Refresh the Residence - Green Walls

Green means living. A plant or a tree if green, it is said to be alive. When you add greenery to your residence on the exterior or interior, you are bringing it alive. Isn’t it a good thing?

One of the easiest ways and most striking solutions to refresh a building is to add a green wall, either to the total facade or partially. An existing wall can be made into a green wall or a standalone green wall can also be erected. 

Most of you must be aware of the green walls or vertical gardens. Green walls are refreshing not just aesthetically, but they also:

·        Increase the oxygen content. If the green wall is in the interior of the residence, so much better because they remove toxins!

·        They act as sound insulation.

·        It is a natural way of cooling the building especially the interiors.

·        Relieve monotony

·        Green colour soothing for the eyes and De-stressing

·        Exude aura and energy

 

Green wall as part of the facade

Green wall can change the facade dramatically; adds freshness, it adds warmth; brings a smile to the face. Makes you want to go close and see or touch the plant.

   

Creepers on the walls

You have a boring extensive plastered white or any other coloured wall; and you are not looking to incur heavy expenditure in changing the elevation, even if it means improving it. Here is a great way to refresh it. Part of the wall can be covered by a wine or a creeper; It breaks monotony and makes it dynamic by changing with seasons and growth.

Here is an old building with arches. If you don’t want to change the character of the facade by new colour scheme or by stone / tile cladding, you can grow creepers on to the space above the arches. Train the creepers so that they do not grow in an orderly manner.

Green wall in the interior will be very dramatic. It draws people to it. It is attractive and can also be a conversation piece. 

You don’t want to have a climber / creeper directly on your facade? No problem; there are different solutions for vertical green walls these days. Basically, there will be a frame onto which the soil will be mounted either in containers or some kind of felt or matting. A few important aspects to take into consideration:

1.     One is how to water the plants. There has to be an irrigation system in place.

2.     Make sure the wall or the building is strong enough to take the load of the frame and the plant.

If you like the idea, get in touch with any company who is doing vertical gardens.

Any -

·        Climbing plants

·        Plants with tendrils

·        Clinging plants

·        Twining plants

      …… can be used for green walls

Trek to Barazan waterfalls - Goa

After a long gap, we started out on an energetic trek to Barazan waterfalls; organised by Eco Treks on 22nd Nov. 2 buses and close to 80 of us were very upbeat about this trek. 

I love waterfalls and the route is exciting more so because of a number of bikers on Enfields zipping past us.

The legend is that the waterfalls claimed 12 lives, and BARAZAN meaning 12 lives, so it is called Barazan. 

As usual we started at 7.30 am. and amid lively chatter, we set off.

A short break to stretch our legs and enjoy the view!

Reached our destination after travelling for over 2 hrs.; surprised to see a restaurant and quite a few diners there. 

   

Those of us crazy about big bikes got a good look at the now gleaming Enfield bikes at close quarters!

After a hearty breakfast of Idlis and tea, we set off on the trek. It is a short trek, but mostly winding along the river Kalsa, and various streams joining it, through western ghats. Kalsa river originates in Karnataka state and joins Mhadai river, and then on becomes Mandovi river, finally joining Arabian sea.

The trek is through a thin trail, wide enough for just one person. It is the month of November but the landscape is still lush green, a photographer's delight.

From a certain point along the route, we could see the waterfalls. Saw waterfalls in a crescent shape before only in pictures. this one is a beauty. From there, we move on climbing down. Couple of places, it is a steep climb down; with the help of a rope, we managed without any mishap.

 Finally when we reached the bottom past the waterfall, the gushing waters of the river (mostly during monsoons) created unusual shapes in rocks. 

We negotiate the rocks gingerly, and go as far as possible to see the waterfalls. Getting into the pool at the base of the waterfall is not allowed.

  

I wondered how the huge boulders came to be there. They are angular, sharp edged and freshly cut; if they were there forever, they would have become rounded by the river water, especially through the monsoon months; one can imagine the force of the water!  

 

 We sat on the rocks and some frolicked in the waters. Water was cool and pleasant.

Picturesque scenery! Sunlight through trees on flowing water and jutting rocks! 

  

After a while it was time to head back. Young and sprightly climbed quicker and not so young took their time crawling up on all fours!

Usually we never come across any wildlife on the treks, but this time, we saw 2 different snakes! A viper and a green snake!

    

After a sumptuous lunch and tea and pakoras and ample rest, we headed back to Panjim!

Over all it was very enjoyable trek; long bus ride, short trek, very scenic, lovely waterfall, little bit of climbing up and down, some walking, great weather, greater food. 

A must see place.

Chudua or Chuda

Home made Chudua or Chuda

If you sit with a bowl of Chuda, you cannot stop until it is finished. It is light and tasty. Just the right Tea time snack.

This savory snack is very easy to prepare. Have have a bunch of ingredients, though several of them are optional!

Ingredients:

Poha or beaten rice - 1/4 kg.

Puffed rice - 1/4 kg. 

Cornflakes - 50 gms.

Sabudana or Sago flakes - 50 gms.

Putana dal or fried Bengal gram - 50 gms.

Groundnuts - 100 gms.

dried red chillies - 4 nos.

curry leaves - a bunch

Salt - to taste

Rayi or Mustard seeds - 1 tsp.

Jeera or Cumin seeds - 1 tsp. 

