22nd July 2009 - the day of the Longest Solar Eclipse of this century! ho hum! dark and glumm! Nah! it was a harra bhara Wednesday!
Here's how! woke up to the news of the Eclipse on TV and the jestful jibe of my sister-in-law that I most definitely could witness the eclipse what with my overly puffed up eyelids of the Left eye. Which incidentally had been in that state for just about 2 days as prior to that the eyelids of my right eye enjoyed that status. A game of Kho-kho being enjoyed by my eyelids for the past month.
Anyway Eclipse or no Eclipse swollen eyelids or otherwise the day had begun and it had to be FUN!
Cut Scene 2
Satyan (one of the 3 Mallus who had let me down with the BWSL ride remember!) and I left in his little wonder, yup you guessed it a Maruti (Zen this time!) to check for an Eye Specialist in and around the area and just as we got the information on one and reached the place there in front of us was a respectable size branch of a Drumstick tree (Sheugyachya Shenga) Fallen off from the tree in the neighbouring compound into this compound. 
Promptly both of us made a mental note of picking up a bunch of leaves for some yummy Bhaji on the way back from the Doctor's. And that's exactly what we did! Satyan was in his element plucking away the tender branches with not a care or worry in the world. Notes were being exchanged what were we to say if anybody objected to us helping ourselves to the leaves. Well! if there was one person who was going to be happy about our self-service it was the boy cleaning the premise, what with Satyan so deftly attacking the foliage leaving nicely cleaned branches thus reducing his burden of cleaning the area of the fallen leaves and branches. :-D So engrossed was Satyan in his task that I had to remind him that we still had to go to another place (Malvani) and then I had to go to office for 1/2 day work! Only then did Satyan leave the branches, albeit reluctantly!
Promptly both of us made a mental note of picking up a bunch of leaves for some yummy Bhaji on the way back from the Doctor's. And that's exactly what we did! Satyan was in his element plucking away the tender branches with not a care or worry in the world. Notes were being exchanged what were we to say if anybody objected to us helping ourselves to the leaves. Well! if there was one person who was going to be happy about our self-service it was the boy cleaning the premise, what with Satyan so deftly attacking the foliage leaving nicely cleaned branches thus reducing his burden of cleaning the area of the fallen leaves and branches. :-D So engrossed was Satyan in his task that I had to remind him that we still had to go to another place (Malvani) and then I had to go to office for 1/2 day work! Only then did Satyan leave the branches, albeit reluctantly!Cut Scene 3
My work at Malvani completed and there we were headed back on the Marve Road towards the link road. Just gave Satyan a subtle instruction to keep the Car to the left of the road immediately after we crossed the bridge on the Marve Road on the way to the Uncle's Kitchen Junction! Satyan the dear that he is promptly stopped the car at the point I had told him of. Yours Truly then got out of the car in a jiffy climbed onto the 3 ft flowerbed wall and put my hand inside the barbed wire onto the stem of a 9 feet high Bimla Tree 
(I don't know what you call it - we Mangaloreans call it Bimla) jumped off the wall, ran back to the car and thrust my full hands in front of Satyan asking him to take it as it was for him. All the while Satyan was oblivious of the contents of my hands the moment he set eyes on them. He was quick to chirp 'arrey ye! aur laa na' He had to be reminded that that's all I could siphon. You see he thought I knew the people residing in the row bungalow near the tree he he! and that is why I had marked the location with such surety!
(I don't know what you call it - we Mangaloreans call it Bimla) jumped off the wall, ran back to the car and thrust my full hands in front of Satyan asking him to take it as it was for him. All the while Satyan was oblivious of the contents of my hands the moment he set eyes on them. He was quick to chirp 'arrey ye! aur laa na' He had to be reminded that that's all I could siphon. You see he thought I knew the people residing in the row bungalow near the tree he he! and that is why I had marked the location with such surety! So with a Bag Full and bursting over of Drumstick leaves and more than a handful of Bimla we set out to Safed Pool! Feeling all Hara and Bhara!
