02Nov25

If there is one thing you should learn in life, it is this- Not everyone will appreciate the milestones you acheived or laurels you won. People measure you against themselves. If you are an equal or a notch lower than their achievements, they will be your friends. If you are better, they will still be your friend, but will tell others that all that you don't deserve all that you achieved. You either got it by fluke, influence or undue means. Especially if you are a woman. So, keep your head above all this. Be brave.

15Oct25

Saw this tiny pretty moth on the Dracaena plant. It is as big as a finger nail and very pretty. I googled to find that it is called Agrotera Basinotata. It is a common moth found in India apparently and feeds on the laggerstroemia species, like the Pride of India tree. I also found it on the Moths of India website. Here is the link, https://www.mothsofindia.org/agrotera-basinotata. Another moth that I spotted was in the front yard, on the floor

It looks like Zale Lunata, says google. I am not sure. Identifying moths is tricky. They have very intricate patterns on their wings, that one has to look at them closely. Even altering the image in a photo app, will chnage the light falling on the patterns which will skew the identity as well. I am not very sure of this one. Will update if I think it is wrong. Ciao.

09Oct25- Wild Gardens are like Joint Families

Someone in the WhatsApp group asked about their Rangoon creeper leaves turning yellow and whether they were overwatering. I took a photo of mine growing among the Hamelia Patens to show them it's a natural process. The plants go through cycles of resting, yellowing, and pushing fresh shoots. I messaged that there's nothing to worry about.

While taking the photo, I understood something deeper about wild gardens like mine. The Rangoon creeper (Quisqualis or Combretum indicum) lives amidst the Patens, their roots far apart. One grows in the ground, the other in a pot. Yet both have leaned on the porch roof tiles, taking support from the roof to grow together. Among them climbs a jasmine, invisible in the picture, leading its own life, unmindful that I cannot pluck a single flower from it.

Unlike manicured gardens where plants are trimmed, maintained, and stand apart in isolation, here they have each other. This is life's natural flow: independent yet together.