Visit to hometown

Last October we went to Guwahati (capital city, state of Assam) from Delhi(India). Our flight path took us parallel to the mighty Himalayas (the highest mountain range in the world). The weather was clear and could manage some shots of the snow covered ranges peeping out amidst fluffy cotton clouds.

Next day we ventured in the outskirts of the city, a few pics from the countryside which attracted out attention with varying vibrant colours of nature.

Father's garden too, it appeared, laid claim to the vibrancy of its varied habitat it hosted. A Coppersmith barbet (bird) too called it home, in trunk of a beetel nut tree.

Beetel nuts in the garden. These trees are very common and popular here. A beetel is chewed after being extracted from its fibre coat. It is commercially available in dried, cured and fresh forms. While fresh, the husk is green and the nut inside is so soft that it can easily be cut with an average knife.In the ripe fruit the husk becomes yellow or orange and, as it dries, the fruit inside hardens to a wood-like consistency.