I am fortunate to have a huge
campus of NCL next to my house. It’s a lovely place to take a walk in the
morning. You do not feel you are in the midst of city as you walk through trees
and tall grass.
Today as I crossed a cluster of trees,
I was distracted by a sudden noise made by a group of birds. I realized these
were jungle babblers- commonly known as “seven sisters” for the habit of moving
in the group of 6-7 all the time and making a lot of noise.
“Seven sisters” took me back in
time. During my college days, a few of us had formed our own nature club and
registered ourselves with WWF (Worldwide Fund for Nature). We diligently used
to go on our bird-watching trails every Sunday. Mumbai has (or at least that
time had!) a 91 Sq Km jungle which used to boast of about 285 species of birds ….
…. We used to park our
two-wheelers near the film city gate of the forest and walk deep inside …. We walked
on many Sundays in all different seasons …. During monsoon one could lose count
of peacocks crossing the roads … a pheasant crow – an otherwise shy bird with a
sweet call used to be a regular friend there …. Oriole with a bright yellow
body and black head was a sight to behold! I still can feel the shiver up my
spine when we spotted a family of huge vultures on a lonely road!
The best memory I have is that of
a Malabar Hornbill. Hornbill is a bird with huge beak and not very common
around crowded cities. On one corner of the road, we spotted a tree little
below the level of the road. As soon as we spotted the hornbill, we stood there
still like statues lest the bird should get disturbed. Hornbill sat there on a
big branch and as we saw little more carefully, we saw a hole in the tree trunk
covered with mudpack. A baby hornbill sat there comfortably taking feed from
the parent hornbill on the branch. I don’t remember exactly but we sat there
for a long time transfixed. It was something of a spiritual experience!!
Looking back, I realize that
those jungle trails did a lot for me …. Those trails taught me to walk on
lonely roads without any expectations and be appreciative of the gifts, the
journey has in store for you. Walking around aimlessly, after all, can be very purposeful!
I winked at the babblers and
walked away with a promise to return tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment