Stepping Into The Seventy Fifth

How do you step into the 75th year of your life?

Do you celebrate? How? With whom? Where?

The universe celebrates with you. Mother Nature gives you a birthday gift. How and where?

End of December every year is the flowering time for the mango trees in our yard in Secunderabad. This year none of the three trees bloomed. Ghumakkad was a bit saddened. May be it would flower next year. Many mango trees produce fruits every alternate year. Some way to console oneself! 

As Ghumakkad's 74th birthday approached, mother Nature smiled. As if on cue, all the three mango trees started to bloom with sprinkling flowers. Nature's own way of saying 'Have patience. Happy Birthday Harsh'. Sharing below few pictures of the birthday 'gift' timed so well by the universe! Ghumakkad feels truly blessed. Sharing below my joy.

'Old age is second childhood', goes the old saying. Ghumakkad feels like a child at 74. Sample the things that thrill me as a child. Joy in small things!

A four-year-old child when asked his age, doesn't say 'I am four'. Instead he says with his chin high 'I am-four-and-a-half!' So does Ghumakkad when he says 'I am entering seventy five' instead of the routine answer 'I am seventy-four!'

Children become sad when one of their toys becomes non-operative. Once repaired, the joy gets restored and the child resumes playing. Same way for the older lot like me, a repaired hair-trimmer brings the smiles back! 

Completing a puzzle game brings enormous joy and satisfaction to a child. When a winding putt drops into the hole, the joy knows no bounds for Ghumakkad-the-golfer. Small things matter.

Learning science at home- children sow few seeds in a pot at home. When it sprouts, the eyes sparkle. Ghumakkad feels equally excited when the mango tree starts flowering. Small things again!

This morning, I was at Yapral lake for my morning walk. It was a misty morning not suited for photography yet cool enough for some stretches under the canopy of trees. Sharing few pictures below.

Misty morning by the lake side can create surreal images. Ghumakkad loves his morning walks. Sharing a few pictures taken on the New Year when most of the world was asleep.

Seventy four is also the time to pause and look back. Sharing below two stories of my 70th and 60th birthday celebrations where many of you are featured. Read on.

"Seventy is getting old, yet not old enough." Do you agree? What did Ghumakkad do when he turned seventy?

A Grandpa Turns Sixty - When friends came over from across the continents to give bumps to Ghumakkad!

Celebratory Triathlon

Our son Ankush who is an Ironman twice, celebrated my 74th birthday with a 740 metres swim,  74km bike ride followed by a 7.4km run in Chennai. What a creative and unique way to celebrate a father's 74tth birthday in Ironman style. Isn't it? Thanks Son, proud of you.

Cake of Choice

When you have a Chef in the family, how can a cake of choice not be there!  Our daughter-in-law Prabs and grandson Ansh teamed up at night to get an egg-free Ultra Chocolate Cake with a candle. Thanks Chef Prabs, for such a delicious cake. See the picture below and you will fall for the cake. Those in Hyderabad can visit her cafe called SOZO on Road No, 14, Banjara Hills.

The video of the cake cutting with Ansh follows.

Ghumakkad is privileged to share his birthday with Col GB Sethi, PhD. Both of us love golfing and have been teachers. Though eleven years apart, but we are close at heart. Picture below shows doing a hi-five with him on the golf course.

Ghumakkad thanks all those who have sent messages, calls, notes, blessings, videos and text and even those who forgot --for keeping me in their thoughts. Grateful to each one of you. You make my life so special. I feel blessed. 

As my late buddy Annu (aka Anand Jain) used to say 'Insha Allah', see you for the Platinum next year. God willing.

Thanks for browsing. Stay connected and do leave a comment. Even a few words will encourage us.

    -  Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ Secunderabad/ 3rd Jan 2026

#74thBirthday #GrandpasBirthday #SteppingInto75 #RedefiningJoy #NaturesGift #BlessedByTheUniverse #JoyInSmallThings #ghumakkadharsh #ghumakkadhb #SmallThingsIn Life

Dying Trees Shrinking Lakes- Sounding A Death Knell

Chirping birds, swaying palms, gentle breeze and colourful dawn.

