the second honeybee colony at our home

The first time bees made our home their home was last year. They moved in February 24th and moved out June 14th. It took a few weeks for us to get used to their presence in our sit-out. It was fun seeing them build the honeycomb. We noticed they had a daily routine of reorganizing... all bees would leave the nest, fly around few minutes and then resettle on the honeycomb. Given their short life span, in few weeks the honeycomb was home to 3 or 4 generations. When they moved out the honeycomb was dry, meaning no honey in it. We left the comb as it is. After 6 or 7 months it started warping and crumbling little by little. That's when I removed it. Here's the link to the post- honey bee colony of 2021.

March 11 2022 afternoon a new swarm moved in and settled on the exact same place. This is one of the first few pictures I took that day. The bees are hanging in chains, the topmost ones have initiated the construction work.

March 11, 2022

March 12, 2022

March 19, 2022

April 12, 2022

May 5, 2022

May 26, 2022

June 8, 2022

The bees moved out in June 26th afternoon, three days before new moon. Just like last year, the honeycomb was dry. It had the same sweet-pungent odor. And we'll miss them again.

June 26, 2022

Here are a few close up shots of the honeycomb. No matter how many times I look at it, I can't stop wondering how the bees are programmed. Truly Nature's circuit is beautifully programmed, humans are messing it up.

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Brahminy Kite seen early morning

I've been trying to shoot kites for several weeks, not a dedicated effort but whenever I go to the building top. Couple of times I waited with my DSLR but none came within the lens range. A few times they flew low but I hadn't got a camera, not even my mobile phone. One of the mornings, it was early and cloudy, a kite flew in my direction. As soon as I lifted my phone to shoot, the kite veered away. I think the sudden movement scared it. Here are the three pictures I could get. They are basically silhouettes, nothing more. 

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quarter kg

One morning at supermarket. I was selecting vegetables after a careful look at prices. Bottle gourd is usually priced at ₹20 per piece at Dharwad vegetable market however here most rates written on the labels are per 250 grams and a few are per kg. Bottle gourd rate written on the label was ₹18 but the quantity wasn't clearly visible to me. So I asked a lady staff member if the rate was per kg or per quarter kg. The lady response was a big smile and a hearty laugh. I asked what happened... was she laughing at my question or something else. She said "yenri sir quarter antidiri," still laughing. For a second I was blank, then it flashed....

"Ayyo Shivane, yellig hodri madam nivu, quarter andre 250 grams." 

The lady still laughing said "quarter antar yenri sir, paav kilo anbekri." 

That left me stunned for a second.

"Aatri madam, labelnag bardirod paav kilo rate yenri?"

"Han sir."

This is a mindset caused by cultural dilution... the original meaning of the word is buried, out of sight. I'm sure there are thousands of people here to whom quarter is either a taboo word or liquor. Similarly there are be other words which could be interpreted differently in different minds. It is better to confirm if our thoughts are same, in a subtle manner.

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