Four people, three mountains, camp stove, camp kettle and a few dozen brown boards

It was a Saturday and a lazy start. Packed my camp stove and a brand new camp kettle. The idea was to have a warm cuppa up in the mountains. Make some hot soup for lunch. Into the picnic basket went some bikkies, dips, almond biscuits and chips…oh I forgot the ginger beer. Moahan loves a ginger beer on long drives.

After a bit of frantic packing, Moahan and I set off on a cold and nippy morning to friends Dr Arunachalam and Astrid’s house. Astrid and Aru (as we all call him) were ready when we reached their home. Aru had a huge big thermos with hot boiling water and he had made tasty vegetable muffins. He is well known as the muffin man in these parts of the world. Astrid had made a Swiss cake – SACHER TORTE. She is the cake lady in these parts and between the two of them, they make a merry pair. Anyway, coming back to the point – I refused to take the thermos and proudly boasted about my most recent acquisition of the camp stove and kettle. Aru tried to say that the thermos is anyway full of hot water and that it’s no big deal to simply carry it along.

Aah, but I had to refuse again because it was stuck inside my head that we must boil water in a kettle and drink tea high up in the mountains with the cold air brushing the face and freezing my nose and the hot vapours from the tea warming my nose and the insides. And that image was stuck inside my head because of another day out that we went with another friend Rajesh in those days when we did not have a car. While on that day out at Mount Tamborine we saw a family bring their camp stove, the kettle whistling a lovely tune, and all of them hovering around it for a hot cup of tea. That’s an image I was not willing to let go off. Finally, Aru left the thermos behind and we carried the muffins and cake.

Off we went towards the city; four people, a kettle and a camp stove in tow in search of three mountains.

Through the city, into Red Hills to be precise and into Brisbane forest reserve. Lovely winding roads past THE GAP and within minutes, the city was far behind and the climb on the mountains started.

Now; there are two types of sign boards on the roads here in Australia. The normal ones are green in colour and they carry information about the places and the distance to those places. There is often another board, close to the green one or just below the green one and that is a brown board that Moahan simply LOVES….The brown boards invite you to take the “scenic drive” and some beckon you to take the “tourist drive”. Moahan can only see these boards and we often would go off the road, way off the destination. Perhaps someone wise travelled with Moahan in some life and that’s why he left behind the famous quote “the journey is more important than the destination”. But today was another day, because Aru was the navigator and he knew the three mountain circuit inside his head. He gently veered Moahan’s attention off the brown boards for starters. And I secretly wondered how long before Moahan is tempted by the brown boards. We had a whole day to find out didn’t we?!!!

We drove past Mount Nebo and reached Mount Glorious, and that was the spot to have some morning tea…yes, tea brewed with hot water from the new kettle.

Moahan and Aru found a lovely picnic bench with a shade on top and a tap nearby, and I filled the kettle.

Fewer things in life have given me as much pleasure as filling up the kettle with cool mountain water and setting up the stove. The stove was lit; on top of it; the kettle was made to sit. And we waited for the sweet sound of the whistle that indicated hot boiling water. While we waited we started to talk. Astrid’s cake was oozing with chocolate and probably had almond meal in it. Very tasty and yummy.

We all talked about life and how it teaches us a few things. Experiences in life, how we plan something and something totally different happens, relationships, behaviour of people and mostly it all ended up in the human mind and how crazy the mind is and so on. Three muffins and two biscuits and two pieces of cake and spotting three different bird species later – we wondered…whatever happened to the sweet sound of the kettle?

I checked the kettle and found that the flame from the stove was rather low and it would take a while for the water to get heated. I had to bite dust - perhaps we should have brought the thermos along…! Aru and Astrid would not allow me to feel bad, and they both said, “Well we have nothing planned for the day, we can wait here as long as it takes to have a cup of tea.” While that was sweet of them, it did make me uneasy and I had to keep checking the kettle every few minutes until finally; after almost half an hour, I could see the water was hot enough for tea.

Aru and I poured ourselves some water for tea while Moahan and Astrid made themselves a ready made cappuccino. As we drank our hot beverage, the kookaburra came rather close to us to check us out. At one point in time, he was sitting on the edge of the roof, directly looking down at us. He is a stately bird and I was intimidated by his presence.

The warm beverage went into us and we were ready for the next drive – towards Samford. It was a beautiful drive and we passed Samford and went into Dayboro. The tummy started to rumble and we had to find a spot for lunch. After a bit of driving around – Astrid finally said, “Varshaa you can spot a good place, find one.” Moahan joined in to say “Varshaa is good at spotting places and she is always good at this and ……”. The ego was well massaged and lo behold! I saw a park where there was a single bench.

We turned into a narrow road and reached the park.

For the second time during the day – I set up shop. This time it was more elaborate. I had to make soup you see. I found a spot behind a tree and kept the basket and stove cover as protectors from the wind and set the stove in the middle of all this. And again the kettle sat on the stove to do its job. We started to eat the muffins, bikkies with dips and waited for the hot soup.

A horse walked past us. Two girls leading the horse. Three dogs were being walked by a young man. They all waved to us or said a merry greeting to us and we settled down on the bench and the picnic chairs Moahan had carted along.

This was another time to sit down and have a chat about life and its merry ways of making us look silly at times.

Moahan took a few pictures and Aru and Astrid were relaxed. And that’s when the debate started about the ginger beer. Moahan wanted one right away. He offered one to all of us. Astrid and I said, we would rather have the soup first and the ginger beer later. Moahan pretended to be offended and asked Aru if he would have one. Aru looked at Astrid and Astrid looked at me…between all of us we had a big discussion about why ginger beer later and why not now and finally after all this, Moahan still had his ginger beer BEFORE his soup. And yes, we all laughed. Absolutely much ado about nothing. We were all happy we could laugh at something so silly and inconsequential.

The water was ready and I could swear I heard the kettle. The others thought it was some sound inside my head that was pandering to my fantasy of a whistling kettle. I asked them to be absolutely quiet and listen to the kettle. No, none of them could hear it. Well, I heard my kettle and that made my day.

We had soup and rested for a bit in the warm sunshine and set off towards Mount Mee.

On the way we saw this man on the tractor – probably having a hard time doing a boring job. Moahan slowed down, gave him a big smile and waved to him. The man on the tractor was delighted and he waved back and we all waved to him…a sudden warm glow crept within all our hearts, the blood rushed to our faces, the nose felt warmer, the finger tips tingled. A smile on the man’s face reflected a moment of sheer joy. We were all happy seeing the happiness on his face. We wondered why we become happy and smile when an absolute stranger waves to us with a smile.

Is life made up of such moments that have no past and no future?
Just that moment?
A tiny fleeting moment of pure joy, happiness.
A tiny moment very different from the last and very unlike the next.

Could we hang in to that moment, and BE THERE in that moment, fully; without any thought of the past or the future?

This probably was the major take away from the day spent in warm sunshine, laughter and affectionate company.

Into Dayboro town and towards the road to Mount Mee we went. Finally Moahan had the opportunity to follow the brown board that he loved so much…he was like a child in a candy shop as we shot past that board, and the road started to climb up the mountains. It was a 40 km drive and we drove through some of the most beautiful meadows and countryside. The afternoon sun glinting on the windshield, the fresh mountain air, an elevating combination indeed. We stopped at a few places to take in the views

We reached a picnic spot called "THE GANTRY" on Mount Mee ( the northern end of the D'Aguilar Range of mountains) and were delighted to see a few peacocks. Well, they were really peahens and not as magnificent as their male counterparts. Still it was a lovely surprise.

We sat down on the grass, stretched our feet and looked up at the sky. It’s a lovely feeling to look at the sky lying down on grass. After a while, you feel you are floating. A young family with two children offered us some chips. Such disarming informality and fraternity. Hard to find in a world where no one has any time for anyone else.

That’s when the peahens came by near the children asking for morsels of food. The children fed them some bread. Then, a kookaburra swooped down to snatch some bread from the child’s hand, and then another one. Funny, these were two baby kookaburra practising their moves. And, they failed every time they tried, at least a dozen times each to swoop in and grab some food on the ground. Up on the unused log mill, there was this stately elder (?) kookaburra that looked at this with disdain. He probably thought it was a shame to be a kookaburra who could not grab food in the first try. My friend Monique has a unique relationship with these birds. So far; on four occasions, a kookaburra has grabbed Monique’s sandwich when she ate in a particular spot in the botanical gardens. She would not believe me when I later told her about these two fellas who missed a dozen times.

A bit of a walk towards a dry waterfall while Aru and Astrid waited in the car. We then decided to head back, and after a few wrong turns, we finally reached the road that would take us home. Now, the driver needed to refuel. We stopped at a vineyard. Astrid and I had hot chocolate, Moahan had a cappuccino as usual and Aru gave the beverages a miss. There was a wedding party and we were happy at their happiness. A few ducks in the pond below entertained us for a while and Aru shared some insights about life…as always it is a pleasure to listen to him and to Astrid when they share some vignettes and let us have a peep into their lives. We are blessed for we have access to their wisdom.

On the way home, Moahan was tempted to show them a dam close to our place and he followed the ubiquitous brown board – only to find it took us somewhere close to the dam, but there was no way out from that place…! Ah these brown boards….we retraced our path and came back to the road that connects Petrie and Dayboro.

We stopped at home for a quick pick up of some photographs and we went to Aru’s place for a quick simple dinner. It was around 9 when we came back home and hit the bed.

What a lovely day…

The kettle and the stove were the impetus for me, for Moahan it was the romance of the brown boards, the winner was of course the life experiences shared with two people that we treasure in our lives.

And thus ended one story of the four people, three mountains, the camp kettle, camp stove and a few dozen brown boards.

There will be many more such stories, watch this space…..!!!!

Wriggly Wiggly

THIS IS AN ACCOUNT OF THE EXCITEMENT BUILDING UP AT HOME.
Recounted by my husband Moahan

7 am this Sunday (the 19^th of August 2007) morning....

The expectancy has built up enormously; as enormously as the rain clouds gathering above the Brisbane skies. The expectancy factor for me is as much as the aggregate expectancy factor that accompanies the new Harry Potter book, or the new apple gizmo launch.

Except that; in my case, all of this energy is fixed on a tiny tap at the base of a black cylindrical object.

As I open the tap slowly, excitedly,.......wow !!!!

The first few drops of a rich brown liquid come out...

Hurray, that’s the first specimen of liquid fertilizer manufactured by home grown earthworms. Perhaps our ancestors felt the same way when they lit fire at home for the first time; but this was for me; a most extraordinary moment indeed.

I am now, a proud first-time-earthworm farmer.

It has taken me precisely my age minus 5 years to become an Earthworm farmer - and that has meant a wait of about 40 years. This story has more twists and turns than an earthworm can make going through a square yard in my back yard.

A month back, I discovered that there was this concept of breeding earthworms in a scientifically designed enclosure and I have been dreaming about this ever since. Two weeks ago, I bought the “can o worms” from the local hardware store and spent a few days reading the instructions. The missus is not particularly fond of the invertebrate wrigglies and it took a bit of authentic speaking to get her to at least explore the idea a bit.

After a bit of reading and some research – I found a worm supplier who was an hour’s drive away from home. Met him on Wednesday the 15 of August. (What an auspicious day – the day of India’s independence.)

Bob is an amazing man whom I instantly accepted as a life long mentor. He must be in his fifties or sixties (very hard to tell) and he packs a lot of vigour and fun in his smallish frame. He told me that he has been breeding these guys for decades now and was one of the founders of the worm growers association of Australia. He formulated the rules (amongst many other things) on how to weigh and count the worms!

He showed me a parabola chart that plotted the impact of season on worm breeding and shared heaps of dos and don’ts. Being a chemical engineer, he brought in a fair bit of technical speak into his articulation. He clearly is to earthworms what Irwin was to the crocs of Queensland.

Bob even runs a vacation retreat for the worms. Say for instance, we have to go on a holiday – Bob will lovingly care for our worms until we get back for a very small fee of course. He said; “the worms come here for a retreat and they go back healthy and happy, much to the surprise of their owners..so, if you are going away for a few weeks, leave them worms with me..I often have a few dozen worm boxes underneath my home during Christmas when folks go on a vacation…no vacation for me and my worms….!”

Now, there are 5 principles he asserted; explaining them through a series of questions that he labelled personal.

1. Do you like to be kept covered in a tight space without air?

2. Do you like to live inside water?

3. Do you defecate in the same place where you eat?

4. Would you eat synthetic plastic?

5. Would you eat food that has become rotten and spoilt?

The Earthworm indeed is the father of man.

This humble friend of the farmer has the same characteristics that I have…for starters, it is a coffee lover! Now that’s what I call fundamental compatibility. It is non-interfering and peace loving. It feeds only on natural matter that must have lived once. To illustrate this; my mentor said “whilst they love cotton, they will not touch synthetics.” I was thinking about that.

….imagine…wearing a cotton shirt with earthworms inside the pocket…by the end of the day of course, there will be no shirt …ha ha ha

I now have many more things to do like bottling the rich organic fertilizer to distribute among friends who have gardens….design the best possible diet for them...give them some treats every once in a while and so on…

Let other men do other things……..

The Birds at Ballina

The trip to Ballina was unforgettable for many reasons.(early May 2007)
Primary among them being a close look at Pelicans and Cormorants.
I have never seen so many of them in one place.

BALLINA is in northern New South Wales...its a tiny place, with a river that meanders through town and reaches the Pacific Ocean...we walked along the river and feasted our eyes on hundreds of cormorants, pelicans and the ubiquitous sea gulls.

Osprey is a bird that built nests on telephone poles and electricity poles - only to find that the chicks were getting electrocuted. The town council and local community and the electricity company designed and built baskets which have then been mounted on top of the poles....now there are many happy families of Osprey in those parts.

The Richmond river flows through the place and it was lovely to walk along the river and go with it till it meets the ocean.

We were also treated with a lovely sight of a pod of dolphins frolicking in the pacific Ocean. And to top it all - the weather was beautiful

I could get some time to do some water color paintings again...its been many years and my techniques are rusty...but its a start and I hope to do better and practise more...

The river cruise was good too. The Osprey nests were something the cruise operator showed us. We also wanted to do trip on a sea plane in these parts - but the tour operator had shifted base to some other place for that week.

We did not feel like visiting Byron Bay which was close by..perhaps that will be another separate visit later on.

When we told some people we are off to Ballina - they asked Why Ballina, there is nothing there...and our response was - precisely the point - thats exactly why we are going there...!!!

Anyway, its a lovely place, we intend going there again and perhaps this time in our own car - and that gives us more flexibility to go around and see a few other wetlands where birds congregate.