"Lit in gold, sparkled in white"

On the last day of my Bharatpur trip, I didn't want to spend my day in the hotel under the pretext of 'nothing new to see' especially if the primary objective of the trip was photography. "Although factually accurate, the same nature can present itself in a myriad different forms," I thought. So with a hopeful ambition to sight sarus cranes from a close distance, I left for the Keoladeo sanctuary.

Towards the end of the day, I and my travel mate, Ritansh, decided to explore one last uncharted pathway within the sanctuary. While I was busy trying to photograph a hoopoe, who kept flying off sensing even the slightest human presence, Ritansh wandered around deeper on to the pathway. Later, when I signaled him to come back so that we could leave, he flagged me to come over to the area where he was. I perceived this alarm to be an opportunity worthy of photography and it indeed was.

Blocked fawn

Lit in gold, sparkled in white

I brisk walked to the place of call and found a spotted deer with her fawn grazing grass on an island-like grassland. "A sight I haven't seen over the past days," I pondered and decided to get as close as possible to capture a decent picture of the two.

I learned a wee bit of 'waiting for the moment' that nature may or may not transpire that day. I got a few fantastic shots of the deer. But something was amiss. The adorable fawn in the scene was blocked either by a truncated tree on the left or thorns on the right. "Oh God, give me that one great moment where I can lock the mother and fawn into an unfading memory," I hoped. In the next 15-20 minutes that I spent watching them, my wish was granted. The beautiful golden light of dusk nailed the instant as "lit in gold, sparkled in white" with both of the looking at me with hoisted ears.

I was so consumed and gloated in the glory of this moment that I missed another grand flash that nature ensued in the next few minutes. The mother decided to cross the surrounding water wetland. I was so engrossed in getting the two of them again in the same frame that I lost focus on the mother which in solitude would have been a fantastic wet-water-shot. Lesson learned. "Better presence of mind, next time," I told myself and moved on.

Ready to cross

Missed opportunity

Okay, I am lying about moving on. I do sulk sometimes over the missed opportunities in my life as a photographer. Fortunately, I am glad that my personal life boasts of no events that I classify as "missed opportunities". As far as personal life goes, "the best is yet to come."

Bharatpur made me a bird watcher

I have possessed my 100-400mm lens for over an year now and a part of this investment must be credited to the birds that were habituated to spend their early mornings in the vicinity of all homes I have lived in the past two years. Some of these were little brown doves, purple sunbird, oriental magpie robin among other common species. These names, that I flaunt today, hardly made a difference to me 18 months ago when all I simply wanted to do was capture a splendid shot in my camera. I cannot pin point the exact motivation to learn their names but I remember my MBA mate, Preeti, to be an ardent bird watcher. She commented 'little brown dove' on a photo I had posted online and in our, one or two, gym conversations she recommended I buy any book by Salim Ali, the great Indian ornithologist who invested his life studying birds, to better understand the feather folk. I bought myself a reference book called 'A Photographic  guide to Birds of India' by Grewal Harvey Pfister because all of Salim Ali was out of stock. That's where I began to learn a bit of the beautiful birds that bless our habitats with colorful glamour. But, I must admit, it is quite a painful task from knowing nothing to finding the name of a bird among the 500 pages of that book and infinite Google searches.

A bucket list item: someday in the future, I look forward to shoot some absolute gorgeous photos of rose pelicans in all their gigantic glory.

In the last week of December I made Bharatpur happen for me during which time studying birds filled my heart with joy. Mostly, it had to do with Mr. Sarman Singh, boss @ bicycle auto no. 103, who has become acquainted with birds for over 17 years in his role as a cyclist taking tourists around the Keoladeo bird sanctuary. His accent can sometimes become a little difficult to follow but that's where I can look up the reference guides and Google pages to correctly spell a bird species. I saw an abundant variety: green pigeons, Indian roller, storks (painted, black-necked, open bill), parakeets, robins, blue throats, grey horn bill, rose pelicans, herons (grey, purple), greater coucal, darter, hoopoe, black necked redstart, bittens, purple sunbirds, rufous treepie, kingfishers (common and white-breasted), among a few more. I could photograph some beautifully, while others have been pushed to a future bucket list.

BLACK REDSTART FEMALE

BLACK REDSTART MALE

During this trip, I learned that the bird kingdom has more attractive males vis-a-vis  females. More attractive males is a RULE than an exception. (I always knew that about peacocks and peahens, though). At a generic level, in lay man terms,  it has to do with greater vibrancy of colors in males with strategically gifted beauty spots, which are absent in females (for example,  the red breasted flycatcher).  It was during this trip I attempted to distinguish a species based on their sexes. "Black  redstart male," I guessed. Every time Mr. Sarman Singh validated my guess, my heart screamed 'yay' on the inside. Bird watching was an exhilarating experience and especially so because of Mr. Sarman Singh. His depth of knowledge helped identify unseen birds rather quickly. A sense of accomplishment is necessary to keep motivation alive and Mr. Sarman Singh helped me do just that.

RED BREASTED FLYCATCHER MALE

FLYCATCHER FEMALE

Makar Sankranti  is around the corner. So, I would like to call upon the human species and say, "While kite flying is an entertaining sport for us, it can be life threatening to the birds. The birds often get entangled in loose manzaa ends and risk cutting their wings. As a result, they can be seriously injured and later die. So, don't leave loose ends and keep 'birds rescue' contact number handy at all times."

ORIENTAL MAGPIE MALE

ORIENTAL MAGPIE FEMALE

Signing off,

A birdwatcher in making.

Hello 2014

I have high expectations for myself this year. I hope to materialize an end product of my on and off writing effort over the past four years. “It’s now or never,” I tell myself. That is the one big dream for 2014.

As I reflect back on 2013, a year that I didn’t expect much of, I stand in gratitude for the kind treatment meted out to me.

In Pahalgam, Sep 2013 (l) and in Goa, July 2013

2013 started with a bang by spending a weekend at the Sula Fest in February. Mom turned 60 in April and, thanks to my sister, she enjoyed an evening with her friends, family, and colleagues. End June and early July, I traveled to Goa and reveled in some sumptuous food at Brittos. I also learned through personal experience that Goa weather is pretty awesome in July. The starting week of September shocked the hell out of me because aai was hospitalized for a week. I actually travelled with her in an ambulance with the ringing siren over 15+ kilometers. However, the experience has only made me stronger and better equipped to handle emergencies. I treated myself to a Srinagar vacation for my birthday at the end of the same month. This was the highlight of 2013. I have decided that every year I should take a travel vacation in September during my birthday. I had been high on travel throughout 2013 with a small excursion to Panchgani with mom in November and another beautiful vacation to Bharatpur in December. Professional life has been a plateau but I didn’t mind it and won’t either in 2014.