Morning walks sure energise you. But when you see many old trees dying and the lake shrinking, you feel anguished, sad and angered- all at the same time. The other day I observed hundreds of Babool (acacia) trees in Yapral Lake dying a slow death.  Am sharing few pictures taken a year apart at the same spot around the Lake. See for yourself the damage and destruction that mankind is causing to the environment. If we, human beings, don't mend our ways, it may be too late. Just too late!

Baya Weavers make their nests on Babool trees. With the trees gone, where will the weaver birds make their nest?

And many other birds thrive on the greenery. Will we see such birds in our neighbourhood in future?

Another major waterbody which lost half of its area is the Kolleru Lake in Andhra Pradesh. It acts as the flood balancing system between Godavari and Krishna rivers. Do see the maps and the pictures in our story below:

Kolleru Lake- constantly encroached over 30 years!

The floods of 2015 in Chennai were also caused by encroachment of the flood banks of Adyar river which flows through the city. You may browse our story below:

Chennai Floods Man Made

Similarly, the flooding of our house in Secunderabad in Oct 2020 was caused by encroachment and blockade of free flow of rain water which existed for centuries. See the damage it caused in the story below:

Flood Fury

Ghumakkad has been highlighting environmental degradation through our picture stories. Like-minded folks who care for the environment, may browse the following stories:

Beat the Plastic Pollution - World Environment Day 2023

Only One Earth - World Env Day 2022

Reimagine, Recreate Restore - How to restore the environment? World Env Day 2021

Mutualism by Nature - how few species are dependent upon one another

Shrinking Urban Lakes- Impending Disaster

What Can We Do? - Practical things to do by individuals

Let us not turn a blind eye towards environmental degradation of any kind.

Thanks for browsing. Every person counts in this battle to save the environment.

      -Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ Secunderabad/ 26th Oct 2023

#environment #deforestation #saveourlakes #ghmc #encroachment #everypersoncounts #yaprallake #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh #savethetrees #greenearth #treesareourlife #pollution

Heron- A Picture of Grace

Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder said Pluto. Our picture of a Grey Heron landing on the thorny trees on the edge of a small lake- conjured up the imagination of our readers. KBG-68, the 68th edition of Kaun Banega Ghumakkad- the online Caption Contest- attracted more than 40 entries. Before we announce the results, here are few more pictures of the Grey Heron shot around Yapral Lake in Secunderabad India. Whether in flight with legs tucked in, or landing or take off, is the grey heron not a picture of grace?

KBG-68 Contest

The Contest attracted more than 300 readers out of which we received 42 captions. We thank all the participants listed below for sending their creative captions.

