My tribute to those hills

They are a long stretch of Eastern Ghats, which are located six kilometers north to our village. They are huge and daunting figures, arising curiosity and instilling a streak of confidence in their admiring watchers. I used to ask myself sometimes this persisting question that what might be lying behind those mighty hills. My surmises would go on imagining a dense forest consisting of an assortment of flora and fauna, a tribal dwelling, a river valley, a long cline of hills, a big lake, giants, remains of the alien and the extinct creatures or remains of an ancient fort or something like that. At first my desire was to climb those hills and to see for myself what’s behind there. Of course that never happened but one day I had an opportunity to unravel my curiosity and that brought the curtains down on my fantasies. But I was not disappointed because, though what I had seen behind those hills was different from my crazy imagination, what I had experienced there was an ecstatic immersion in pure bucolic tribal beauty. The birds, trees, streams, huts encircled with little gardens, loughs, and small bridges all combined and presented an all-pervading serenity, silence and freshness to my existence.

Great hills they are, and I am forever in debt of them, for they stayed there.

City

Three years ago may be..... I visited a city. I had walked along its roads. I had seen its children playing and going to school. And I had also seen its local transportation being crammed with students and majestic display of its educational institutions. Oh!...how nice it could have been if I too....Too vital...too vivacious. I had felt its calmness. That city has charming contradictions. And still...for a life time... I'm content to say that I've missed that city.

Colors

Colors mingle and form new variations. Lets cherish them.
Colors fade and vanish. Lets perish with them.
I woke up from my dream and found the charms of world in Black and White.
And I liked it so much.

Dynamics of Nature

For a while, some things in life seem transient. Everyday I used to enjoy that loud chattering made by those little Mynas nested on a nearby coconut tree. And I would stand staring and wondering at the wonderful display of flight formation performed by a flight of Cranes in my village. Now all of a sudden they all have disappeared. And I am too late to recognize this subtle change. Perhaps I am very much preoccupied with my eccentric incongruous existence. I can't remember exactly when I have last seen a chirruping sparrow and have spotted a wild duck followed by its ducklings. The sight of gray fox which once was prevalent in my village has become a rarity now. And there are lot of such remarkable changes which I forgot to notice. However I find solace everyday in watching the newly arrived rackety parrots and noisy stripped squirrels which have become so frequent in my neighborhood. Occasionally I go out to have a look at those fork tailed birds guarding our fields as usual and that shrieking blue bird with its wagging tail, those grey birds which I'd like to call ground birds because they, unlike other winged bipeds, prefer ground for foraging and that rare yellow bird well noun for its gentleness and shyness. Every night an owl is perching on a nearby lamp post. Recently I've spotted a white plump bird while it was drinking water from a lough in our village, of its name I have no idea. Our house is occasionally visited by two doves...Hmm...May be this transience doesn't apply to our attitude and feelings towards nature. The nature around me is dynamic and I'm trying to adapt myself to its dynamism.

Birds!

The bird population at our place has grown significantly of late. Everyday I'm watching busy birds:Crows,Pigeons,Black Drongos, Yellow Finches, Parrots, Mynas, Kukoos, Hawk-kukoos, Baya Weavers, Owls, Cranes, Finches and some unknown ones. Though everyday offers me something for the first time, I have begun realising it more frequently of late. Those first things are like watching a flock of pigeons, parrots and finches foraging side by side on a ploughed field, watching a yellow finch brooding in its intricately woven nest, spotting a baya weaver giving finishing touches to its hanging nest, crows,cranes and mynas carrying dry twigs and soft fibrous material for building their nests, getting a distant view of a wild duck along with its fragile looking ducklings, witnessing a black drongo attacking a crow which came near its nest, a female kukoo followed by its companion, a parrot pair and many more.... These experiences often fill me with deep gratitude for my brother trees, birds and the people who taught me how to appreciate the wonders around me and there are many more which/who deserve my gratitude...

"The wood is lovely,dark and deep;
but I have promises to keep,
and miles to cross before I go to sleep"
-Robert Frost