Bird Notes

Bird Notes

One of the things that I missed most during my brief stint in the UAE years ago was sightings of the common House crow.  It made me feel more homesick not seeing this bird which is so omnipresent here in India. The only bird I ever saw there in three years was the Rock pigeon.

Now with Covid 19 restricting us to our homes and 'work from homes' becoming the new norm, birdwatching is catching on as the new 'to do' hobby of many. I had my initiation  into it a year ago and I must say that it has been a very fulfilling and enriching entertainment till date for both my senses and soul.

I had always prided myself on being a lover of nature, but had only actually seen birds like sparrows, kites and eagles.  Had only read about cuckoos, woodpeckers and kingfishers, but I hardly realised there was still an encyclopedia out there waiting for my eyes and ears to enjoy and explore .. The cuckoos that we generally speak about are in fact Asian Koels and the woodpeckers are actually called flame backs. 

I did not know the names of the  birds I was seeing for the first time.  Luckily I have a friend who is a keen birdwatcher and so i sought his help initially. I described in detail what I saw.  Long neck, flock of eight, perched up on a huge tree, pink and black in color, long legs..i would say..He would  give me a name and I would google it up immediately and Voila, I had found my bird- the 'Painted Stork'.. The next bird I described was sand- colored and white with a black face, medium -sized with two different calls, one screechy and another more melodic..perching at eye levels and higher..he would again give me a name and i googled to confirm It matched my sightings.  It was the 'Rufous Treepie'. This routine went on for some time.. I must have had some ten birds in my list, when the same friend suggested I make a log of my sightings on the online bird site.  Soon another local friend shared with me an app for birds commonly found in Kerala.  Now I needed no googling as I could just look into that app and this started my journey into the world of birds.

A couple of years back we were enjoying a holiday in Coorg.  It was just the beginning of monsoon and on the first morning, it was not daylight yet when I was awaken by a very sweet melodious call.. I immediately recorded it on my phone.. Our cottage was glass walled with covering curtains and I pulled aside the curtain to momentarily glimpse a slender black bird, which frightened by the sudden movement, flew away.. The next morning at almost the same time, I heard the same sweet melody. I slowly tiptoed in the direction of the bird call and made a small peephole with the curtain and lo! It was right in front of me on a electric line, singing to glory.. I noticed it's rounded head, glossy jet black body, a two spoked long tail and black dewdrop shapes at the end of the spokes... I had sighted the 'Racket-tailed drongo'.. I later learnt.  Every bird in my list has a similar fascinating story.

Some birds are regular visitors and I know exactly where they can be spotted in my home.. like the common mynas, Indian pond herons, white- breasted water hens and cattle egrets. Some others come in specific seasons or in specific situations.  Some come in flocks, some are solitary.  When I have ripe papayas on my tree, I can expect the white-cheeked barbets and black-rumped flame backs.. When it is raining, I can expect white throated kingfishers, Asian koels as a courting couple, drum beat sounding Greater coucals and the Rufous Treepies with more than one kind of call. The whistling- like quacking lesser whistling ducks.. On a perfectly sunny day, I shall definitely see little Purple- rumped sunbirds, oriental magpie robins, a pale billed flower pecker, a little spider hunter, a couple or more rose -ringed parakeets and jungle babblers and rarely tailor birds. I am able to now distinguish atleast some 25 different bird calls..

Some birds are rare visitors like the Golden oriole which is strikingly attractive with its dark yellow and black body. I long to see it again.  The jungle owlet 🦉is by far one of my favorite birds. It's tuwit tuwit sound seems to beckon me each time..It is almost like a soft woollen doll, can fit in one's palm, brown and furry with two cute round staring eyes.. It allows one to click as many pictures and sits perfectly still as if in a trance or in deep meditation.

 I  am very fond of the musical oriental magpie robins and sweet sounding bulbuls which are mostly seen in summer. Perhaps the loudest one I've sighted till date is the Plain Prinia.  I literally dropped off what I had in my hand hearing it's harshly loud continuous call  like a big rifle gun firing off in a war zone. I spotted the red-whiskered  bulbul and white- browed bulbul only once during my stay in a relatives' home in Trichur. I have never seen it here.

