Xavier's cornucopia

  Butterfly  Do not be carried away if one flying colour has selected you among many while on a stroll in the garden. A group of students were walking in a garden after their usual combined study workshop when a great hornbill butterfly with its massive yellow casque landed on his hand and fluttered there for a few seconds. He was wonder struck, others admired him for having selected him from many by this celestial wonder. We tend to think of butterflies as ethereal creatures built of light cultural symbols of everything from grace and love to inspirational transformation. Is he to be admired? He was blotting with pride; but the real fact was his blotting appearance that attracted the butterfly. He sweat more and are smellier; the emitted sweet vapours while walking landed upon him to taste his sweat and to sip moisture. I have two shrubs in my kitchen backyard; a lemon tree and curry leaves tree. Both attracts red admiral butterflies and lay eggs on their tender leaves. ...

 Reading and writing has become the most important objective in my life as though limited time is left to complete a voluminous task, more and more time is spent for this purpose. I used to sit for hours reading articles from the News paper, taking notes from my favourite columnists and then re reading through the old book collections. My wife used to complain about less time being alloted for a fruitful dialogue. She used to complain that I used to open my mouth only to grab whatever being served on the plate from time to time. To this valid accusation a solution has to be found immediately. We used to see a passtime of common interest, that is spending an hour with her in solving daily Crossword puzzles from 'the Hindu'. She mastered the brain teaser within a short period as most of the solution to puzzles related to science which she imparted to her students for the past 30 years. I also found some time to assist her in kitchen for cutting vegetables, of course buy...

 Friends at the golden age There is no need to search my memory to unearth the most important friend in my life. Also there does not arise the selection process, to visualise the front runner at this golden age. I would like to go back to my primary school period where I came across a neighbour friend's relative who used to visit their house during school holidays. Most pampered neighborhood friends name is P J Joy. Evenings a baker used to visit houses with fresh baked items like cakes, biscuits and sweet buns. At the sound of his cycle bell Joy and his younger brother Alosius would cover the metal tin picking their choicest eatables. They could afford to buy as his father was earning well in a faraway city. The neighbour's relative who frequented their house was none other than their cousin Anto. We made contact with him and played with tennis balls and marbles. But these relationships could not last long as their mother moved to Ernakulam with their children, subseq...