The Silver Lined Clouds.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

The ultimate statement of optimism drafted, right from the elements of the earth.

When I see clouds with a silver lining, they remind me of God’s glory shining through the darkness.

Even though the year 2020 will go down in the history for being a smorgasbord of twists and turns, for many, it was also the year of reinventing for good.

I, for one, would figure out in the first 10 on that list.

The year 2020 began with prospects of a dream job. With weeks to join, disaster struck in the form of Sars Cov 2. 

It took a month for me to bounce back, the longest ever. Even then, the clouds were dark, the silver lining, not yet defined.

Hope, faith, and love are three of my precious possessions. I have accumulated them along the long road that I have traveled.

I always had Faith in God’s plan for us.

In the year gone by, stronger than ever, I saw His glory manifesting in every answered and unanswered prayer. 

Faith filled me with hope.

Hope flooded me with love.

And loved charged me with positivity.

The fear and hesitation which I had, when the smooth road of mine, doglegged into a dark and rocky one, diminished when my eyes adjusted to the light of the guiding star of God.

At this moment, with a heart full of gratitude, I try to count my countless blessings.

With my extended family and near and dear ones, I take a step into the new day of the new year, with Faith, Hope, and Love .

That is my religion.

I wish the world a new year full of Hope, Faith and Love.

The Headless Man

One Liner Wednesday hosted by Linda

The Headless Man

The headless man, haunting Goa’s Fort Chapora; a struggling artist with realistic costume, stays under the scorching sun throughout the day, to earn his livelihood.

A Palimpsest

We were on a road trip to Goa, this past week.

The beauty of road trip is the freedom to halt and enjoy the landscape that arrests your eye while you drive.

We had the Western Ghats keeping us company for the major part of the trip.

This part of the range looked like a palimpsest.

The mountain ranges forming layers behind the film of early morning fog. The blue sky painting it in different shades of blue.

The farthest layer is barely visible but for its tiny grey crest.

The middle layer with its barren patches in brown, capturing all your attention.

Then the final layer indented with shrubs and trees, reflecting the bright sun.

We did spent quite some time here.

Wax Rose

Cee’s FOTD

This is my first sighting of a Wax Rose or Pereskia bleo.

The bush had just an orange red flower, as if it were waiting for my lens.

Contrails

Contrails never fail to arrest me in my track.

I am ensorcelled by these cirrus clouds, painted by jets.

Sometimes they dissipate in minutes, the trail expanding into modern art, like a drop of ink in water.

Other times they stay for hours, the evening sun changing their colours to salmon yellow.

But scientific studies call it as the aviation industry’s dirty secret.

These high-flying clouds are too thin to reflect much sunlight, but ice crystals inside them can trap heat. Unlike low-level clouds that have a net cooling effect, these contrail-formed clouds warm the climate.

A 2011 study suggests that the net effect of these contrail clouds contributes more to atmospheric warming than all the carbon dioxide produced by planed since the dawn of aviation.

The Strangler fig

Banyan tree or the Strangler fig growing from a pipe fitted on the wall lining the busy main road.

Probably someone would uproot it before its roots could cause damage to the wall.

Banyan tree which is our national tree, is abundantly found in the rural as well as urban areas .They often use the branches of big trees or fissures within rocks as support, ultimately taking over by destroying the supporting host.

Often, they grow on the sides of buildings with the roots penetrating the walls and are called stranglers. 

The banyan tree enjoys huge cultural importance in India. It is considered sacred among the Hindu population with temples and shrines being built under its shade quite often.

Banyan tree is commonly symbolic of an eternal life as it has a very lengthy lifespan. Married Hindu women often practice religious rituals around the banyan tree to pray for long life and well-being of their husbands.

It is ironic how a tree revered in a culture is also an epiphyte and drains life from its host, whether living or non-living.

Brick Kiln

A brick kiln has come up along our daily walking route.

The space used to be a wasteland, with a few bushes and lot of debris.

Then one evening, we saw it being cleared up. Few days later, shanties came up along the wall which borders the nurses’ quarters of a nearby hospital.

Then came the first block of bricks. They looked like a slab of custom made chocolate with someone’s initials etched into each block.

Here I couldn’t see any machines to aid in the brick making process. Everything is done manually including the moulding of the bricks.

The soil has good clay content and workers stand knee deep in the slurry mixing it.

The bricks are laid out to dry first which are then burned in a kiln.

Families of the workers stay in the make shift accomodation. The lane near the kiln has young children buzzing around engaging themselves in games while their parents are busy at work.

Army of Dementors

The evening sky eerily resembles an army of dementors and the trail left by a jet looks like a patronus spell which is keeping the dark army at bay.

Or does it look like hope fleeing from despair?

Dark shadows of despair
Looming behind
Calling out to each other,
gathering,
like an army of dementors
to suck out all joy,
While hope sends a patronus,
A trail shimmering bright
to dissipate 
the army of darkness.

Colours

Tourmaline’s Countdown to Christmas , Day 14

Colours of the tree, dominated by red, gold, silver and green .

There is a hamper of toffees and chocolates for all who visits during Christmas.

Just adding a bunch of colourful balloons waiting to be released .

Frost

December Photo A Day Challenge by City Sonnet, Day 14

Frost

When you don’t get to see the real thing, all you have is artificial frost.