Thinly sliced dry coconut - 1cup

Oil - for frying

Turmeric is optional - 1/4 tsp.

Method:

Take a big dish to hold all the ingredients and be able to mix them well. 

Dry roast lightly the puffed rice and put them in the dish. 

Take enough cooking vegetable oil in a frying pan to fill it half way. and heat it. 

I use the sieve shown in the photo below to fry some of the ingredients.

Place a handful of poha in the sieve and place the sieve in the oil. Make sure poha does not fall into oil. It will time consuming to fish out small ingredients from oil. Fry it and drain the excess oil and put it in the dish. Repeat until all the poha is fried. Poha fries very fast. Be careful you don't burn them.

Next fry the ground nuts and add them to the dish. Ground nuts take longer to fry. 

Fry putana dal and add to the dish.

Fry curry leaves and next fry sliced dry coconut strips. Coconut burns very fast, so take care.

Also fry corn flakes and sago flakes and add to the now fast filling dish. Add salt. to the fried stuff. 

Take 2 table spoons of this heated oil in a small frying pan and add Rayi and Jeera and red chillies and when they are fried add the whole mixture to the big dish.

Now mix them well. Make sure all the ingredients are distributed evenly. 

Your chuda is ready to eat. Store in an air tight container; or some of the ingredients will become soggy.

You can vary the proportions to your liking. You can also add other ingredients of your choice including thinly sliced potato chips.

Enjoy Chuda with evening tea. Kids love it.    

Re-fresh the Residence

Monsoon season is over; IFFI (International Film Festival of India) is going on in Goa. The government buildings and the public spaces get a face lift every year. Thanks to IFFI; Panaji looks fresh and sparkling around this time of the year! 

How will it be if the residential buildings too got same refreshing done once a year? How can you refresh your residence, be it a bungalow, a row house or an apartment?

I have listed a few ideas here and will be exploring them individually in the subsequent blogs (hopefully!).

1. Add a small green wall to the facade: 
Green wall can change the facade dramatically; adds freshness, brings a smile to the face. 

2. A new colour scheme: 
If the house is looking rundown and old, it is time a fresh coat of paint. What better than to go for a different and may be bold colour scheme! I notice a lot of folks paint the house in the same (old) colours. Look around, may be new colours / finishes / textures have come into the market. Explore and experiment or take expert advice.

3. Make the much needed repairs:

Once a year at least, take a good look at the building, both interior and exterior. Repair the chipped edges / surfaces, fill the cracks, close the gaps, and replace the tiles, or anything else that needs fixing. The building looks like new, simply because a new building does not have faults.

4. Cover up the faults beautifully:

Since the repairs are happening why not add some aesthetic value to the building! Maybe some beautiful coloured tile cladding where the wall is developing cracks, or a Mangalore tile roof covering over the water tank or staircase, or Chinese Mozaic over the top of compound wall? 

5. Make an feature wall:

Tired of the same old facade? Don’t want alter the elevation? Ok. You can convert an existing wall into a feature wall or accent wall. It is like adding spice to a boring recipe. 

6. Use a water feature:

Adding a water feature is a great way to refresh the residence. Water adds life to the surroundings. It diverts attention from the old. Water is dynamic, transparent, and tranquil.

Where visible from outside, add a water feature such as a fountain, a small waterfall, a shallow pond, a sculpture and a sprout etc. They can be used in the interiors too, in the form of a aquarium, fish pond, or a waterfall.


7. Add a new building feature:

Did you always wanted a pavilion on the terrace or a gazebo in the corner of the front yard or a covered walkway from the gate to the main entrance or a sloping roof instead of an ordinary flat roof? If you think you waited long enough, go for it. It will change the appearance of the building completely!

These are just a few of the ideas that you can use to refresh your residence to make it look new / fresh / lively / attractive!

If you know of some more, please write to me. 

Murukulu

Putana dal   Muruku form

Murukulu (in Telugu language), is a savoury dish. It is a great tea time snack. A pre-requisite is that you need a muruku form. Use the disk shown in the photo.

Ingredients:

Rice flour - 4 cups
Roasted Chana dal or roasted Bengal gram flour - 1 cup
Chilli powder 1/2 tsp.
Salt - to taste
Jeeta - 1.5 tsp
Ginger garlic paste (optional) - 1/2 tsp.
Oil - for deep frying

Method:

Mix rice flour, dal flour, salt, chilli powder, ginger garlic paste, and 2 tbs. of hot oil. Add enough water to make a stiff dough. 
Heat oil in a frying pan. Take enough dough into the press, and slowly make the muruku onto a flat spoon with holes and drop it slowly into the oil. Turn the muruku around a couple of times; when it is fried to a golden brown, take it out of the oil.
Store them in a container. Will last for several weeks.

Shopping Bag

 

This is my sketch of the bag

 

I needed another shopping bag and time for rummaging in my stock. Found these materials bought for some such purpose. Did some easy maths, and came up with the following sizes:
Bag -
Length - 14"
Height - 14"
Width - 3"

Pocket - 7"x6"

Handles - 18"x1"x2 nos.

Flap / Strap 2" wide

Wooden button

Some backing material for the side strip. 

Attached the pocket to the front piece. Then,stitched the front and back pieces to the side strip. Gave backing / lining to the side strip for extra strength; the seems are turned in; attached the handles at 4" from the centre. Finally, stitched the flap to the back piece and  button to the pocket.