Surprizes..

Today, we (myself, Mr. Raste and Mr. Athavale) visited MIT Hills as usual- the place is more accessible as a result of grass cutting. The tall grass has slept as a result of heavy rains/storm yesterday. The showers that hit the city for 30-45 minutes yesterday were very strong and a boon for the plants.. we needn't worry about watering for 3-4 more weeks at least.
We discussed following plan of action for next couple of weeks..
1. Continue grass cutting in strips which will allow accessibility and avoid forest fires..
2. Soften the soil for rest of the saplings.
3. The proposal for Tata Motors funding for Water tank, Windmill (yes, we have a plan to install a small windmill) and drips to be presented in the week of 16h Nov.
4. The trees that have started falling as a result of storm/wind down need support and soil/manure to be filled at the roots.

We also talked about the labor and retaining Amol for the work - when the GHG work is not there, we looked at the possibility of giving him personal work (to be paid by the respective members) such as gardening and driving... to keep him engaged all the time and hence tied down to GHG work.. I think as a community, that would be easily possible..

Apart from the showers we have been getting late in this season, we witnessed two surprises in a span of two weeks..on the hill top.
A couple of weeks ago, we spotted this egg, fallen in the grass - probably of some bird.

Unbelievable yet true.. we saw a deer hopping away... at a distance of 10 feet from us. amazing and overwhelming sight. unfortunately, it was a very short glimpse and could not take a picture..
An afterthought... Considering the fact that wild life is so in tact, the grass cutting needs to be kept to minimal and we probably should not make this place easily accessible at all. After the trees grow and start sustaining themselves, we ought to walk out of this place and leave it untouched....