Oh Golly roll your Lolly!

Have you ever seen how bidis (crude form of local Indian cigerates without filter rolled in specially grown leaves) are made?
Hey its a highly relaxing job which is hazardous in many ways too.

Here I was in one of the interior villages (gaon in local lingo) in southern Maharashtra, where I came across a cluster of huts. Inhabitants there, whose only livelyhood was rolling bidis........Poor guys, it is this same and solus livelyhood that in later years is one of the reasons for their deaths.

Like everything in nature is simple but never straight, the process of rolling bidis looks very simple but needs a lot of hand coordination and control. The bidi maker first lays the parched leaf on the ground, fills it up a dangerous mix of tobacco, rolls up the leaf and ties the rolled leaf with a fine thread tucking the loose ends with a couple of small leaf twigs.

Seems simple yet needs years of parctise and ingenuity.

Yet another service from nature! Hah!

On my way to work....

Who says Mumbai is sans the beauty of nature?
Here I was on Mahim Causeway struggling to make my way in a pool of cars
The beauty of the coastline at a distant, amidst the misty winter morning sky
Takes you momentarily away from the snarls and the bustles of this great city.

You drive a couple of hundred metres ahead and you see those long crude fishing boats,
With fishermen pushing their most prized possession into the sea for another day of toil.
Well Well Well! Goa, here I come.....

Nature leaves its flavour in the most simplest of forms,
Its for us to appreciate its beauty
In order to keep our minds clear of the usual city struggles,
To make our lives beautiful and cheerful!

Love...