One morning with an Oakblue butterfly

One morning, early this second week of June, I was sipping coffee beside my pond when I felt something falling at my right foot, from above.  Instinctively, I looked what fell.  It was a butterfly, in fact, a Large Oakblue.

On first look, I thought something was wrong with this insect.  But on closer look, I cancelled that impression and got a new one.  It seemed to be a newly emerged butterfly.  Its wings were falling over and it had no strength to fly. Immediately, I concluded that it indeed had newly emerged from its cocoon. It needed drying of its wings as the sun was rising. 

Leaving the coffee cup aside on the stone bench, I kept my index finger near it.  It crawled up fearlessly.  I kept it on the forearm and felt it had excreted something.  I wondered what it was.  It was like honey-like in colour but was thin like water. 

Close up of that 'honey drop'.

 I blew air to open the wings to show the lovely bright metallic blue colour of its upper side of the wings.  Picture below. Not for nothing it has been named as Oakblue!  When it flies around, we can see this colour.  It rarely sits long enough to shoot photos when it grows up. I have seen other oakblues flying around the branches of the almond tree, but it is almost impossible to get photos as it also does not seem to come down much. I had earlier found a dead one and photographed it. Probably this pupa was there on one branch that overhangs the pond.

The tiny caterpillars are susceptible to attack by [weaver] ants and that is probably the reason for its rare appearances.  Many might go eaten away before they pupate. They seem to love the almond tree [Terminalia catappa].

I looked into its eyes through the camera so that you too can look what I looked and what it looked like!

Its club-like antennae was slowly getting some red colour, its young eyes shining in the morning sun.

Then I left it on a day lily flower petal which was getting some sunlight so that it could dry its wings.  It sat there motionless and by this time, the wings had gained some stiffness and were not falling over anymore. The butterfly was getting ready for its first flight. The Sun ☼ does wonders to life on this planet, does it not?

A blue banded bee looking for pollen for its breakfast was wondering at this unusual sight. It hovered around a few times and flew away, but not before I got these two pictures.

After watching it for quite some time I bid good bye to it and left for my other morning duties before leaving for work. My coffee had become cold. But I did not mind today.

I have also added this butterfly's information on the database at Dave's Garden here: http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/6878/

M.J.Srinivasa Iyengar - the Veena artiste and my aunt

Music does not run in the family, but it touched two ladies, my paternal aunts. The younger one, Gowramma, that lived with us all her life pursued her passion with dedication to the extent of becoming a tutor.  The elder one did not, after her marriage in 1941.  

There was a Mridanga at home.  

But this is a web-grabbed image.

The mridanga lay idle in a corner, like a corner-stool.  It had a hole in the leather near the black patch.  I still do not know who used to play it.  But I used to 'beat' it just to hear its sound for fun.  Subba, a poor man who used to come and help grind the spices in our kitchen had noticed this.  Since it was not in use, he asked it.  We gladly gave it to him.

There was a Harmonium, made in France, which my grandfather had bought for his eldest daughter [the elder paternal aunt] when she was young.  

This was in the attic in a nice box, a beautiful home to cockroaches!  Its 'blow-cloth' had been damaged by silver fish and the roaches.  It had beautiful original French brass reeds inside.  I gave away this instrument to a good friend whose daughter is rising in the vocal music world.  I took some pictures of it before giving.

I grew up watching, listening and fiddling the three Veenas at home and admiring the painting by Ravi Varma of Goddess Saraswathi with the Veena.

The melodious notes produced by the Veena is said to be closest to human voice and hence it is considered divine.

Gowramma was into music since her young days.  She had taken 'Music' at Christ the King Convent in her teens.  

This is like a small booklet.

This is a page from a bound book notes.  One date in it says1'948'.  She was 13 then. This is the handwriting of the music teacher who taught at the school.

Report card

Two of the three Veenas  were given by Chitra, a 'step-relative'. Since she did not play it anymore, she had given it to my aunt for use.  The remaining one was said to be made for the elder aunt.  It was later taken away by her descendants after Gowramma's death. You will see the third and smaller Veena later. 

Gowramma was learning Veena under the tutelage of the renown Vidwan, Sri M.J.Srinivasa Iyengar. 

This photo was taken in 1971 in our garden. 

What prompted this post was a news item in our local paper (Star of Mysore, May 26, 2012) reporting about the celebration of his 87th birthday, by his pupils.  

What his pupils performed was also reported in the paper. It was a very unique way indeed.

I wonder how they can make a mistake with Mrs. Padma's initials?  She is 'A.S.Padma'.

It is observed that dedicated musicians live a long life.  Music itself is a health therapy as the boffins are discovering in recent times.  No wonder they keep an active lifestyle and keep themselves occupied, emitting positive vibrations all around.

