'Aedanda' to reach a paddy field, Gampaha, Sri Lanka.

    

 Paddy fields have to be kept constantly drenched in water during growth. There are a lot of water carrying channels crisscrossing these fields. There are improvised contraptions called 'Aedanda's by which people walk across the water channels in the paddy fields. I took these two pictures in Gampaha, Sri Lanka.

'Blind as a bat'

I found this bat between two 230V AC lines in front of my house at Avissawella. Obviously its radar had become defective in old age, or was it a youngster trying a daredevil act?

'Jambu' fruits, Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

November is the season for 'Jambu' fruits. It is also called the 'rose-apple'. The old chronicles of Sri Lanka written in 'Pali', refer to India as 'Jambu-dweepa' presumably because of the abundance of these trees in India of those times. I took this picture in our garden in Avissawella. Squirrels, parakeets and various insects have a field day, eating these fruits. Children love the juicy, fluffy center of these fruits and end up with a sore-throat by overindulgence.

Buffalos used in the ploughing of a paddy field, Eheliyagoda, Sri Lanka.

Buffaloes were the traditional way of ploughing paddy fields in South Asia. They churn up the muddy ground and make it ideal for sowing the paddy. Tractors have replaced this in quite a few areas now but we still see this in the villages in present day Sri Lanka.

Mushrooms in our garden.

I saw these mushrooms come out of the soil one morning. No one eats these as some of them are poisonous.