Skip to main content

Chillies




Kerala usually gives me fantastic pictures.  This time, however, my visit was too brief - just two days - to go shooting pictures.  These chillies fascinated me. They grew in a place where one wouldn't expect them.  But that's Kerala: it throws the unexpected on your face. 

Comments

  1. Anita SabatJanuary 9, 2014 at 10:35 PM

    Sir, Clicking Chillies is easier/better than eating them :)
    Had you visited during Christmas? I was there at Kerala this Christmas & enjoyed my visit :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJanuary 10, 2014 at 9:47 AM

      I was there just for a couple of days this week, Anita. An emergency.

      Poet Thomas Gray wrote about the destiny of certain flowers to be born in deserts where their fragrance is wasted. I found these chillies too in a similar place where their spiciness is wasted.

      Delete
  2. Paresh KaleJanuary 10, 2014 at 7:10 AM

    from the place known for spices !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJanuary 10, 2014 at 9:47 AM

      Yeah, so spices grow just anywhere without any need for human attention.

      Delete
  3. sibiJanuary 10, 2014 at 2:10 PM

    Even the 'red' chillies stand out in Kerala!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJanuary 10, 2014 at 5:43 PM

      True. But red is loosing its sheen in Kerala. A friend of mine said, "Pinarayi Vijayan and Umman Chandi are partners in the capitalist business policies."

      Delete
  4. UnknownJanuary 10, 2014 at 5:02 PM

    Nice Click

    ReplyDelete
  5. VetirmagalJanuary 10, 2014 at 5:32 PM

    The variety of chillies seeds that are from Kerala is amazing. Most of the Kerala gardeners who are on our network post such pretty pictures making us "burn" :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJanuary 10, 2014 at 5:45 PM

      Unfortunately, Pattu, the particular variety that is peculiar to Kerala and burns down to one's bottom seems to be the only species that is surviving in God's own country.

      Delete
  6. NamrotaJanuary 10, 2014 at 8:10 PM

    Ah! Chillies... my favourite ingredient .. and the vibrant red one stands out as if asking for attention :D

    ReplyDelete
  7. www.lifepartneracademy.comJanuary 10, 2014 at 8:50 PM

    So sweet - hmm photo not chillies.

    ReplyDelete
  8. ManiparnaJanuary 11, 2014 at 1:23 AM

    Nice click..and I love red chillies :-P..Bengalis like hot and spicy food you know..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJanuary 11, 2014 at 8:03 AM

      Yeah, I've noticed quite a common features between Bongs and Mallus :) Fish, for example.

      Delete
  9. AnonymousJanuary 11, 2014 at 6:41 AM

    Nice one. :) Love chili. Have to contact Pattu and find out more about Kerala seed varieties.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJanuary 11, 2014 at 8:04 AM

      Kantari is the variety unique to Kerala, Subhorup. A very small chilly which acts like an atom bomb in your mouth.

      Delete
  10. DeepanshiJanuary 15, 2014 at 4:29 PM

    what a beautiful red of chillies.....

    ReplyDelete
  11. UnknownJanuary 16, 2014 at 6:50 PM

    How did it grow on unexpected place?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJanuary 17, 2014 at 7:59 PM

      It was thriving in a place where no one bothered about it. Like a wild plant.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pranita a perverted genius

Bulldozer begins its work at Sawan Pranita was a perverted genius. She had Machiavelli’s brain, Octavian’s relentlessness, and Levin’s intellectual calibre. She could have worked wonders if she wanted. She could have created a beautiful world around her. She had the potential. Yet she chose to be a ruthless exterminator. She came to Sawan Public School just to kill it. A religious cult called Radha Soami Satsang Beas [RSSB] had taken over the school from its owner who had never visited the school for over 20 years. This owner, a prominent entrepreneur with a gargantuan ego, had come to the conclusion that the morality of the school’s staff was deviating from the wavelengths determined by him. Moreover, his one foot was inching towards the grave. I was also told that there were some domestic noises which were grating against his patriarchal sensibilities. One holy solution for all these was to hand over the school and its enormous campus (nearly 20 acres of land on the outskirts
13 comments
Read more

Randeep the melody

Many people in this pic have made their presence in this A2Z series A phone call came from an unknown number the other day. “Is it okay to talk to you now, Sir?” The caller asked. The typical start of a conversation by an influencer. “What’s it about?” My usual response looking forward to something like: “I am so-and-so from such-and-such business firm…” And I would cut the call. But there was a surprise this time. “I am Randeep…” I recognised him instantly. His voice rang like a gentle music in my heart. Randeep was a student from the last class 12 batch of Sawan. One of my favourites. He is unforgettable. Both Maggie and I taught him at Sawan where he was a student from class 4 to 12. Nine years in a residential school create deep bonds between people, even between staff and students. Randeep was an ideal student. Good at everything yet very humble and spontaneous. He was a top sportsman and a prefect with eminent leadership. He had certain peculiar problems with academics. Ans
25 comments
Read more

Queen of Religion

She looked like Queen Victoria in the latter’s youth but with a snow-white head. She was slim, fair and graceful. She always smiled but the smile had no life. Someone on the campus described it as a “plastic smile.” She was charming by physical appearance. Soon all of us on the Sawan school campus would realise how deceptive appearances were. Queen took over the administration of Sawan school on behalf of her religious cult RSSB [Radha Soami Satsang Beas]. A lot was said about RSSB in the previous post. Its godman Gurinder Singh Dhillon is now 70 years old. I don’t know whether age has mellowed his lust for land and wealth. Even at the age of 64, he was embroiled in a financial scam that led to the fall of two colossal business enterprises, Fortis Healthcare and Religare finance. That was just a couple of years after he had succeeded in making Sawan school vanish without a trace from Delhi which he did for the sake of adding the school’s twenty-odd acres of land to his existing hun
19 comments
Read more

The Adventures of Toto as a comic strip

  'The Adventures of Toto' is an amusing story by Ruskin Bond. It is prescribed as a lesson in CBSE's English course for class 9. Maggie asked her students to do a project on some of the lessons and Femi George's work is what I would like to present here. Femi converted the story into a beautiful comic strip. Her work will speak for itself and let me present it below.  Femi George Student of Carmel Public School, Vazhakulam, Kerala Similar post: The Little Girl
37 comments
Read more

Sanjay and other loyalists

AI-generated illustration Some people, especially those in politics, behave as if they are too great to have any contact with the ordinary folk. And they can get on with whoever comes to power on top irrespective of their ideologies and principles. Sanjay was one such person. He occupied some high places in Sawan school [see previous posts, especially P and Q ] merely because he knew how to play his cards more dexterously than ordinary politicians. Whoever came as principal, Sanjay would be there in the elite circle. He seemed to hold most people in contempt. His respect was reserved for the gentry. I belonged to the margins of Sawan society, in Sanjay’s assessment. So we hardly talked to each other. Looking back, I find it quite ludicrous to realise that Sanjay and I lived on the same campus 24x7 for a decade and a half without ever talking to each other except for official purposes.      Towards the end of our coexistence, Sawan had become a veritable hell. Power supply to the
12 comments
Read more