Open the bloom of your heart and become a gift of beauty to the world. – Bryant McGill, author.

The cockscomb plant is an addition to our garden this year.  The unusual inflorescence and large size of the flowers attract many visitors to our garden.

Ccockscomb (Celosia Cristata) of the Amaranth family (Amaranthaceae) and it comes from India. Amaranth family of plants include beets and quinoa.

The flower gets its name from its similarity to the cock’s comb on a rooster’s head.

Our friend of Portuguese origin gifted the cockscomb seeds last year and said, “These plants originated in India first introduced to Europe in the mid sixteenth century.”

“It could well be that Vasco-da-Gama took it from Kerala on his second return voyage in 1502!” I replied.

Cockscomb is also known as Dracula or Novelty Celosia. Flower head and plant reaching 12-16″ in height.

This bushy plant has dense, brain-like flowers with a woolen texture.  Thus, nicknamed wool flowers or brain celosia.

The flowers are used in traditional medicine to treat everything from headaches to menstrual cramps. 

The colours range from white and yellow to shades of orange, red, and purple. The flowers can be dried and used in floral arrangements.

Cockscomb plants produce simple oval leaves that are arranged alternately along the stem and often are borne on a reddish petiole (leafstalk).

The small flowers have colourful bracts and are densely arranged in showy inflorescences.

The flowers are tiny and hermaphrodite (Hermaphroditic plants have male and female reproductive organs within the same flower), and are packed in narrow, pyramidal, plume-like heads 10–25 cm long with vivid colors including shades of orange, red, purple, yellow and cream.

The garden reconciles human art and wild nature, hard work and deep pleasure, spiritual practice and the material world. It is a magical place because it is not divided. —Thomas Moore, writer, poet, and lyricist

During my Indian Army days, colour pink raised curiosity as it referred to the instructors’ notes during various courses and assessors’ notes during various military exercises.  These notes were printed on pink sheets and was a prized possession for the students and assesses.

June marks the end of the Tulip season in our garden and is the month of Pinks. The pink colour stands out on the lush green background of the lawn.

Neon Star- characterised by their fragrant fluorescent pink blooms, used as edging plants in our garden. The vibrant pink flowers cover the evergreen, blue-grey foliage.

Pink was first used as a color name in the late 17^th century by a Greek botanist for the ruffled edges of carnations. and is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, sensitivity, tenderness, sweetness, childhood, femininity, and romance. In the 21^st century, pink is seen as a symbol of femininity, though in the 1920s, pink was seen as a color that reflected masculinity.

Rock Soapwort is a vigorous, low creeping plant. Plants form a low mound of bright-green leaves, smothered by starry bright-pink flowers.

Former first lady Mamie Eisenhower loved pink and had pink decor throughout the White House. Elvis Presley had a pink 1955 Cadillac.

Clematis is one of the showiest vines you can grow. With many types of shapes and colours, these plants dress up any kind of structure they climb.

Thyme flowers are typically lavender-colored and edible. They grow at the top of the stems in a sphere-shape with elongated vertical spikes.

Pink makes us crave sugar, so it is often used by shops selling ice-cream or other sweets.

Peony is named after Paeon (also spelled Paean), a student of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine and healing.   Marco Polo described Peonies, when he first saw them as Roses as big as Cabbages.

Jaipur City is called The Pink City, because of its giant forts, palaces and its distinguished pink colour.

Foxgloves are eye-catching tall, slender flowering plants with flowers in clusters of tubular shaped blooms in colors of white, lavender, yellow, pink, red, and purple.

Astilbe, a shade loving plants and it symbolises patience and dedication. In Greek, the name Astilbe means “without brilliance” or “without sheen” and alludes to the fact that the individual flowers of this species are small and inconspicuous.

Petunias are from the tomato, potato and tobacco plant family. And they drive their name from the South American word Petun, which is another name for Tobacco.

Lily has been a symbol of life, creativity and good luck they are also known as are known as the Flower of Good Fortune.  More than a beautiful flower; it expresses emotions – love and appreciation to offering sympathy and support.

With the advent of ultrasound came Gender Reveal Parties or Baby Showers with Pink for Girls and Blue for Boys.  Assigning colours to babies enforces a belief that they are supposed to grow and fit into. If you’re a girl, you must like pink, and that also means you’re girly. If you’re a boy, you must have blue, and no pink, or else you aren’t manly enough. If you’re a girl and you like blue, you’re a tomboy.

Gendered colors are totally outdated, and we should stop pushing colours on children if we want a world with less stereotypes, less sexism, and less prejudice.

On 16 July 2024, City of Mississauga, where we live, recorded 97.41 mm of rain in a three-and-a-half-hour period. The torrential rains were result of a pipeline of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico that moved into Canada in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl. It began on 15 July, when the remnant of Hurricane Beryl arrived in Toronto Area, bringing torrential downpours that resulted in some ponding on some local roads.

The water level in the street across our home rose steadily, engulfing our driveway. It began just before 9 AM and in about 45 minutes there was a deluge.

The First-Responders – Fire fighters and Ambulance – sprung into action and were outside our home to help anyone needing any help in the neighbourhood.

By 10 AM, many parts of the city got flooded and the Fire Fighters and Police launched boats to rescue people submerged in their cars.

City’s crew swung into action immediately to clear all the storm drains to facilitate fast draining of water into Lake Ontario, about three kilometer away.

The electrical utility company came and parked their vehicles in front of our home to disconnect power to the homes in case the water levels rose over their transformers on ground. Luckily for us, it did not – thus ensuring continous power supply to the neighbourhood.

City employed all equipment on hand like dozers and pumps to ensure fast drainage of water.

The City’s crew with volunteers from the community helped everyone in need.

Many cars parked on the roadside were submerged and were written off.