I remember MJS since the mid 1960s.  He used to come home and teach my aunt for about an hour.  It was in the room adjacent to the hall.  Two straw mats were spread on the floor on the day he was supposed to come - on alternate days.  He was given a certain monthly fee for his noble service.  He would arrive on his bicycle, usually after 7 pm on his way back to his house from the market place or somewhere as our house was on his way to his Jayanagar home.  His arrival was announced "Maeshtru bandidaaray". Maeshtru=Teacher.  He was always costumed in a white collarless-full sleeved, cuffless long shirt and a full white loincloth [panchay]. Sometimes a 'valli' adorned the neck.

The instruments were kept safely in the room, one in a large box and one above it, covered with cloth.  Only two were in regular use. After he came, they were taken out and kept on the mats. They would sit facing each other.  The string tensions were checked for shruti before they started lessons, may be after a silent prayer.

I sometimes went to the room, when I heard my favourite 'keerthanas' being taught.  They attracted me.  I would lean my back against the pile of rolled up beds and listen for a short while and then run away for play.  I think they both played one old lesson and one new in each class.  Sometimes, they repeated the old one many times until MJS felt satisfied with the perfection she attained.  I observed he was a perfectionist.  He would repeat and show many times till she perfected.  He would also sing in his typically deep voice and demonstrate the tune [raaga].   After the new lesson, he would write in the book for her practice like this:

They are MJS's notes from 1979. There are many volumes bound together, serially.  Probably he was teaching from 1962, going by the handwriting and dates written in earlier notes.

I do not remember how much fees he was given, but I clearly remember the manner in which he used to ask before due date. I can never forget his sheepish look.  He did this when about to leave and usually ready with his bicycle!  Sometimes he used to ask as soon as the lesson was over.  I can only make a wild guess [1970s] that it could be about fifty rupees which was not very high even going by his reputation and expertise. Those were still the 'good days' and he was in his late 40s and one can understand the needs of running his family at that stage. Musicians lived mostly on such income from teaching. 

I cannot recall when she stopped his tutions.  May be he left for Bangalore in the 1980s, I remember not, clearly. My aunt was also a veteran by then with a vast experience.  She became a tutor to young students since about 1970.  She was passing on the knowledge even till a fortnight before she died aged just 54, in 1989.  Her end was sudden and premature. The following picture is of a diary in which she recorded the fees collected from her pupils.  

The last entry is just 15 days before she breathed her last. Twenty five rupess/month was a very nominal fee considering that other teachers at the same time were collecting up to one hundred a month.  She was not after money.  Music and Veena were her passions and she pursued it to her heart's joy.  

There is no photograph of her with the Veena except for this one, when she gave a group performance at Rotary Club around 1980. Extreme left. Extreme right is Mrs. Lalitha Sitaram [Sitaraghava Vaidyashala].

After her demise, we had come to know that her close friend Vatsala had a tape containing the recording of her Veena.  She lived in Bangalore and we searched for her house and finally collected it, copied it and returned through a relative.  She too is no more now. So, this is the only recording I have of her.  In the tape, a dozen of her most and my favourite 'keerthanas' are played. She had recorded them with the new 'radio-cassette-player' for Vatsala.  It is so pleasing esp. to listen to 'Raghuvamsha Sudha', 'PraNamaamyaham' and 'Bhaavayaami Raghuraamam'.  One more was 'Marugelara', which is not in it.  May be one day soon, I will find a way to upload the music from that cassette tape and add it here.
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I am coming back to add this widget, thanks to my friend Krishna Rao who helped digitize the audio from the cassette: Now you can listen to five minutes of Bhaavayaami Raghuraamam.... played by Gowramma.
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I was fond of listening to Chittibabu's concerts and looked forward to the 'koel number' [kooOooo] and at its climax, he would show his creative skills and stunts. The classicists did not favour his style, but then he was unique! MJS and my aunt at times used to discuss the various styles of different artistes. 

Only recently, I came to know that MJS was a direct pupil of the renown Veena Venkatagiriyappa, who was a Royal Musician in the Mysore Palace.  It is such a pleasant feeling to know that my aunt was in that line through MJS.  MJS did, because music was his profession also.  But for some reason not known to me, never went to give concerts, like many of her contemporaries did.  Later, MJS moved to Bangalore and with that ended his visit to our house.  His services to music as a Veena player was by then well established.  He was already a top grade artiste with All India Radio.  He fully deserved all those prestigious awards he was later bestowed upon.  He now had a name of his own.

Here is an interview that is available on the web: http://www.bangalorebest.com/discoverbangalore/art_culture/veena.asp
In the interview MJS mentions that he played the Veena in the Mysore style!

Now, this is the third Veena.

My daughter is posing but not playing.  The smallness of the Veena can be observed here.  This picture was taken before we gave it away to another good friend.  We are happy to learn that it is being used regularly now.