No.	Name	Caption for KBG-68 Contest
1	Ajai Bhumri	विश्राम का, मेरी ज़िंदगी में, है न कोई नाम । उड़ना, और केवल उड़ना, ही है मेरा काम ॥
2	Amandeep Kaur	Udhti phiru mast gagan mein
3	Avinash Tiwari	I am a Disco Dancer. Aati kya Khandala?
4	Bharat Ladha	मौसम सुहाना है ,चलो सैर कर आएं ।
5	CD Sawant	प्रितम आन मिलो
6	Deepak Jena	Relax we're all crazy, it's not a competition !
7	Deepak Jena	Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude.
8	GB Sethi	Pankh lagen to urd jaoun main!
9	GR Sreenivasan	Very graceful and determined to impress, the high and the mighty.
10	Jaishankar	Say not anymore to me that grey is the drabbest of colours, for now have I beheld it's beauty on wings.
11	J Ramamoorty	Three need not be a crowd
12	J Ramamoorty	Grace in action
13	Jyoti Dixit	Grace unmatched
14	Kausalya Govindan	Take off or landing? All in your eyes!
15	LS Bhargava	Fragrance of happiness and beauty
16	LS Bhargava	Do not disturb the nature
17	Manju Khetan	Beautiful!
18	Mukul Bhargava	One is a wanderer and two is company
19	Narendra Soni	तुम छुपी हो कहां मैं फड़फड़ाता यहां
20	Nidhi Bhargava	Get set, ready & fly. Sky is the limit, soar high.
21	Poonam Bhargava	Perfect landing Pilot
22	Poonam Bhargava	छू लो ज़मीं को ऐसे, कोई प्यार करे तुम्हें जैसे।
23	Prabhat Jindal	Ready to Soar and explore the world'
24	Pradeep Siwach	Jo jyada udte hain woh ek din niche aate hain.
25	PRR Rao	प्रितम आन मिलो
26	Rachita Bhargava	“I believe I can touch the sky!”
27	Radhika Sareen	When you are happy and you know it - spread your wings.
28	Radhika Sareen	All set to fly high in the sky.
29	Rajendra Singh	Ace pilot landing on its turf!
30	Rashmi Bhargava	Some birds are not meant to be caged
31	Rekha Bhargava	काश मैं  भी  उन्मुक्त पक्षी होती, मन  चाही दिशा  में पंख फैलाये urti  जाती.
32	Ritu Bhargava	Leap of faith.
33	Rohini Tiwari	Perfect landing!!
34	Shereen Sultana	Landing like a Hero
35	Sujata Das	Every evening in the spring, I waited in the twilight, To watch a heron return to its roost. Telling me summer is at the corner.
36	SR Murari	No catwalk good enough for such beauty and elegance, only Nature's palette
37	Trixie Asirvatham	Uplift. Inspire. Take a leap of faith.
38	Unknown	When you are happy and you know it spread your wings.
39	Unknown	All set to fly high in the sky.
40	Veeky Baths	अभी अभी मैंने लांघा है समुंदरों को, अभी तो पूरा आसमान बाकि है
41	Vinay Prasad	I don't crawl, I don't run I am destined to fly!
42	Yogesh	Flight of Fantasy

Winners

Our Jury has selected the following four captions as the Winners of KBG-68. Congratulations to all the winners. We are happy to share their profiles below. 

Jaishankar, a former Colonel of Indian Army, loves adventure sports and hiking. Widely travelled he has an interesting blog. He is a regular participant in KBG Contests which he has won several times. His caption brought out that grey is not a drab colour and was the Jury's first choice.

As a Naval spouse, Kausalya Govindan has taught life sciences and mathematics to high school students across India. Now as a senior citizen, she says that "Am trying to  accept everyone and everything as they are and finding peace always." Her simple caption 'Take off or landing? All in your eyes!' was appreciated by the Jury.

Trixie Asirvatham has an MA in Psychology from Lucknow University. From an English teacher to a copywriter to a Creative Director of leading advertising agencies  in India, Trixie's creative pursuits continued with web design companies.  She enjoys singing, playing the guitar and writing songs and poems. Her simple caption 'Uplift. Inspire. Take a leap of faith.' appealed to our Jury instantaneously.

Veeky Baths, PhD heads the Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at BITS, Pilani Goa Campus. His research interests include Brain Computer Interface, Consumer Neuroscience, Brand perception and Pattern Recognition. He has been a regular reader of Ghumakkad's blog and loves travelling and writing. His caption in Hindi अभी अभी मैंने लांघा है समुंदरों को, अभी तो पूरा आसमान बाकी है means 'I have so far traversed only the oceans, am yet to conquer the skies' showed the confidence of a grey heron. And the lesson it has for all of us!

We thank our Jury Anchita Nidhindra and Akanksha Bhargava for taking time off during the winter holiday season in USA. We once again congratulate all the winners.

One of our readers Shyamola Khanna, an author and a painter, created a water colour based on the contest picture. Reproduced below with the permission of the painter.

We close with a PQ picturesque quote of a Demoiselle Crane in flight and shot in Khichan Rajasthan which says 'If you want to fly, give up everything that weighs you down!'

Hope we were able to take your mind off the damn Omicron and its rising numbers! Be safe but go out to see the birds, trees, flowers and Nature. It will sooth your frayed nerves.

Wishing you a Covid-free year!

     - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/5th Jan 2022

#greyheron #yaprallake #nature #waterbirds #landingandtakeoff #secunderabad #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh #KBG #kaunbanegaghumakkad #onlinecontest #lockdownfun #takeabreak #captions #powerofobservation #craetivecaptions #pqs #picturesquequotations #naturetheteacher #learningthroughpictures #india #observeandlearn