.  Like the villagers around us, we too use the leaves for a variety of purposes.  Neem leaves dried in the shade act as virtually indestructible substitutes for mothballs for the protection of woolens and silks, so we lay bunches of leaves in the cupboards where we store our winter gear.  We also add a few springs of neem leaves when we bag our freshly harvested grains to prevent insect infestation or mould.  We also follow the traditional practice of using the oil extracted from the neem fruit for soil pest control.  When the trees are heavy with fruit, we simply pound the collected fallen fruit (called nimoli locally) and mix it with the soil for use as a crop pesticide.  

Neem oil is also used as an ingredient in the manufacture of medicinal soaps. The bark has additional uses in the tanning and dyeing of leather, and the fibre is used to make ropes. The trunk is termite resistant and lends itself to furniture-making.

 Botanical info:  Class: Magnoliophypsida; Order: Sapendales; Genus: Azaderachta; Species: A. Indica; Names: Margosa, Nimba, Neem, Veppalai.

TREEING OFF AT SAVISTA: The Neem is a post from: The Savista Blog