Does it move?
Kill it!
Does it sting?
Squash it!
Does it grow?
Cut it down!
Done with it?
Throw it out of your window!
Need to go somewhere?
Take the car!
Have some money?
Consume more!
Then, have plastic posters printed, saying, “World Environment Day”, with the photos of prominent pols, put it up in a public place, and feel happy that a praiseworthy effort has been taken.
Everywhere, as people park wrongly, we find the police towing away the parked cars, but I find a refreshing interlude when I spotted this van outside IIM, Bangalore:
Perhaps they tow two cars at a time?
Scurrying across the path
I saw this little ant.
It bore a heavy burden,
Its legs were all aslant.
It stopped every now and then
And shifted the mouthful it had.
But never gave up on the task:
A persistent lady…or lad.
The prey in its jaws
Was about its own size.
But the long-legged ant
Seemed found it tasty and nice.
I never did find out
How the story ended.
Did the ant succeed,
As its way it wended?
Did the other ants in the nest
Cheer at a successful chore?
Or did the ant abandon
Its task, and drag it no more?
I left it a mystery
As I consigned the moment to history.
Our eyes pass over cows and bulls, we are so used to them being around that we sometimes see them but don’t notice them at all!
The cattle don’t pay entry fees
They wander in and out as they please.
A Brahminy Bull knows life can be a rag…
They’re internet-savvy..they also use tags.
There’s no high point of view,no moral steeple
But through a country’s cattle… we see its people.
Black-crowned Heron, strolling slow
High above, on the tree-trunk…
You may think you’re a balanced bird
But, oh Heron, did you know…
That being red-eyed means you’re drunk?
From beginning to end, it’s wonderful….
I’d been talking about the location of a bird which I found by accident. When I posted about it, a friend asked,
“Did you ask some one, and did they not disclose the location ?”
In other words, was I sour-graping because I was not being told the location of this (or any other recently discovered) bird?
My response to him:
Ha, ha, I know better than to ask for the location of any recently-discovered bird, O expert birder! Have I asked you? (I know you saw it.) No, it’s not a case of sour grapes…in fact, the reverse, as I have given the location of various birds to many expert birders, after discovering them by sheer accident (eg . Indian Eagle Owl at Ramnagara or Turahalli.) I can confidently say, go look in Lal Bagh, a large public park in Bangalore, you will find the Spotted Owlet. This does not guarantee that the person will see it.
I am a well-known “L-B”…. a Learner-Birder.I have neither the knowledge nor the scientific background to qualify as an expert 🙂 Neither will I ask where the Pratincole, or the Emu, or the Mute Swan, the Roc, or the Phoenix, are to be found. Most birds will, for me, be found only within the covers of my “Grimmskipp”(Grimmett and Inskipp) , “Salim Uncle” (Salim Ali), “Pam Ram” (Pamela Rasmussen) , or “Kashmir Jack” (Krys Kazmierczak). You think I will go on a ship-without-a-toilet to see pelagic birds? The answer is, Gua—no!
We’ve already had the hilarious situation, in Lalbagh, of a totally non-bird interested jogger coming up and telling us, “Some crows are harassing some bird which I don’t know, can you help?” It proved to be the Mottled Wood Owl. No humans (birders or non-birders) were troubling it…but it was the ever-present mobsters, the crows.The Mottled Wood Owls, in spite of the Lalbagh crowds, have been at their location off and on over the years.
My birding friends here in St.Louis, Mark Glenshaw, Chris Ferree, Jim Wilson, Mary Dueren (Audubon Society) and Danny Brown (Wildlife photographer and conservation scientist) , freely share the location of birds and animals in Forest Park, with me. That doesn’t mean that I can see them all the time! In fact, in the heights and the thick foliage of the Cottonwood trees, even when Mark is showing me where the huge female Great Horned Owl is sitting…it takes me several minutes to spot her. It took me a week of scouting the right area before I saw the mink family, and the little baby mink came up to my feet and looked up at me.
Oh well… about both points of view (share and don’t share) have their validity….disturbance to the birds is a ver real fear. Ne’er the twain shall meet…
Unfortunately, birding is becoming a secretive, “I-know-so-and-so-who-will-tell-me-where-x-bird-is-to-be-found” kind of activity. This is why I like my UGS (Usual Gang of Suspects)…we are a happy-go-lucky lot who are as thrilled to see a House Sparrow in front of the Udupi Banashree Darshini as we are to see a Crested Hawk Eagle at Nandi Hills! We don’t want the secret birds……where the ordinary birds are, is secret enough for us most of the time!
Cheers, Deepa.
I’ve been thinking that this phenomenon was iconic to Bangalore….
These are our “autos” …auto-rickshaws, an inescapable, convenient, irritating, frustrating method of transport in our city.
The guy at the back IS pushing the one in the front, sometimes to a fuel station, sometimes until the auto in front starts its engine with the momentum. The foot is then withdrawn. I have never seen by what form of signalling the auto guy in front requests the help of the auto guy at the back…ESP?
I posted this on Facebook, and I now realize that every Indian city seems to have this great “auto-foot assist” method of aiding movement!
I got this leaflet with the newspaper a day or two ago (I think the reason why newspapers are delivered late is because the newsagents need time to insert all the various leaflets into each copy!)
At the top, it talks about Dr Arun, B D S, who runs a dental clinic, but midway through, he mysteriously turns into Dr Prakash who can carry out “rejuvenation treatment of mind, body and soul through herbal medicine”.
The clincher, and the point that will drive us immediately to consult this person is, of course, that he was a Film Producer earlier! What better qualifications could a doctor need?
Bangalore, 100112
I have been posting most of the funny signs I’ve snapped on Facebook
(click
to see the album)
but I felt I must share this one….
A friend of mine replied to my query about why the sign was on its side, saying it was because….”the discount was heavy”!
I am now looking for a shop that gives me a 110% discount…that is, for every Rs.100 worth of merchandise, they will give it to me free and give me Rs.10 as well!
India - Nature, Travel And Birding 