Woolly- necked storks have a neck like white wool and cormorants are large black birds with long necks.. These and a few duck species - I sighted a year ago on a house boating trip to Munroe island.  

But these apart, most of the birds I have seen are from my terrace or right here from my kitchen window.. The latest I saw a couple of days back is a small black bird which makes a tit tit tit sound as it flew and aptly named the 'Cinerous Tit'.

My kitchen window is for me like the beanstalk which Jack climbed up  to go into his magical world.  Only I have come back from my magical world many a time having to deal with burnt lunches and charred milk pans... !!!

Blurred visions

Blurred Visions

Blurred visions

When I was in school we had a lesson in English where the author talks about kinds of dust and dirt one has to live amidst... He categorised it into two mainly, the powdery kind of dirt and the greyish black fluffy, woolly kind like some bits of an old blanket that had been over chewed and flicked away... I must have liked the lesson a lot then because I still remember this.  But whatever then caught my attention then, today I definitely have a great deal of admiration for the author for his  eye for detail, which I believe is so rare.  I say this because while I seem to have a microscopic vision of all kinds of dirt, the rest of my family is mostly vision impaired on that aspect.

Somedays all I can see is dust and grime wherever I look inside the house.. The window nets are hazy with dust, the window sills are layered with it, the show stands are all thickly blanketed with dust.  The two bathrooms are all shades of yellow to dark brown (their color scheme is green and cream respectively) ,the pipes and other fittings have lost their steely shine and look dull like a foggy morning and the floors are all layered with a mixture of the multiple ingredients that we call dirt. And all the curtains in the house need thorough washing.

White tiles for a major part of the home flooring including the sit out where our doggy spends the most part of his day was definitely not my idea, I tell my husband and then I look at him and ask.. "Isn't the house a mess today"?  I ask this question atleast twice a week and his reaction is always the same.. Oh it's ok, it's not so bad, he says.  The bathrooms are like public toilets I say, and he has been listening to this statement atleast a few hundred times before and so he just pretends not to have heard..

It really is a wonder how some people can be so immune to dirt like my husband and daughter.. They just carry on with their day's routine contentedly while my blood pressure is shooting up by the passing minute, just looking, and I have to immediately start off like scrubbing, sweeping, mopping, washing, wiping, swiping and everything else that can be used to describe putting the home back to a certain level of neatness..

Like today, I have laboured on for God knows how many hours and my home is neat and smelling wonderful.. (thanks to the jasmine scented floor cleaner I bought after much thought) and my bathrooms are sparkling clean and smell all lemony.  I still have the curtains, but I shall do it tomorrow, I silently promise myself.

I am comparatively relaxed now and reading the days newspaper. But I dare not make the mistake of asking my family how the home looks... they would not have noticed the difference..!! 

Lessons from pets

Lessons from pets

Take care of Omi,” is what my daughter tells me each day as she leaves for school. Omi is our dachshund and is, according to her, the fourth member of our small family. It was after much coaxing and begging by her that my husband bought her a pet.

Omi came to our family as a three-month old puppy and is now four. For the first couple of months, we had him inside our home. It was a back-breaking job to discover and clean up the little pools of pee in any part of the house he fancied, every hour or so. Irritated at discovering yet another puddle, I yelled at it: “Go and fetch the cloth.” And, to our amazement, the little thing went to the spot where I kept the waste cloth and brought it to me, wagging his tail. Thus began our love affair with our doggy!

Many things Omi does makes us wonder where and from whom the creatures of the animal kingdom have learnt the many wise secrets that humans lack.

The flexes and stretches he does umpteen times a day (no yoga teacher here), the perfect spot where he sits to absorb the gentle rays of the sun in the early mornings (his daily dose of Vitamin D), the good sense to skip the day’s lone meal when his stomach does not feel so well, the medicine he administers to himself (a few blades of grass he chews and then throws up), the warm welcome he gives us when we are back after an outing, that seems to say “I missed you” and makes us feel so special (no sulking), the unconditional love even after we have admonished him for some naughty act (no nursing grievances), the silent company he gives us whenever we are in a mood to quietly sit and contemplate (no demanding attention) and his joyful antics when he (and we) are in a happy, playful mood, never cease to cheer us.

All of that makes us wonder why families buy pets when they do not have even an hour to spare for the company of these poor loving creatures. And more annoying is to see them locked up in kennels all day, which sometimes lack the space for them to move around.

Children must be taught early to be kind to animals, even strays. It is common to see kids pelting stones at stray dogs and cats though these do not come in their path. Education should inculcate values such as kindness and compassion not only towards fellow human beings, but to all creatures, however small. Some sort of social service should be made a part of curriculum. Nature study must be considered, to make the future generations real “human beings” in mind and spirit.

chitramrl@gmail.com

A letter from Editor

What Money cannot buy

What Money cannot buy

My daughter who is in her last school year returned home the other day, eager to share the events of her day at school. After listening for a while, I was slightly distracted by a beep on my phone and i looked to see an interesting forward. Noticing that I wasn’t paying attention, she walked away in a
huff. I put away my cell phone, but no amount of my coaxing or cajoling her yielded any result.
Guilt-ridden with the thought that in a few more years, she will become too busy in making her own
future and that I might not have any more school stories to listen to, I went on with the rest of the day’s chores mechanically.

At this point, one thing struck me deeply. I imagined a working mother, who returned home only by dusk every day. Would the kids wait patiently for the mother and still have the mood, inclination and the need to share the day’s incidents at school or would they have gotten so used to keeping it
all to themselves? Would the mothers themselves be in a frame of mind to listen after their own
hectic working day? The reason I was thinking on these lines was because of something that my neighbour had shared with me a few days back. Her sister in law had been recently transferred in her bank job to Bangalore. Her husband was working in an MNC there and he also had the option of working from home. They had a young son and she was elated because they could finally stay together as a family. But after few months, the husband was posted to UK on a project. The mother who had to
travel some distance to her bank had to leave early each day and would return only very late in the evening. Now the little one had to return to an empty home after school. To make up for the time till the mother returned from her work, he was enrolled in French and Hindi classes, as these were additional subjects in his new school. I felt sad for this child and numerous other younger and older
children who are either greeted by the empty walls of their homes day after day or are forced to go straight from school to some tuition class, tired and hungry. In many instances, they are thrust in the care of some odd relative or their own aged grandparent till either of the parent returned from work. While I do understand that a small percentage of such couples do really need the extra income, for the vast majority, it is a just a matter of choice- Choice of having a career over the needs of their own child/children. The choice of a career boosts their prestige and social status is their belief. “you are a post graduate and you chose to be a home maker? I have been asked innumerable times.

With the growing cost of living, one may argue that a second income is no longer a luxury but aren’t we, unaware of ourselves, also having a lifestyle that is extravagantly growing more than proportionally to our incomes, thus adding to our woes? How else can we explain the multiple number of vacations to foreign countries annually? Or the frequency in upgrading cars?

But can money really buy everything we need? Can we bring back the time once lost? Have we forgotten the meaning of the term ‘contentment’ somewhere down the line? Can gadgets and toys make up for the time the parents cannot afford to give the child? Can any nanny, however well qualified she may be or any specialized day care ever equate a mother’s love and care? I insist on the term 'mother’ because Nature has made her the primary and foremost caretaker, birthing and breast feeding, being her exclusive privileges! In our fight for equality, women empowerment and feminism, are we not distilling the very definition of womanhood by becoming blind to the needs of our own flesh and blood?

I am not grooming my daughter to become a full time home maker but definitely, I will teach her the
need to understand what her priorities are, at each stage of her life, at the right time. Like the
famous Infosys couple Narayan Murthy and Sudha Murthy, who were both successful, career
oriented and highly educated, a mature dialogue has to take place between couples once children
come into the picture, as to who will continue with their career and who will raise the children until
at least they reach a certain age. When a child arrives, the couple should definitely put the child first
and the career next. Why have a child at all when you do not have the time it deserves? I would like
to add that parents also need to educate their sons in similar ways as the role of a Father is not any less
significant and house husbands are not a taboo anymore either.