All the basements of the homes in the neighbourhood got flooded due groundwater pressure. The ground absorbed the water from the heavy rains and became fully saturated and the water found its way into the basements. Our basement too began to flood by about 10 AM.

By 3 PM, it was all dry – as if nothing happened. Large-scale developments around our home—such as apartment and office complexes, shopping malls and roads—have added vast stretches of pavement to our area. These expanses of concrete and asphalt inhibited drainage and worsened flooding. The water flowed into the neighborhood’s streets rather than seep into the soil or flow into Lake Ontario.

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.  William Shakespeare

For centuries, roses inspired love and brought beauty to those who received them. The rose’s rich heritage dates back thousands of years. We have over fifty bushes in our garden.

Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, was fond of red rose that he wore a red rose on his jacket until his last breath.

It is said that the floors of Cleopatra’s palace were carpeted with delicate rose petals.  Shakespeare refers to roses more than 50 times throughout his writings. It is also New York’s state flower.

Age the world’s oldest living rose is believed to be 1,000 years old. Today it continues to flourish on the wall of the Hildesheim Cathedral of Germany. Roses are truly ageless. Recently, archaeologists discovered the fossilised remains of wild roses over 40 million years old.

Black and blue Roses don’t exist. Black Roses are very dark red, and blue pigments don’t occur naturally – the blue colour can only be achieved through genetic modification in a lab.

The largest rose bloom ever bred was a pink rose measuring approximately 33 inches in diameter, bred by Nikita K. Rulhoksoffski from San Onofre, California.

A red rose is an expression of love. Red roses can also be used to show respect, admiration, or devotion. A deep red rose can be used to show regret and sorrow. The number of red roses given has a special meaning as well. 12 red roses are the most popular number to give; it means Be mine and I love you.

There are a lot of variations of the pink rose. Usually, pink roses are used to express gentle emotions such as admiration, joy, gratitude and deep or endless love.

Dark pink rose blooms may mean deep gratitude and appreciation. They also express elegance and grace.

Light pink rose blooms are symbols of pleasantness and innocence.

White is the color of purity, innocence and sacred love. It represents love that is eternal and endures beyond death. White roses usually may symbolise a new start, and it is a custom for brides to hold them when she walks down the aisle at her wedding. In certain faiths, the white rose can represent the sanctity of a marriage. White roses can be used to show sympathy or humility. They also may be about spiritual things.

Yellow roses are usually used as an expression of exuberance. Yellow roses show feelings of joy, warmth, and sometimes welcome. They are symbols of friendship and caring. The yellow rose, unlike some of the other roses, does not mean or express any romance.

Orange roses remind most people of a fiery blaze. These fiery blooms are symbols of passion and energy. Orange roses can be used to show desire and pride.

The color of burgundy is a symbol of beauty.

Green roses (these are sometimes white roses with shades of green) can symbolise best wishes, luck, and blessings for a good life or recovery of good health.

A violet or purple rose may show protection, and also a sense of majesty, royalty, and splendor. These roses are used to show adoration.

A lavender rose, like its color, shows enchantment. It also expresses love at first sight.

Peach-colored rose is gifted when you are grateful for someone or just want to show your appreciation.  It shows appreciation and gratitude or a different way to say, Thank You!   They symbolise innocence and purity.

Cream roses are indicative of charm and thoughtfulness.  Gifting a bunch of cream roses is an ideal way to show someone that you care – but without any romantic intentions.

The rose is one among the only three flowers mentioned in the Bible. The others are lilies and camphire – akin to henna.

The rose also grows into some fruit. The fruit is called a Rose Hip. It is shaped like a berry, and most are red in colour, but you can find black and dark purple versions.

In 2002 a miniature rose, named Overnight Scentsation, was taken to space to assist in studies that aimed to show effects of low gravity on the smell of roses. The study also aimed at learning how to improve the fragrances of several consumer products.

Due to the heavy blooms, staking the stem is essential, as the flower is top heavy and will bend, break or fall over

After a heavy downpour, the petals of old flowers carpets the ground beneath.

How did it happen that their lips came together? How does it happen that birds sing, that snow melts, that the rose unfolds, that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees on the quivering summit of the hill? A kiss, and all was said.  Victor Hugo

In Canada, almost half of the food we waste occurs at a household level. To address this, Too Good To Go, a social impact company behind the world’s largest marketplace for surplus food, launched of a new-to-Canada initiative, called Look-Smell-Taste.

According to Too Good To Go research, 92 per cent of Canadians check best-before dates on foods before consuming them. Not consumed before the date is the second most frequent reason people throw away food at home. Forty per cent of Canadians toss past-dated items at least once per week, even though 50 per cent don’t understand what a best-before date means and how it differs from an expiration date.

Reducing food waste is the number one action you can take to help tackle climate change.  The UN Food Waste Index Report 2024 revealed that at least one billion meals are wasted by households globally, every single day.

It is the responsibility of a food business to ensure that the food provided to customers is safe to consume. Different types of date markings on packages are used depending on the product are: –

Best-Before Date.   States when the durable life period of the food ends. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, durable life means the anticipated amount of time that an unopened food product, when stored under appropriate conditions, will retain its freshness, taste, nutritional value, or any other qualities claimed by the manufacturer.  Failure to adhere to the guidelines for handling and storing a particular product will affect its quality by the best-before date. Remember that the best-before date no longer applies if a package is opened.

Packaging Date.  Displayed on retail-packaged foods with a durable life period of 90 days or less. The packaging date must be displayed in combination with the durable life period. The durable life period can either be a best-before date or the number of days that the product will retain its freshness.  The purpose of the packaging date, in combination with the durable life information, is to inform the user of how long the unopened product will retain freshness.