This Veena is also said to be Chitra's.  It was probably made to order in small size to suit children.  It produces very melodious vibrations [naada].  I sometimes played one line of 'lambodara lakumikara' after 'sa-ri-ga-ma-pa-da-ni-sa'.  That is all I had learnt from watching.  Both MJS and my aunt wanted me to learn, but it never happened probably because Music did not run, as fast as Sport in the family.  Yet, I have 'an ear for music'.  After all, 'music is the language of the soul.  

Long live, MJS.

Vintage Dip Pens and Fountain Pens

Like most young kids, I was also fascinated by 'fountain pens'.  I have always wondered why my grandfather used to say 'fountain pen'. [Click]  Sitting on his study chair at home, I used to look at his two identical 'Swan' pens.  He was an advocate and wrote most of his notings and drafts by hand.  The typewriter in his office was used sparingly and only for important matters.  He had a peculiar grip with the right side of the index finger holding the 'section'.  He used these two Swans for many years and it had original 'Swan' nibs. He had a 'Parker' ball point pen also which he used only for his non-professional work. 

This is his pen holder made of stone - very old and broken many times.  It was an integral part of his desk at home.

Image: web grabbed to show how the 'section' [black part] of  the 'Swan' pen of my grandfather was.  It is very similar.

This is his Parker.  It has a 'jotter refill'.

[Blotting Paper]

A 'Bril' ink bottle and a plastic ink dropper were always beside the pen holder.  Ink spillage was a nuisance.  Somehow a drop or two would overflow while refilling the pen barrel.  Also, these fountain pens have this trouble of sudden 'vomiting'!  To suck up this spillage, there were blotting paper pieces ready.  We also used to protect our fingers holding the barrel with a piece of cloth while refilling. And sometimes, we also smeared a thin coat of 'vaseline' to the threaded neck to prevent leak.

['Bril' was also our brand for many years though we tried Quink [Parker] and Chelpark. Royal Blue ink was our preferred colour - the schools also wanted them. We sometimes tried the Black or Turquoise Blue.  But we soon reverted to Royal Blue.]

The above is one of the older writings of my grandfather and a rare use of black ink.  In my time, I never did see him use black. His handwriting remained constant, like his father's for many decades!

The pen-grip and the angle held are highly personal. Tip of a nib pen used by one person wears out at one particular angle with constant use.  Others will find it funny to write with it!  My grandfather had a condition that we should not fiddle with the two Swans, but I used to stealthily pick them up and try to imitate his grip and script.

After the 'slate-chalk' phase, children's first writing instrument was / is the pencil.  In our days, 'Copywriting' was compulsory.  For the younger lot who may not know what this is, here are web-grab images to sample what it was.  We had to practice the strokes of the letters/words that way.  It was in 'italics'.

[Click to 'enlargify']

We became eligible to use 'ink pens' only when we went to 5th. Till such graduation, our writing instrument was the pencil.  Though ball-point pens were available they were not advocated for children in those days [1960s].  Fountain pens actually enhance the handwriting performance.  Note this fact vouched and propagated by Bril. See the second 'bullet' below.

It is a fact, millions of users vouch and testify.

My first pen was a 'Bafna' green coloured pen. It was smallish and I loved that feel as it perfectly suited my small hand. It was bought during summer holidays soon after 4th class results were out!  It was lost from the school bag when I was in 6th.  I had kept this pen and a bamboo scale [that belonged to my father's younger days] in the pouch of the bag that evening and I was playing in the field after school with the bag of books hung on the back.  When I went home, these two items were missing.  I was shocked. The shaking of the contents while I was running about must have spilled the contents.  The next morning, I went to school a bit early, retracing my steps from the previous evening and made a frantic search at all possible areas.  But  to no avail, as there were other children also playing around.  We children were never satisfied with one pen.  So there was always the second one, but I cannot remember this 'stand by' brand.

My 6th class English Text. Ink took a while to dry on that smooth paper! 

Buying pens often was a constant affair as we saw one excuse or other to get a new one.  There was an old shop by name "Renuka Pen Corner".  It was on "Old Bank Road" close to Hotel Dasaprakash and adjacent to a cool drinks shop.  I think my grandfather knew the owner of this Pen Corner and so always bought writing instruments from him.  It was closer to his office on Soji Street [Gandhi Square].  Sometimes he also bought them along with his requirement of stationery from the famous stationer "R.Krishnaswami and Sons" on Sayyaji Rao Road.  This Renuka Pen Corner chap also used to do minor repairs and adjustments to the pens in front of our eyes on the counter table itself, which service was an advantage also.  I used to closely observe that for application in my later 'pen experiments and research' [spoiling]!

Some brands popular in my school time: Clipper, Parker, Hero, Pilot, Armour.....

In recent times, I preferred going to 'Harvest Pen Centre', owned fondly by Dinesh Chandra Misra.  An enterprising person. His passion is playing the flute.  His son is a famous flutist now. He was seen on the pavement with a colourful umbrella under which he kept a mobile table and a few pens for sale. He would stand by it playing the flute, without disturbing the public.Very recently I had visited his shop - he does not stand with the umbrella now - as I had some pens to buy. He was happy to also pose for a picture. Immediately he picked up his flute and played part of his favourite tune.  He had once told me that 'Harvest' was a brand from Calcutta and he used to sell them here.

I was very happy when my 'sacred thread ceremony' was fixed.  Ask me the reason why I was happy.  People would gift me pens for the occasion!  Gifting pens or pen-sets was a great fancy in those days as it was a very useful item.  Some of those gifts of that occasion have survived my experiments and use.

[These two are 'Pilot' brand.  They served me for many years. Japanese make. Popular design.

Its 'section' was like this. 'Section'?  Observe it in 'parts of a pen' picture slightly below.

This pair above - ink and ball pen was a gift from Farookh Irani who was the Managing Director of the famous Ideal Jawa Factory.  The pen is of 'Armour' brand.  Metal body.  Irani and my grandfather knew each other at Rotary Club.

This pen was a gift from our old tenant S.Gopinath who at that time was in Davangere.  This is Plato brand.

[Web grab image to show parts of the pen]

However perfect the section seemed to fit to the barrel, ink seemed to leak from somewhere.  The thumb, index and middle fingers would end up 'inky' everyday.  Some showed off the ink-stained fingers to boast how hard they studied! In attempts to stop the leak, we smeared a coat of vaseline to the threaded parts.  Sometimes it helped.  We also tried winding some sewing thread like plumbers to stop the leak!   This crack was either from a weak material or caused by our over-tightening of the section. In some stray cases, ink also leaked out through hairline cracks of the barrel's bottom. 

During our college days also we used fountain pens. For some reason, ink would escape into the cap and stain the shirt pockets.  It was a real mess.  Washing ink stains was a horrid circus!  I also had a pen that had a micro hole at the bottom of the reservoir barrel and would stain the pocket. Adhesive tape or 'quickfix glue' would not help. The pen had to be discarded.

Washing the pen before a new fill of ink was another chore.  Thin brushes [like bottle brushes] were also available to clean the inside of the barrel.  While filling, we often did not notice the ink level rising in the barrel and would overflow.  So we had to carefully drop ink into it. We always held a piece of cloth and also kept  writing chalk, just to be careful lest the ink stains any objects below also!

Some interesting pens would come in the market to attract children.  We were fond of such transparent pens  [below] as we could keep a watch of the ink level.  We wrote two pages and checked the level!

I do not know why the pens I used had 'starting trouble', whereas the huge pen used for writing prescriptions by the renown physician Dr.VR Krishnaswamy Rao of Mysore Pharmacy started to write without any such trouble! I used to clean my pen often but still the 'free flowing ink' would somehow would clot.  I had to wring the pen to make it write and that resulted in dotted lines on the floor!  Sometimes we used an old shaving blade to make ink flow smooth at the nib.  We ran the blade at the slit of the nib to clear any ink clots.

We always took two pens in the box or pocket when we went to write our all important annual examinations.  The spare pen was in case of any eventuality like the pen slipping from hand, falling blunting the nib, or if ink in the barrel was exhausted [as if we wrote a long novel!],despite filling it to the brim before the exam.   There were many cases of students who did not have a spare pen and requiring a pen mid way in the exam in such emergencies.

Let me show a few instruments from my great grandfather's time. He was in the times of the 'dip pen'.  So, ink pots were a fanciful and integral part of writing instruments.  I must mention here that square depressions were provided on wooden desks in schools and colleges of old times to keep the ink pots. Some old colleges still use the old desks!

Solid glass ink holders. 

Glass ink holder. Used it as a candle stand.  When I wanted to remove stuck wax.  Heated it on a flame.  It cracked into pieces. It was a puzzle. Finally put all the pieces back using 'Araldite'.

This is made of Bakelite. There is an embossing on its back "GEF, Mysore" - Government Electric Factory!  I am told that it later became "NGEF". 

 This is another glass item.

 This was meant for carrying in the pocket without spillage..

 Another steel ink holder.  It has provision for two little bottles - also meant for carrying.

 Another ink pot.  An ivory pen is also seen.

 Two ivory inlaid pens, one ivory pen and one metal pen.

Close up to show intricate inlay work.

Nib holder from Eagle Pencil Co. New York.......

.... patented March 25, 1879.

This is an Indian nib - writes very well!

My father used a similar pen, "President" brand. He used it because of its larger ink tank capacity!

I hope the images you saw in this post helped you relive and retrace your sweet memories from childhood.

~~~