To conclude, I would like to narrate a clip I received on social media, in which a father asks his young
son what he wanted for his birthday. The young son in return asks his father what his monthly salary is. At being given a figure which he cannot comprehend, he innocently asks his father to tell him his
average earnings for a day. The next scene would melt anyone’s heart. The son empties his piggy
bank and tells his dad “Daddy, Will you take off from work on my birthday? That is the present I
want. I shall give you the balance of your day’s pay once I save it up”.

Coming back to my daughter and her school day, I ultimately got her to tell me the rest of her story,
albeit the initial zest and excitement, proving again that it was a matter of ‘time’ after all... 

Mint Affair

Mint Affair

Years ago in my parental home, it was customary to have tea after breakfast.  But i disliked the beverage and so I was always left out.  The task of making tea was my elder sisters' and on days mint was available, she would ask me "will you have a cup today" and I would never refuse.. Mint is too tempting for me and I feel refreshed and invigorated every time I have it. 

Later as a new wife, when I first served my husband mint tea and expectantly looked at his face as he took his first sip, the 'wah' expression I had in mind didn't correspond with the 'what' expression on his face and I was crestfallen.. later I understood that none in his family  relished the humble herb.  They equated it to eating toothpaste...

For the following few years, I made the biggest sacrifice of my life treating the aromatic herb as an outcaste. Then, in one of our travels to Tamilnadu, I again feasted my tastebuds on mint chutney that was served as accompaniment to some delicious breakfast and my affair with the herb was rekindled with no more looking back..  Initially I would make some chutney, set aside a portion and add mint in the rest and have my fill. 

My daughter grew up and I was thrilled to discover that she shared my love for the herb and now I was emboldened.. I started making mint chutneys, mint teas and mint coolers with pineapple, musambi and lime variations.. I am still reassuring my husband every time it is only a few sprigs I have added..

The mango tree

The mango tree

I am fascinated with every thing associated with the mango.. The tree, it's sweet smelling leaves, the new flowers heralding summer, the fruits-both raw and ripe and the kaleidoscope of colours associated with it. There are mango trees practically everywhere in God's own country, even on roadsides with temptingly big mangoes hanging at plucking length, but not once have I come across anyone doing it. It is a wonderful mystery. 

We lived in rented houses till few years ago and all I could manage was some potted plants.. And indeed I had potted random seeds of mangoes I had eaten and they remained stunted saplings .. 

The tree I am referring to is outside our now own home in a plot with a small old house. The inhabitants are mostly indifferent to the tree in all seasons and they sweep and discard the fallen tiny mangoes leaving us baffled.  So my daughter and me decide to pick up the tiny ones we spot on our way to and fro and I wash it clean and salt it.. I get a good two bottles of salted mangoes which I intend to use for chutneys and pickles later. 

Next year, the tree has flowered so profusely that it actually looks eerie.  That year, me and my daughter pick so many tiny ones that we have three buckets full.  Not knowing what to do with so much, I call my family friends and three of them agree to take it. That is two bucketfuls gone... With the remaining, I salt it so it will not get spoilt and pickle a fourth of it.. The next process is storing the salted ones for which I select used ice cream boxes, segregate them and pack six boxes and three bottles of pickle to be given away to my parents and sisters when I go to my hometown in a couple of months.. My fridge is in overload but I tell myself they will be happy.. The D day arrives and I give away all the boxes and bottles.. It is used and relished by extended families and goes as far as Dubai.. I am smiling contentedly. 

The third year, the family friends are already enquiring to know if they will get mangoes this year and I reassure them saying i see some flowers and ask them to wait.  After few days I see some mangoes.  But what is this.. I see a JCB which is demolishing the house.  I silently pray to God to let the tree stand.. The house is reduced to rubble in a week.  Every day, I rush out at dawn to see if the mango tree is still there. One day, we are having our afternoon meal when we suddenly hear a loud thud.  We rush outside to see a blinding light.. The mango tree has been felled. We are devastated.  I feel terrible sadness and pain in my heart.  It is not because of the mangoes I didn't have.. It is for a life taken.. I cannot describe the anguish my family feels. We talk about it for many days. My husband goes to the new owner and tells him how we feel and requests him to plant a mango tree after his house is constructed.  He smiles and nods and it gives us some solace. 