Expiry Date.  This is not the same as a best before date. These dates are required on certain foods that have specific nutritional compositions that could falter after the determined expiration date. In other words, after the expiration date has passed, the food may not have the nutrient content as described on the label.  Expiry dates are required for formulated liquid diets, foods sold by a pharmacist, meal replacements, nutritional supplements and infant formula.

There exists a popular misconception that the best before date signify expiry.  You can buy and eat foods after the best before date has passed. It may have lost some of its freshness, flavour and nutritional value, and its texture may have changed. Best before dates are not indicators of food safety. They apply to unopened products only. Once opened, the shelf life of a food may change.

Too Good To Go, since its launch in 2016 in Denmark, has helped to save over 330 million meals from going to waste, the equivalent to avoiding 891,000 tonnes of CO2, 267 billion litres of unnecessary water use and 924 million m2 of land use per year. With 95 million registered users and 160,000 active partners across 18 countries across Europe and North America, Too Good To Go operates the world’s largest marketplace for surplus food.

The Look-Smell-Taste label, an initiative by Too Good to Go, will be on the packaging of 15 different food brands found at the Canadian grocery stores to remind consumers they may still be able to enjoy their products past the best before date. Cracker Barrel, Epic Tofu, Greenhouse, Kopi Thyme and Ristorante are among the brands slated to begin brandishing the Look-Smell-Taste label.

For generations, people trusted their senses – mostly look, smell and taste – to tell if food was good to eat or not.  Some food items containing seeds, nuts, vegetable oils turn rancid and tastes and smells differently. This rancidity is due to oxidation of fat. Oxygen in the air attacks fat molecules and causes a series of chemical reactions that lead to the formation of new and decidedly smelly molecules. These reactions occur even more quickly in the presence of light and heat. The new molecules that form as oxidation occurs may lead to digestive issues. Rancid foods are also less nutritious because oxidation destroys the good fats and some of the vitamin content.

Our sense of smell in responsible for about 80% of what we taste. Without our sense of smell, our sense of taste is limited to only five distinct sensations: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and the newly discovered “umami” or savory sensation. All other flavours that we experience come from smell. This is why, when our nose is blocked, as by a cold, most foods seem bland or tasteless. Also, our sense of smell becomes stronger when we are hungry.

Researchers have found that when volunteers wore nose plugs, their sense of taste was less accurate and less intense than when they tasted the food without the nose plugs. Smell did appear to make a difference. However, nose plugs did not completely block all ability to taste. Because the nose and throat essentially share the same airway, chewing some foods allows aromas to get the nose through the back of the mouth even when the nostrils are closed.

Peonies are outrageously beautiful in bloom, with lush foliage. They bloom from late May through June in Toronto.

Peony is named after Paeon, a student of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine and healing. They are also the 12th anniversary flower. The peony symbolises honour, fortune, and a happy relationship. It is the state flower of Indiana.

No wonder Marco Polo described Peonies, when he first saw them, as: Roses as big as Cabbages. Their stems are not strong enough to support the heavy blossoms, hence they need support. Peony cages are placed in spring around the plant as they grow.

Peonies – native to China – Chinese name for the peony is Sho Yu meaning Most Beautiful.

Peonies of three types grow in our garden- Tree Peonies, Herbaceous Peonies and Itoh peonies.

Herbaceous peonies (also known as bush peonies) die to the ground in Winter. They re-emerge in March, or when the snow melts. Many find that they are deer resistant, but not always. Peonies are long lived, minimal care plants.

Tree peonies with their woody stems that t defoliate in the fall, but the woody stems stay intact, above the ground. They tend to bloom earlier and with larger flowers than the bush peony.

Itoh or Intersectional peonies are a cross between the herbaceous (or bush) peony and the tree peony. These crosses have produced new, exciting colors. The plants have the lovely leaf form of the tree peonies, but die to the ground in the Winter.

Itoh Peonies derive its name from Japanese horticulturist, Dr. Toichi Itoh, who successfully created seven peony hybrids from a tree peony bred with an herbaceous peony. Dr. Itoh passed away before ever seeing his creations bloom. Years later, American horticulturist, Louis Smirnow bought some of these original Itoh peonies from Dr. Itoh’s widow and continued Itoh’s work.

Peonies come in yellow, red, pink, and white colours and there are neither blue nor black peonies. Peonies can live up to a hundred years.

The irony with peony flowers is that the flowers last only two weeks and if there is a shower, even lesser.

Any type of plant with blue flowers is always worth a closer look because the color blue is not always easy to find in any garden. Blue is a relatively rare colour in nature. This post is about the blue flowers in our garden that bloomed this spring.

Lungwort with its lung-like leaves, a kind of heart-shaped leaves are slightly hairy on the upper side and marked by several white or pale spots. Any plant whose name refers to a body part, it mostly resembles a human organ and was believed that the plant can be used to treat diseases on that organ. This is the case with the common lungwort, which modern science proved to be a mere myth.

In spring, the little blue flowers appear on elongated stems . Each inflorescence has 5 to 15 flowers with five petals. The flowers start red and as they age, they change color to purple and finally blue. This change in colour occurs because the pigments are affected by pH, being red in acidic environments and blue in alkaline ones.

Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’ has hairy heart-shaped frosty silver leaves and sprays of blue flowers in spring.  

Bugloss comes from Greek meaning Ox Tongue with reference to the roughness and shape of the leaves.

The leaves are intricately detailed with narrow green veins.

Clematis native to China and Japan, the name Clematis comes from the Greek word klematis, meaning vine, is known as the queen of climbers.

Large double purple-blue flowers adorn our garden in late spring. With the summer setting in, white, pink, red, and purple clematis bloom. The silver center of the petals expands as the flowers open.

Petunias are from the tomato, potato and tobacco plant family. The name comes from South American word Petun, which is another name for Tobacco. Back in the old days it was a huge insult to gift Petunia’s as it was believed that they carried the message – I don’t like you.

