Morning walk in subra avenue

Rediscovered the pleasures of subra colony last few days during my early morning walk. There is greenery all around which we miss out when we dont take leisurely walks.All the houses without exception have flowering plants which are usually meant for the Gods. Pavalamalli for one. It is as though by a hidden decree that all houses have this plant in a corner in the front yard.Now is the season for flowering and you get the heady smell of the flower all along the way. There is a huge bungalow near the colony which is usually deserted. But there is a naga linga tree there and the smell is so strong and distinct, the nose perceives it first and the head automatically turns to look for the unusual tree.The houses also have the nandiya vattai plant, sembaruthi(shoe flower)
and sangu pushpam creeper(blue bels)on the hedges.
You can hear ms subbulakshmi's suprabatham everyday and also sound of bells ringing in the puja room.There is a small vinayaka temple in the edge of the colony and you get vibhuti smell quite distinctly and also get to read the next pooja particulars on the small blackboard;sankata hara chaturthi on 19th saturday i read today.
There are actually wells in the houses and i saw a small pomeranian dog being bathed from well water and towelled affectionately by the child in the house.Must be a very orthodox puppy to want to bathe strictly from well water!
Saw a small girl waiting for the school bus/van. Had a sandwich perched on her hand and she was showing no signs of biting into it. Her father was standing with her and cajoling her to take just one more bite. Mommy was nearby stuffing last minute, homework notebooks, craft notebooks into her bag. Made quite a endearing sight.
Other end of the colony is lined with row houses on poromboke land granted to the washermen. Their backyards which used to be lined with washed clothes strung from one corner to another,have vanished and grotesque matchbox houses are in its place. They have gone in for a slight shift in core competency jobs;from washing to ironing.There are a number of mobile iron vans on the road. I see that the inhabitants have moved up the social scale; the women wear housecoats; they brush their teeth at 8 am;and cajole the kid to take its breakfast before starting off for school.While there could be alternate opinion about the first two observations, pampering the kids to eat is typically an occupation of the affluent sections of society!
There are these colony dogs. Normally i am not too fond of dogs, but these four of five of them have been around for a while.I see them curled up and sleeping near a gate or under a car in the mornings. Obviously they had kept up their night vigil. (When a technician from telephone department walked into our compound, these four five fellows kept up a steady bark and he was actually scared; scared of these 'paavam' characters!I found myself telling them that they are harmless. Just then i realised how i used to hear the same words when i go to some friend's house where they have a dog.It did not please me one bit to hear them say that!)
There are these boys cleaning the cars. I noticed that they take 15 minutes to clean a car and they get paid 300 rupees a month. Not a bad deal. I heard one of them telling the watchman that he is studying in 9th standard. If he can manage 4 cars and spend one hour in the morning, he collects a tidy sum!
I also found that I do have company in some of my neighbours doing their walk inside the colony.Only that we dont know each other well enough to stop and chat;a half smile is all that is transacted!
Lots of avenue trees have come up and I agree with my daughter that the colony can be renamed as subra avenue!