The potted mango saplings, that loyally moved with me and remained stunted for long are now three huge fruit-bearing trees in my home garden. 

 

Natural therapy

Natural therapy

"Maa" Calls out my daughter for the umpteenth time .. "I'm exercising", I yell from another part of our home. " How much more time? "She calls back and I softly say  "40 minutes more".. If you thought I'm in a gym room with my treadmill and weights and whatever obnoxious stuff they have there, you are mistaken.. I am actually in my "muttam" As they call it here in Kerala and I am enjoying the best part of my day, my hourly therapy for myself amidst the beautiful, bountiful nature.

I spot a pond heron on top of our well, taking few sips of water from the saucer laid out by my daughter for the birds.. A few koels and mynahs are singing simultaneously as if in a stiff competition. They are both equally sweet- sounding to me.  Half a dozen babblers suddenly descend and go about pecking in the ground, constantly babbling.. A parrot calls from atop the huge mahogany tree.. A tut-tutting watercock here, a couple of tap-tapping flame-backs up there, cawking cattle egrets atop coconut trees.. Sunbirds, kingfisher, eagles, kites and crows...i see them all..Aah.. I want to scream.. Nature's songs- aren't they wonderful to the one who stops to hear?? 

I move on to admire the day's blooms in my forest-like garden.. Orchids here, a saffron/red/yellow/pink hibiscus there, some thirty champaks on the champa tree, sweet smelling jasmines on the creeper, a few hundred parijathas strewn on the ground like a carpet... Ohh! I get dizzy marvelling at the sights of nature. Isn't Nature awesome for the one who stops to see?? 

Having huge trees, especially of the jack and mango varieties gives me a lot of feathered company, but also leaves behind heaps of dried, rotted leaves ...A stickler for neatness that I am, I have to immediately clear them away.. So here I am, armed with an 'eerkali' broom, a scooping tray and a big plastic basket to collect the stuff.  Initially when I started doing this,hardly had I cleaned a fourth of my yard when my knees buckled, my back groaned and I had to stop and literally hunch back into my home.. But now, I have mastered the art. I can do my entire yard in one go, feeling my stomach constrict so much as I bend that I feel I am 'shilpa shetty' in the making.  When I am done doing the whole yard, I dump the leaves into the pit and light a fire.. The sound of the fire crackling and smell of the dried leaves burning and turning to ash gives me a feeling of "deja vu".   I am now sweating like crazy, but I have a smile on my lips and my hear is content. And I have no aches or pains.  On many days, I have wanted to linger on enjoying this moment forever..until..like today, I come back to reality hearing my daughter again... "Maa I'm hungry, what's for breakfast? .. She asks, and I hurry into my kitchen  already putting together a break fast idea in my mind. 

Samosa cravings

"Samosa cravings"

"Two of this and two of that".. I said to the young sales boy, pointing to huge trays of fresh, steaming hot samosas, unmindful of the slight drizzle that had started a few seconds back which was now quickly gaining force.. I had been looking at these golden yellow delicacies every noon on my way to my daughter's school, my mouth drooling every time and today I just couldn't control my cravings anymore.. 

I was shock-jolted from already feasting on the same in my imagination by what the sales boy said next... 'Ellam chicken mathiyo chechi, beef vende? "  My eyes grew wide with shock.. I was holding the  brown paper packet, now beginning to show small oil patches, at the same time hurriedly fishing currency from my handbag.. I dumped the packet right there and ran out of the bakery, myself and my appetite fully drenched and wetted, leaving the poor sales boy wondering what had gone wrong.. 

Having come to God's own country two decades back has left me wiser.. Though I check and double check now to make sure I am buying samosas that have no poultry, cattle or egg variations (there are duck eggs too) and are purely vegetarian, I still bite into it with a lot of caution and fear of some alien taste... My taste for samosas is not the same anymore...