Blue is my faourite colour.

Recently, on social media, there was an image of the calendar page of August 1947.  The Forwarder pointed out that 15 August 1947 was not printed as a holiday.  This of course was quite natural as the calendar was printed prior to the beginning of the year at which time nothing was known about the epoch-making events which were to follow during the year. What struck me however was that the calendar was of Mr PC Mathew of Ettumannoor, Kottayam and that he was a Jaggery Merchant.   In those days besides the Malayala Manorama newspaper only a few rich businessmen printed calendars.  So one can surmise that Mr. Mathew had a flourishing Jaggery business in Kottayam.

The Central Travencore prior to independence had extensive sugarcane cultivation, in the areas watered by Pampa, Manimala, Achenkovil and Meenachil rivers.  The area mainly comprising present day Kottayam and Patthanamthitta districts, was ideally suited for Sugarcane cultivation as the climate and soil conditions of the area is suitable for the crop.  Areas like riverbanks, waste lands etc. where other crops could not be cultivated were profitably utilised through sugarcane cultivation. Moreover, sugarcane could tolerate heavy rainfall and short duration water-logging. The golden brown, sweet Central Travencore Jaggery was famous all over India. This is history and the area has very little sugar cultivation now. Recently there have been some reports of individual attempts to revive sugarcane cultivation in the area but largely to no avail.

Up to late 1960’s areas around Kottayam cultivated sugarcane, more than rice and tapioca.  In our young days, children often sneaked into the sugarcane fields to enjoy the ripening cane.  The landowners or their sentries shooed us away, but we were quite successful more often than not.  During our National Defence Academy (NDA) days, the fields around NDA too had sugarcane.  Cadets did the famous गन्ना Ganna (sugarcane) Raids.  In 1996 when I visited the NDA, I found no sugarcane cultivation in the area.  It was sad to see a concrete jungle instead of the rolling sugarcane landscape.

By late 1960s, the sugarcane cultivation stopped in our area and entire Kottayam as there were some pests infesting the crops and the canes turned red.  The pests sucked away all the juices and left the canes to wilt.  Advent of Rubber was also another reason which dealt a deathblow to sugarcane cultivation in the areas around of Kottayam.  Please click here to read about introduction of Rubber plantations in Kottayam.

Non-availability of sugarcane led to the closure of the sugar division of The Travancore Sugars & Chemicals Ltd. (TSCL) in 1998. The company was incorporated in 1937 with the factory at Thiruvalla in Pathanamthitta District, which commenced commercial sugar production on November 1948. The Company was originally owned by M/s Parry & Co. Government of Kerala took over the company in 1974. Now its distillery division produces Jawan brand Rum. Thiruvalla is also home to the Sugarcane Research and Development Centre. Like many research centres in the country, it is a white elephant milked by its employees. Their website shows no research paper ever published and has hardly contributed to the reintroduction of sugarcane in the region.

The sugarcane farmers crushed the sugarcane on a ചക്ക് Chakku.  The Chakku had two vertical metallic cylinders rotated by a bull going around.  The sugarcane was passed between the two metallic cylinders and the juice collected at the bottom.

The metallurgy of the cylinders was not that well developed, and they got worn out over prolonged use, especially in the middle, due to the extensive pressure the passing sugarcane exerted.  As the rollers lost their cylindrical shape, their effectiveness reduced drastically and had to be turned on the lathe, especially at the two ends to make them cylindrical.

The sugarcane juice was boiled in a huge വാർപ്പ് (Vaarppu,) a flat iron boiling pan of about three-meter diameter.   During boiling, chemical bleaching agents or vegetables were added to clean the juice and the extraneous matter was constantly removed to give a bright golden colour. The boiled juice was then left to cool in pots to form the jaggery blocks.

Our village blacksmith, Shankara Panickan lived across the street. He manufactured and sharpened farm implements and knives. The main source of income for Panickan was not from sharpening tools, but from his lathe, housed in a shed between his house and the foundry.  To turn the lathe there was a wheel of a bullock cart attached at one end, which had to be rotated manually at a particular speed.  Panicking’s elder son Thankan, was an expert at the task.

The customers at the lathe were mainly the sugarcane crusher owners.  They had to turn their worn out vertical metallic cylinders on a lathe.  Panickan charged 20 rupees per roller he turned on his lathe, but this bonanza came to Panickan only on a few days, limited to the crushing season.

The day Panickan got his bonanza, the evenings were more entertaining, especially for the neighbourhood (no one had a radio then.)  Panickan that evening visited the കള്ളു ഷാപ്പ് Kallu Shappu (Toddy Bar).  (Toddy is an alcoholic beverage made from the sap of palm trees by fermentation).  He returned home drunk by nightfall and sang folk and devotional songs with such endearing passion that I can still feel the melody wafting through the still air.  The way he used to sing will put some of today’s professional singers to shame.  His favourite songs were the one he sang in praise of Lord Aiyyappa of Sabarimala. 

For the current generation, sugarcane cultivation in Kottayam is history.

Daffodils, also known by their botanical name Narcissus, are the first flowers to bloom in our garden. The name originates from the Latin word affodill which comes from the Greek word asphodelus, which refers to a genus of flowers that emerge from fleshy rhizomes. It is believed that the Dutch put de, meaning the, in front of the word affodill, which eventually led to the name Daffodil.

Daffodils symbolise rebirth, new beginnings, hope, joy, and good luck. This symbolism could be because daffodils emerge first every spring to light up barren landscapes with their cheerful yellow, orange, and white flowers.

The centre of a Daffodil is a crown-like structure called a trumpet and is also known a Corona! 

Daffodils are the official tenth wedding anniversary flower. Chinese believe that if the Daffodils bloom for the Chinese New Year, it will bring luck to the whole household.

The Hyacinth bloom early spring accompanying the Daffodils and is a member of the asparagus family.

According Greek mythology legend, a young Hyacinth was killed when Apollo and Zephyrus were fighting over his affections. It is said hyacinths sprung up from his spilled blood.

The Hyacinth flower symbolises sport or play. Different coloured hyacinths carry different meanings. The blue Hyacinth signifies sincerity.

Pink hyacinths mean ‘playful joy’ while the purple flowers symbolise deep regret and white represents love and prayer.

When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim, April hath put a spirit of youth in everything, – Sonnet 98: From you have I been absent in the spring by William Shakespeare.

That is what the spirit of spring brings to each one of us. In Spring, the earth laughs in flowers.  It brings in cheer and happiness.  It is a reminder to us about the warmer days ahead.  If we did not have the freezing winter, the spring will never be so pleasant. 

We enjoy everyday of Spring more because it is the weather of birds chirping; bees flying from flower to flower collecting nectar; butterflies fluttering showing off their colourful wings.

The first blooms of spring always make my heart sing as the flowers never worry about how they are going to bloom. They bloom and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful.

To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow and at the end of the day in the Spring, I smell like dirt. The very first flowers that appear in our garden at the onset of Spring are on the Weeping Pussy Willow. The Salix Caprea ‘Pendula’ is commonly known as the Goat Willow or Weeping Pussy Willow, which belongs to the Caprea genus of flowering trees.

The soft coating of hairs acts as insulation to protect these early bloomers from cold temperatures. Most other willows make similar flowers, and since they’re among the very first to bloom, they’re especially delightful—they signal the onset of spring. The tree derives its name from these soft silver tufts that resemble tiny cats’ paws, feeling so much like fur.

Among the fruit trees in our garden, the first to bloom are the apricots.

The pale pink and fragrant flowers are 5-petaled and appear singularly or in pairs.  Cultivation of apricot trees in China dates back 3000 years. From there apricot trees spread west throughout central Asia into Armenia. The Romans introduced apricots to Europe in 70-60 BC through Greece and Italy. Apricot trees probably moved to the US through English settlers on the East Coast,

Eclipses and transits are astronomical events where a celestial body partially or totally covers another celestial object.  The term eclipse also finds its roots in ancient Greek—it comes from the word ékleipsis, meaning to fail or to abandon.

Eclipses, solar and lunar, have fascinated scientists and laypeople for centuries. In ancient times, eclipses were seen as phenomena to be feared – many cultures came up with stories and myths to explain the temporary darkening of the Sun or the Moon.

The story of eclipses in Hindu mythology dates to the Samudra Manthan (churning pf the ocean,) as described in both Bhagawat and Vishnu Puranas. After the Amrit or elixir of immortality was churned out of the ocean, the Devas (Gods) used the Apsara Mohini to trick the Asuras (Demons) out of its share. One of the Asuras, Svarbhanu, disguised himself as a Deva, and sat between the Sun and the Moon for a drink of the elixir.

When Vishnu came closer, the Sun and the Moon revealed that Svarbhanu was a demon. By this time Svarbhanu had already sipped on the drink. Vishnu immediately cut off his head. Since the demon had already swallowed a bit of the nectar, his head became immortal. The head became Rahu and the body became Ketu. It is believed that from time to time, Rahu catches up with the Sun and the Moon, and swallows them. The incident doesn’t last long because Rahu has no hands to grab onto these two celestial Gods.

Rahu and Ketu denote the points of intersection of the paths of the Sun and the Moon as they move on the imaginary celestial sphere with the earth at the centre and are respectively called the North and the South lunar nodes. Eclipses occur when the Sun and the Moon are at one of these points, giving rise to the understanding of swallowing of the Sun and the Moon by Rahu and Ketu.

The Gospel of Luke 23:45 for the sun stopped shining and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Mark 15:32 Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe. Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.  33 At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.

However, the biblical details do not accord with an eclipse: a solar eclipse could not have occurred on or near the Passover, when Jesus was crucified.  A solar Eclipse lasts for around seven minutes and is too brief to account for three hours of darkness.

A solar eclipse can only happen during the New Moon when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth. Similarly, a Lunar Eclipse during the Full Moon. Although there is a New Moon every 29 ½ days, there are usually only two or three solar eclipses each year. That’s because the Moon’s orbit is tipped 5 degrees to Earth’s, so the Moon’s shadow misses Earth during most New Moons. Though the diameter of the Sun is 400 times that of the Moon, but it is also 400 times further away, which results in the Path of Totality. This path is typically 16,000 kilometers long but only 160 kilometers wide. To witness the Sun totally eclipsed by the Moon you must be in the path of totality.

The total solar eclipse in Niagara Falls, was ranked #11 on National Geographic’s Best of the World list for travel adventures.   The mayor of Niagara Falls declared a state of emergency in the region as a precautionary measure ahead of an expected large influx of people who came to observe the total solar eclipse. Officials were concerned that the large congregation could overwhelm traffic, emergency services and cellphone networks. More than half a million people flocked to the border city, home to the iconic waterfall, to witness the wonder.

Mississauga and the Greater Toronto Area, we are a few kilometres outside the Path of Totality, where the eclipse was about 99.86%.  It was a cloudy day; hence we could not observe the eclipse in full. The eclipse began around 2:00 PM, with totality at 3:18 PM and lasted around three minutes. 

At 2:00 PM, slowly and laboriously, the moon’s shadow ate into the sun during the next hour.  It was a gradual darkening of the sky as a second sunset began around 3:15 PM. At 3:18PM, nearing totality, the diamond ring effect was seen, when all but a tiny glaring dot of sunlight was visible, accompanied by a ring of light around the moon’s darkened face. After three minutes, the moon’s shadow slowly receded and the sun slowly began to reappear. After another hour, the sky had brightened again,

Reminising about the Total Solar Eclipse of16 February 1980, during our Third Semester at the national Defence Academy (NDA,) where many Cadets and Officers took it as an unwelcome and evil event which they presumed affected their lives negatively and they had to be protected from its evil effects.  It was a Saturday but was declared a national holiday as many feared that even the residual light entering the rooms may have adverse effects on the human body, especially the eyes.

