Overhaul

Hello everyone!

Finally, I'm back from my cocoon. Yes, I was hiding in a cocoon for long. Though I thought was ready to blog when I did the last post, I realized that I was not. Though I did visit some of my fellow bloggers' sites, I somehow didn't feel like blogging and thought it best to let the blog sleep for a while and take a break and that's why I didn't even reply to the comments. If any one of you is offended by that, I sincerely apologize for it.
Well, I stopped blogging temporarily after my trip to Trichy (Thiruchirapalli) in June and somehow my third trip to the same place renewed me. It is a great place that I fell in love with. It has kindled the desire in me to start another blog that I was planning to do for long (about the Hindu religion).Though I was not blogging, Plantville was not idle. It was invaded by a host of insects. There were good ones too like this one, but the bad ones started taking over fast and furiously. The gardener of Plantville was fooled due to his carelessness (yes, blame me) by their showy flowers. The lazy gardener didn't notice the tiny, seemingly-invisible preys feeding on Plantville. He was content with the smell of the blooms and their showy colors. He smiled at the new tender leaves and sprouts. He was satisfied as the denizens of Plantville offered him blooms for his daily pooja (a form of worship to the gods).Little did he know there were many kinds of eight-legged monsters that were spinning their traps, trying make Plantville a ghost city.Soon Varsha (Rainy Season) was gone and Sharad (Autumn) took over. The Plantville was filled with joy and more blooms. Winged friends started visiting the city more often that the gardener was busy photographing them and overlooked the monsters who were building their foundation in unseen places. Heavy rains of Autumn washed away all the dirt but not the monsters. It helped them and with its end, the monsters found the climate perfect and sought after ants to herd them and help them extend their colony. Those bloody workers helped them build a huge army.
It was now that the dull-headed gardener noticed the damage. Flowers started drooping, leaves started curling. Buds became weak-footed and began losing their balance. Especially the Cape Honey suckle became very weak. By the mere touch or a slightly heavy wind, they dropped their buds.For some it was over and for some the damage was recoverable. The gardener tried to fight the army of monsters with organic and chemical means only to delay the eventual death of some and managed to save some.(Anyone knows the identity of this monster? Soap spray and neem spray seems to get rid of them but they come back soon! I noticed that these usually stay in the base of a branch/stem of a plant when they're young and are green in color and have soft tissue. At that stage, they can't fly, but only when they become like this, they can. Hope that helps you to identify them.)

(The above is a mealy bug and neem spray works best on them, just in case someone's desperate to get rid of them. God am I!)

The dull headed one decided that it was time that Plantville underwent a makeover and required overhauling. So that's what I'm up to now - Overhauling. Repairing stuff and introducing new lives, but neither my changing shifts nor the rains are helping, but I'm not giving up this time and even if the growth is slow, I wanted it to be steady. Hopefully, 2010 sees a new Plantville...