Didn't know ducks eat sand, stones

It wouldn't have  occurred to me to do Internet search about matters such as  the lifespan and eating habits of ducks,  if I had  not escorted a bunch of  children in our apartment complex  to the Gateway School pets' club. They ask too many questions - these children.  The pet club visit  followed Children's Day tree-planting at Mantri Synergy apartments complex. We had children plant nine saplings - pongai - representing each residential block - A to I.. After which we asked them to name the saplings they planted.

The  children came up with  Aditya, Buddha, Cashmeera, D'Arcey, Ezhile, Freddy, Gautham, Harish and India.  Frankly, I couldn't catch the C- name that Sundeep's  kids gave for their plant.  And I am not sure about the  'D'  plant's  spelling ( Trishna, who named the plant  can tell us). I got stumped by kids, once again, at the pet club ducks enclosure. Watching the ducks Nitya asked how long do they live and what do they eat for breakfast or lunch. Nitya and other children had just come  after watching couple of caged rabbits making a meal of cabbage.
 

Google search reveals that average lifespan of domestic duck is 10 yrs. And they eat almost anything - small fish, snails, worms, weeds,  algae, insects, seeds and,  at times, even  sand,  gravel and small stones. But for having to respond to such inconvenient questions,  it was fun spening time with children. OMR Greens organized Children's Day programme on Sunday ( Nov.14 being a working day) because we wanted  parents' participation. Our hunch was that  parents have as much fun watching children having fun.Besides, such social programming generated a community chemistry among Mantri Synergy residents.

Flowerbed in bloom

Along the E block driveway.

Let's plant a neem here

Mantri's landscape architect appears to have a penchant for ornamental trees. They make good picture postcards, but do precious little for end-users - Mantri residents. We would favour species that give shade, reduce environment damage being done by our AC units (1,500, when all 700 plus apartments get occupied) and trees that bear fruits attracting birds to our complex.
Our landscape people, I notice, have replaced, in the last few weeks, one set of fancy trees with another at our front lawn, where we have some chehal-pehal in the evenings. Elders are out here on the lawns for some fresh air and social chit-chat, and children run about in the lawn. I would suggest Mantri consider relocating the children's play area to the front lawn (from its current location close to the gas bank near the Clubhouse).

This was the picture of our front lawn in May. These trees have since been replaced with another set of trees. The shot (below was taken this morning - Sept. 21

My humble submission is that the Mantri landscape people should try out something different - say, a neem, mango or jackfruit - at the unplanted pit in the picture.

We would be happy to plant a sapling here as part of our community tree-planting programme. A neem should fit in nicely here. And, if I have a say in this,I would dedicate the neem we plant here to the first Occupant of the Mantri complex - Mr Nambiar of G block.

Author in IT Corridor

We don't usually associate IT software with creative fiction. But a senior IT company executive at Ascendas IT Park, Ms Lakshmisudha, is a weekend writer, and has published 19 novels.
Her first title : Solai Malarozhiye.
Her 20th novel, still in the works, is Mounam Un Mozhiya ?
Her message : Follow your inner voice;it helps you make right decisions at the write time.
Would like to hear more on this, from her, wouldn't you; would like to invite her to talk to us at the Clubhouse library, when Mantri Synergy acquires a critical mass of residents.
Meanwhile her work is available onine at www.sangapalagai.com.
The writer's contact details: 9841006452; lakshmisudha2010@yahoo.com
Sourced this post from a write up in The Hindu by Saraswathy Srinivasan.
Photo, by S Abishek, has been scanned from The Hindu.