To ensure people remained indoors, Doordarshan -the only TV channel then – screened the popular Hindi movie Chupke Chupke.  The England Cricket Team was playing the Bombay Test and due to the Solar Eclipse, both cricket boards decided the Second Day as the Rest Day.

We were all ordered to make our cabins into total blackout by placing our blankets on the windows. We were ordered to lock ourselves in the room until the evil receded. Special Duty Officers were posted in the Squadrons to ensure that the orders were strictly adhered to. The Academy for the first time in its history came to a near standstill.  All roads were deserted; Gole market closed; there were no humans sighted anywhere. 

Only a few diehard Cadets, immune to superstitions and blind beliefs, ventured to sneak a view of the eclipsed Sun through the side of their cabin windows.  I managed two sheets of blank X-Ray sheets from the Mallu X-Ray Technician at the Military Hospital, folded it as my suns-hield to view the eclipse.  Our classmate Late Commander VS Ranganathan and our senior Commander Rangarajan from Sainik School Amaravathi Nagar (TN) were members of the Astronomy Club.  They were lucky to view the eclipse through the telescope atop the Science Block and photograph the event.

2024 began with incidents involving aircraft doors in North America. On 07 January 2024, the door plug from an Alaskan Airlines Boeing 737 Max came off about 10 minutes after it took off from Portland International Airport.  The aircraft was at about 16,000 feet when the incident occurred.  After about 20 minutes, the aircraft made an emergency landing at Portland Airport safely.

The door plugs are inserted where emergency exit doors would be located.  The plug is secured in place by bolts that prevent the mechanism from moving upward on rollers when the plane is in flight.

The blowout created a partial vacuum inside the aircraft that twisted the metal of the seats nearby, and snatched cellphones, headsets and even the shirt off the teenager’s back.  Luckily, the two seats closest to the blown-out hole were unoccupied.

The Fasten Seat-belt sign was on at the time of the incident and the seat-belt saved the teenager.  The pilot generally keeps the sign on until reaching cruising altitude. Different airlines have different policies on turning off the sign – some until reaching cruising altitude, some at 18,000 feet and some at 10,000 feet – if the pilots feel it safe.

The oxygen masks dropped immediately, and the flight attendants moved passengers from the area where the blowout occurred. The roaring wind was so loud that passengers could hardly hear the captain’s announcements.

The pilot immediately descended to 10,000 feet, where there is enough oxygen for everyone onboard to breathe.  If the blowout had happened a few minutes later, after the plane reached cruising altitude, the accident might have become a tragedy.

A passenger on an Air Canada flight from London, UK, to Toronto allegedly tried to open the aircraft doors mid-flight on 21 January 2024.  He had to be restrained by the crew as part of their flight and safety protocols, which allowed for the flight to continue normally to Toronto.

Police entered the aircraft once the plane landed and found the passenger, an elderly man, in a state of crisis and confusion.  The Police said, “It does not appear that his actions were intentional.” The Police did not lay any criminal charges.

Is it possible to open the doors of an aircraft mid-flight?

It is not possible to open aircraft doors at high altitude as the doors are designed to act as a plug that takes advantage of the differences in internal and external air pressure to create a secure seal. Try opening the pressure cooker at home when it is under pressure!!!

“Cabin crew – arm doors and cross check” – You will hear this from the cockpit, over the aircraft’s Public Address System at the start of every flight as the aircraft starts to push back from the gate. It means that the door is ready for use in an emergency evacuation.  Once armed, if the door is opened, the escape slide or raft will deploy and inflate – in less than six seconds.

An aircraft is pushed back from the gate by a tractor to avoid the need for reverse thrust from the engines. Reverse thrust requires high engine power and creates a high-speed jet blast. This blast can distribute debris that can cause injuries to ground crew and may damage airport terminals, aero-bridges, and ground vehicles.

After landing, you will hear the pilot ask the crew to “Cabin Crew – disarm all doors,” (there is no Check Back here) meaning that the emergency slide has been deactivated.

On 08 January 2024, a passenger with Air Canada was injured after he opened the cabin door and fell out of the plane onto Toronto Airport’s tarmac on a flight to Dubai, resulting in a six-hour delay. The man boarded the aircraft, but instead of going to his seat, opened the cabin door at the opposite end of the plane and jumped on to the tarmac.  He sustained minor injuries and was attended to by the emergency services.  As per Police, the man was in a state of crisis when the incident occurred and suffered relatively minor injuries. He was apprehended by police and transported to a local hospital for treatment.

Confrontations on flights have increased since the pandemic started, with some altercations captured and replayed on social media.

Passengers do become anxious with the onset usually prior to boarding and continues throughout the flight, with more reports of anxiety on longer flights. In one unusual case, a man complained of physical ill-health, which resulted in diversion of the plane for his hospitalisation. He was diagnosed with ‘Jet-set Munchausen Syndrome.’

Munchausen’s syndrome is named after a German aristocrat, Baron Munchausen, who became famous for telling wild, unbelievable tales about his exploits and past. Munchausen Syndrome is when someone tries to get attention and sympathy by falsifying, inducing, and/or exaggerating an illness. They lie about symptoms, manipulate medical tests, or harm themselves. Diagnosing and treating Munchausen syndrome is difficult because of the patient’s dishonesty. In simple military terms – it is Shamming.

As per a study by Miller, Warren & Zarcone, Vincent. (1968), Psychiatric Behavior Disorders at an International Airport – suicidal ideation – may occur during flight in people who are mentally unwell. On rare occasions, the aircraft itself is used as the means of suicide.

