Here in Bombay, one can smell a whiff of change in the weather. We live away from Panvel on way to Pune from Bombay. It is very close to sea coast and many rivers which empty into the sea pass nearby the town. The weather in the past must have been cooler because there were stables for horses which participated in the races at Mahalaxmi Race Course in Bombay. Now off course, one can see the horse vans going and coming from Pune which has a fair weather.
There are hills all around , a feature of Konkan region which runs all along the coast to Goa and beyond that is called Sahyadhris. Express highway to Pune passes through Panvel. It is a very old town. Its municipality is said to be the oldest in Maharashtra. There is still a boat landing strip and it was once upon a time a port under the great Maratha hero Shivaji.
The area is not suitable for normal crops which may be due to the effect of saline water from the sea in the proximity. Some small farmers grow vegetables like gourd, bitter gourd and other such beany vegetables. Many of them bring their meagre but fresh produce to Panvel market in the morning. There are good number of drumstick trees. There are coconut trees and another trees which are their cousins called toddy trees. One can see a number of containers hanging on them receiving the sap overnight which is drunk fresh in the morning. The men who seem to be adept in this job can be seen going up the hugely tall trees and detaching the filled bottles, and replacing them with another set.
It is first week of February and weather seems to be in a hurry to warm up. I think Dr.Pachauri and his pack must be happy because they are the doomsayers and hold on to Gloabal warming although one can clearly see that it is not the way they are predicting the things. Things are happening in bursts. There are bursts of extreme weather for a small periods. These are even more dangerous than gradual change becuase adaptation to such changes is very difficult for humans , animals and vegetation.
The trees have become bald with their leaves falling day and night. Already new leaves are beginning to sprout. There are incipient fruits on the Jamun-(Syzygium cumini) is an evergreen tropical tree in the flowering family Myrtaceae-trees. The drumstick trees, Moringa oleifera, commonly referred to simply as “Shevaga” in Marathi & “Nuggekai” in Kannada, “Moringa” (from Tamil: Murungai, Malyalam: Muringnga), is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Moringa, which is the only genus in the family Moringaceae, are overladen with white cream colored flowers in bunches. There are lots of nightingales chirping in flying amongst these trees searching for insects which are attracted towards the flowers. Lots of honey bees are coming and going after taking the syrup from the flowers and in the process impregnating them.