The season closed at Basunti on the 6th of December which then gave us the chance to concentrate on the gardens. First thing was to harvest the remaining crops from the monsoon planting. First to come out was the Turmeric, (Haldi) of which we collected about eight kilos of beautiful bright orange corms. This […]
As the monkeys have been behaving very strangely recently and the cattle staying close to the village, we assumed that a leopard must be around. Sure enough, Pali and Kaka arrived this morning and said that they had spotted leopard tracks near the Mango tree, next to the Shiva temple. We quickly finished breakfast […]
On the same day that sixteen lovely ladies arrived to do yoga with Monica Voss at Basunti, a wedding invitation was delivered. It was the daughter of our government electricity man, who comes to read the meter and have a cup of tea, who was getting married. When I explained that we had a […]
A 5.3 kg Sol (Spotted Murrel) was hooked by our resident fishing guide Andy, in the gullies below Basunti.
Normally, all fish of this size are returned, as they are breeding stock.
As this fish, however, was hooked so deep, we had no choice but to eat it…
This hornet (wasp?) has taken to building its mud house, on the main veranda next to the dartboard. The whole structure consists of about twelve separate cells, which the Hornet then packed with caterpillars, that she had stung and paralysed. She then laid one egg in each cell before closing it up and moving […]
The Java Plum Tree, which was grown from a seed. This was flicked into a bed six years ago, when Raju and Rajinder were having tea and eating Jamuns. Jamun is the local name for the fruit and the tree this year is producing huge quantities. The fruit looks and is about the same […]
Bindis is the local name for Okra, a bed of which I planted about three months ago. This is now almost two metres high and has been cropping almost continuously for the last six weeks. I have tried every possible way of cooking them, baked, stuffed, fried, steamed and sautéed in various sauces. The […]
The first of the Monsoon rains arrived at Basunti about ten days ago and since then it has been fairly consistent. Two to three days of hot and sticky weather, then a torrential downpour, accompanied by the usual spectacular sound and light show. This is nothing compared to what is happening in The Gharwal […]
Throughout my stay at Basunti, there was to be one jewel in the ever so sparkly crown which I was truly looking forward to like a child waiting for Christmas Day. It was the trip to a distant Indian village, named Barot, which we were told by David was completely off the tourist map, […]
I had the very great privilege of spotting what I first thought was a very large pair of Geese flying over Basunti. Something did not seem quite right, as the necks were to long and they seemed to be bigger than any Geese that I had seen before. Forgot about this sighting for a […]