Lester, D (2002) in an article Suicide and Aircraft Crisis in The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, describes two instances of commercial aircraft crashing because of a suicidal passenger killing the pilot and co-pilot, resulting in the death of all the passengers. In each case the perpetrator had purchased life insurance, presumably to benefit his family. Disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 on 08 March 2014 will arise in the reader’s mind.

Another psychotic behaviour is Airport Wandering. In certain psychotic patients whose conflicts relate to separation and reunion demonstrate a causal relationship between airport settings and ideas relating to abandonment and reuniting with family. They may be found wandering in various airports around the world.

Although the frequency of psychiatric emergencies is much lower than that of other medical emergencies in-flight, the public is likely to be less tolerant of such incidents. Control of disturbed behaviour in an aircraft poses much greater potential hazards than on the ground. Seriously dangerous incidents in the air are fortunately statistically rare but have a high public impact.

In future, Will there be a need to prove psychological stability prior to boarding an aircraft?  Or Will the airlines screen the passengers for psychological stability?

Recently visited the home of one of our patients – an old lady – 89 years old – undergoing dialysis.  She is the widow of an Indian Soldier who retired in 1977.

Tried doing the Jeevan Praman – a biometric enabled digital service for Indian pensioners by capturing her fingerprint. I tried all her ten fingers three times. It always gave an error –Biometric Data did not match!

The lady had her fingerprints registered on the Aadhar system 15 years ago – with age her fingerprints did not change – it does not change for any humans.

It becomes difficult to capture our fingerprints as we age. This is because the skin loses elasticity with age, and the patterns become less prominent due to the thickening of ridges and Valleys (furrows.) The pores of our skin also become less lubricated, which affects the surface of our fingertips.

A permanent scar could alter someone’s fingerprint. There are also specific jobs that can impact fingerprints – construction workers, especially bricklayers and people who wash dishes by hand and people who work with chemicals such as calcium oxide. This is temporary, and once they stop these activities, the ridges grow back.

Certain skin diseases can temporarily alter fingerprints.  Damaged skin – due to burns or corrosion due to chemical interaction – can reproduce cells to form fingerprints exactly as they were before they were damaged unless the cut penetrates the dermis – the inner layer of the two main layers of our skin.

A suggested method to fingerprint for the senior citizens is by Milking the Finger – to raise the fingerprint ridges prior to printing. This technique involves applying pressure or rubbing the fingers in a downward motion from palm to fingertip.  Applying some natural oils may help your finger’s ridges be more visible.  For better results, choose a ring finger or middle finger of the non-dominant hand.

A study published in the July 14, 2015, edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found fingerprint identification becomes less reliable as the time interval between two sets of prints being taken increases, which suggests that the ridges on a person’s fingertips may change slightly over the course of a person’s life.  That is why one must update one’s biometrics.

Some criminals intentionally alter their fingerprints, sometimes on their own and occasionally with the help of medical professionals. These alterations distort their usual fingerprint pattern and make it difficult to identify those fingerprints. The mutilation include cutting lines into the skin, vertically or in a zig-zag pattern, in an attempt to both remove portions of the fingerprint and cause the skin to heal in a fashion which overlaps the old print and alters it significantly. They have also been known to burn their fingerprints using both heat and chemical sources. The intention here is to scar or entirely destroy the fingerprint and prevent identification.

A question came up – Can a dead person’s fingerprint be used for biometrics?

A recently dead one, whose body is well preserved — it may work. One may have to forcibly straighten the fingers stiffened from rigor mortise. It becomes a lot more difficult with a corpse that has undergone some degree of decomposition or desiccation or has soaked in water so that the skin has softened.

Medical examiners can surgically remove a dead person’s hands or fingers and send them to a lab where more advanced techniques can be employed. For skin that’s badly deteriorated, it may be possible to use silicone putty to make a casting that captures the detail of the fingerprint ridges. Those impressions can then be photographed and used in identification.

In a study published Nov. 5, 2013, in GMS Interdisciplinary Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery DGPW, researchers looked at the effectiveness of a technique called thanatopractical processing, in which fluid is extracted from other parts of a body’s remains and used to restore tenseness and volume to the fingers to fatten them for printing.

How long do fingerprints remain usable? There isn’t a lot of research on that subject. A study published in December 22, 2016, in IEEE Xplore and described in a 2017 USA Today article, usable biometric data has been obtained from corpses dead for up to four days in warm weather and as long as two months in winter.

Anil Jain, a professor of computer science at Michigan State University and expert on biometric technology says that a rotting body changes shape, including the digits, which distorts the fingerprints. How fast the body rots depend on where it was found or stored.  As per Jain, body parts under water and in very hot climate will decompose much faster. He claims that a fingerprint can be reconstructed by making a conductive copy of the deceased’s finger.

In his lab, researchers have accomplished this by first making an impression of a finger using the same material dentists used to make molds of teeth. Next, they put conductive silicone or gelatin inside the mold to make a cast. Once the fake finger is extracted from the mold, it was used to spoof a conductive fingerprint scanner. Jain said the lab has unlocked multiple devices using this technology.

Can you unlock a smart with a spoofed fingerprint?

According to Apple’s website, Touch ID won’t work by itself after it has gone unused for 48 hours. At that point, a pass-code or password must be entered for additional validation to unlock a phone.  The Samsung website says that if your phone has not been used for more than 24 hours, you will need to use your PIN, password, or pattern instead of your fingerprint.

Amazon series Bosch – Season 4 – shows the Los Angeles Police Department detective going to the morgue and pressing a corpse’s thumb to the screen of a mobile phone, to unlock it and see if there are any clues in the murder victim’s data.  It did work in the in the reel life, but in real life, it does not. Once a tissue is dead, it loses all its electrical charge and will fail to activate a phone’s fingerprint sensor, making it impossible to unlock.

Your footprints – you leave them on the sands of time. Your fingerprints – you leave them with your Pension Sanctioning Authority.

On Aug. 15, 2023, Canadian Defence Minister Bill Blair announced that Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members who experience sexual misconduct or harassment can now file a complaint directly with the Canadian Human Rights Commission instead of the internal military grievance process. 

The policy was one of the major pillars of Operation Honour, the military’s campaign to stamp out sexual misconduct in the ranks. Complaints about harassment and discrimination that are not based on sex will still be handled through internal military procedures.

The Human Rights Commission received 42 complaints about discrimination based on sex by military members between 2015 and 2021.  The number was likely so low because of a requirement to exhaust the internal grievance process before taking complaints outside the institution.

The change is to scrap a controversial Duty to Report policy that requires CAF members to report all incidents of misconduct, including sexual misconduct or racism, regardless of whether they were directly affected by them. Failing to report incidents of misconduct and wrongdoing was punishable under old military regulations.  The new policy will eliminate the obligation to report and penalties for not reporting and give members the opportunity to exercise discretion and choose the best path forward.

Although the Duty to Report has been in military regulations since the 1930s, it was given new life and extra teeth after a 2015 independent investigation into sexual misconduct found victims under-reported incidents because they feared reprisals and didn’t trust the investigation process.

A House of Commons committee report complained in 2019 that the rules on the policy were too vague.  Rather, the policy was ambiguous and difficult for the military to prosecute.

Duty to Report policy has long been criticised by victims of misconduct and independent observers like former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour, who delivered a landmark report on sexual misconduct in the military last year. They have argued that by allowing bystanders to report wrongdoing, the policy took the Canadian Human Rights Commission away from victims who may or may not have wanted to speak up.

It was thought that the Duty to Report obligation could help ensure that incidents were not ignored or minimised, and that it would enhance protections for survivors.   the Duty to Report regulations have had unintended negative consequences for people affected by offences of an interpersonal nature, such as sexual misconduct or hateful conduct.

The new regulation aims to induce a culture where survivors, and all those affected by misconduct, feel safe, supported, and able to report wrongs on their own terms. Now, any sexual assault survivors can weigh their options. If they choose to remain silent, they do not have to fear further punishment or face unwelcome exposure if others inform on their predicament against their wishes.

The new regulation will apply to new and existing complaints, allowing military members to ask for an independent review before exhausting internal grievance processes. Modernising complaint processes is a key component of the efforts to bring in cultural changes in the CAF. It will ensure that CAF members access human rights justice swiftly.

We spent a summer’s day outdoors, delighting in the calming showering fragrances and taking in the serenity of the purple-hued landscape of Avlon Lavender Farm. Avalon invites a special connection to nature. Literally meaning Isle of Fruit. The farm has over 30,000 lavender plants – English + French –  in 7 different cultivars.

Lavender or lavandula comes from the Latin word lavare meaning ‘to wash’, as Romans used it abundantly in their baths, hot spas & massages. In botanical terms, lavandula belongs to the mint family of scented plants, along with thyme, mint, sage and many others.

For a long time lavender or lavandula was known as a wild solitary plant. It grew high up on the hot, sunny slopes of mountains, away from civilized places on arid, uncultivated ground. Neither sown, nor cultivated, withstood the winds and the droughts, with two good friends: sun to grow and bees to pollinate. It wasn’t long before the shepherds spread their secrets and lavender descended from the hilltops to more accessible plateaus.

Lavender may have earned this name because it was frequently used in baths to help purify the body and spirit. However, this herb has also been used as a remedy for a range of ailments from insomnia and anxiety to depression and fatigue. Research has confirmed that lavender produces a slight calming, soothing, and sedative effects when its scent is inhaled.

From Greece, Egypt, Rome, English gardens, and the hills of Provence, lavender cultivation spread and it become an essential remedy for many ailments and well-being. Lavender subtle floral fragrance attracted soap and perfume makers, to make it the most versatile herb of all. Times came and gone, and still today, the ‘purple gold’ is unscathed choice as a true natural remedy for well-being and healing.

Lavandula angustifolia, also called True lavender or English lavender, is best known for its sweet, mellow scent, high quality essential oil, medicinal properties and it is a widely used culinary herb. Propagated by seeds and cuttings, it is cold and drought tolerant.

Lavandula X Intermedia known as French lavender is a hybrid between Lavandula angustifolia and Lavandula Latifolia, best known for its tall stalks, heady fragrance and high oil yield. It is used in aromatherapy and cosmetics. However it is not considered culinary lavender, due to its higher camphor content than Lavandula angustifolia. Lavandula X Intermedia flowers are sterile and propagation is done through cuttings. It is also cold and drought resistant.

Lavandula stoechas also known as Spanish lavender, grown more as ornamental plant than for oil distillation is more sensitive to cold winters.

At the Avlon Lavender farm, for an additional $10 at the door, you’ll be lent a scissors and given a bundle bag to fill with your own freshly cut lavender. Typically the bundle bag holds far more than $10 of fresh lavender, so this is great and economical way to enjoy the experience of harvesting your own lavender.

A field worker will point you to a specially flagged garden for Guest Cut-Your-Own, and will be available to help you cut to ensure maximum health for our lavender and your bouquet.

At the farm, 30 free-range lavender orpington hens love their life of grazing and adoration here at Avalon. Guests continue to fall in love with their curious and friendly temperaments.

To harvest the oils and hydrosols from lavender flowers, distillation is done with a Portuguese copper still. The process spreads aroma of fresh lavender.

At the end of the day, we all felt that it was worth the effort to visit the Avalon Lavender Farm at Mona, about 90 minutes drive from our home.