Mountain of light

We as human beings inhabit and rule this earth and sometimes in our daily humdrum of lives very convieniently forget (or overlook) our fellow inhabitants like birds, animals, plants. Most of us don’t think about them until we are reminded of them by something sensational like cows in the middle of a road or a snake in a residential area or birds inside our roofs desperately trying to build their nests. Faced with such infrequent encounters we usually become awkward and don’t know how to deal with them. We certainly don’t feel comfortable with them sharing our space and we are pretty sure we don’t want them inside our living rooms.

So we decide to shoo them away, veer our automobiles around them or just c all the municipal department to deal with the vagabond animal who probably is even more scared than us. There is this usual talk of about how human societies have encroached upon animal preserves and how there used to be leopards and cheetahs here only decades before us. But what never comes
to fore is how uncomfortable we are with animals in their various forms. Should we stay when they are near us, should we pat them, can we beningly look into their eyes without signalling confrontation? How do we communicate with them when we can’t talk and are they even interested in even communicating with us. What will we tell them? Or even more interestingly what will they have to say to us? Will they have a few things to say to us about marginalising them in their own planet and about polluting the nature so much that they can’t live in what little space is left for them?

Its amazing how these thoughts were crossing my head as we made our way to Sultanpur bird sanctuary on the outskirts of Delhi. We were accompanied by two bird lovers who came armed with their binoculars, memories of past bird watching and book reading and ofcourse a very good eye to pick out birds from the middle of nowhere. Most of these are migratory birds who come to Delhi in the winters escaping from hasher colder climates in their
native areas. They all camp around this small lake in groups, pairs or by themselves. They just sit patiently for hours and hours and sometimes decide to take off when they feel the mood to show off their beautiful wings or maybe when humans come too close to them for a dekho. These are birds that I had only heard of or maybe read about. The place is very quiet and peaceful and only intersperesed with bird calls, the distant sound of highway traffic and the excitement of our wonderful companions on a bird s
ighting. Out came the binoculars and then the gush of recognition and then some information about the particular species. If the bird was not recognised then a mental note was made to go home and look it up in the books.

Those birds in someways reminded me of how we were as a race centuries ago. We were nomads who would migrate to different places in search of moderate weather, fertile lands and even animals to feed on. No passports, no visas, no tickets. You wanna go somewhere, just pick up your belongings and go. People were self-sufficient and they lived off the land for their needs of clothing, shelter and food. Birds and animals to me signify that nomadic lifestyle.

Its only after going to this bird sanctuary that I realised how much of nature that I miss out on in the routine that my life has become. There is so much on offer and so near me. I realise that I miss the bulbul that used to be a regular feature near my house every spring and early summer. I didn’t realise how much I had gotten used to it until 1 year i didn’t hear the call at all. I wonder what happened. Maybe they cut down the mango tree and the bird decided to cut its links with us. “You’re not worthy” may have been its reaction. As a kid I remember watching parrots perched on the tree ledge or even a group of them flying overhead. Wonder what happened to them, or maybe they are all there and I am the one who either has no time or my mind just has switched off. I don’t remember the last time I stopped to listen to a bird call that I had not heard before or atleast not heard for a while.

My nightmare is about the day when internet and television will just take over all our senses and we won’t need to step out of our living rooms to experience a bird sanctuary or even a walk in the great outdoors. That is when virtual reality won’t be virtual anymore. That will probably be the peak of our evolution and I guess the only way from there will be downhill.
Except I dont think the birds will be complaining about the lack of attention. They will be only too happy to star in the latest Playstation movie.