6:00 P.M and it had just stopped raining. First rain of the season; it smelled like a million bucks!!! The breeze was all filmy….

We were just hanging out in our adda near KD road and doing the “usual stuff”….! (I can’t understandwhy only Ranganthittu is considered as the “Bird” sanctuary in Mysore when there are exotic birds almost everywhere in the city!!! And Mysore plays its role as a Sanctuary quite well…!)

Seeing those “Exotic birds” we felt that we could have a better look from Chamundi betta… so… without much ado we started off with our expedition for some Ornithology!!! One of us also had an “insanely costly” camera which turned out to be quite useful in our “study of birds”…more closely!!!

There are a few who might argue that there are better birds in Bangalore or other metros… but hey… who cares to appreciate nature’s most beautiful creation when you have a truck honking at you from the back and gesturing you with his hands ( finger to be precise) to move on and clear the damn traffic !!! Moreover, an overdose of anything always results in a “whatever…!”

“Aisi uljhi nazar unse hatati nahi…..” was the exact line playing when we saw that bird… flying swiftly through the roads in the footsteps of betta…. Her exquisite colorful feathers were playing with the deep green eyes……. The breeze was now more refreshing…. Rather intoxicating….! May be the bird somehow realized about all the stares she was getting…  she turned and waved a feather or two at us… shyly… but that did the trick…. “dil toh bacha hai ji…..” crooned the singer !!! …and then she disappeared…!!!

There were a whole lot of other birds which passed by… some of them flew in flocks… some of them with their families…. Some of them all alone…… and most of them… with Hawks!!! But none of those birds matched that bird… Not because they were any less beautiful…. but for the very simple reason that the first one had pulled the right strings!!!

Hoping to see that bird again we reached the top… Mahishaasur stared at us as if he was the Godfather for that bird… with his trademark moustache and his snake..!! He was the hero for all the birds out there… I have no idea how he manages to attract so many birds to pose beside him… always popular with all the birds…!!! And even the hawks…. They just can’t get enough of all the birds posing around the demon…!!! By then, breeze had gone wild and the chillness had reached “places”….  So, what better than a chilli bonda…?!!! Strolling through the crowd we reached the temple but just bowed to the goddess and went on further to the viewpoint!!!

Ah…. The Viewpoint…!!!

There she was…. All in her glory… the same deep green eyes…. And the same playful feathers…. We stood there… stuck by the thunderbolt.... everything else around was blurred… Just when we thought of capturing this Nature’s Glory in the camera, the shy bird flew away… We never tried to follow her because some fantasies are better when they are let go…!!! Some moments are better kept in memory than in anything else… The bird disappeared in the darkness and into the crowd…. We knew we would never see her again… so we just stood there…! But life goes on… We sat down the steps near the viewpoint… but there was not much to be seen from there… It was way past 9:30… Most of the visitors had returned by now and there were just some shop keepers closing their shops…. Finally decided to get back to our homes to start off the routine week from the next morning…

Our Ornithology expedition had come to an end now…. We were heading back… down the betta…. Few of us had started to sulk about the work next day, few of us about the classes that they had to attend all week and few were wondering what exactly to think about…! It was absolute darkness everywhere… inside and out… and to add to that we had switched off our vehicle engines as well…. (The damn price rise...!) As usual, we could see some birds “chirping” in the darkness…. Hiding from the rest of the world and creating their own little world out there!!! Nothing new about it… so we went on….!!!

We had just taken a few more turns and then we could see some strange red and blue flashlights all over the place… they were “Animal Control” guys with their cool bikes on a mission to maintain some “discipline” on this holy hill and prevent any “unholy” acts !!! Their main concern was to stop animals from being “Animals” at least on this holy hill… They were like cops for the “Animal Kingdom”…!!! Their Mission: “No chirping in the darkness”!!!

These Animal Control guys were holding two birds… one of them was a hawk… The hawk seemed to have lost its temper… It was making angry weird sounds…!!! All we could hear was the yelling from one of those two Animal Control guys… He was telling them to go to their nests and do whatever they want over there… or at least rent a nest…. (…as if those poor birds could understand whatever he was saying)….

Our engines were turned off and the place was hauntingly silent… that made most of the yelling audible even after we went a bit further… but after a few seconds we heard the bike start and move away… Animal control guys had left… we were wondering what happened to those birds… The hawk might have tried to bite and they must have just yelled and left… but anyway… we were back into our own straying thoughts… the guy with the camera took out his Cannon and started shooting random clicks… no one were interested anyway… but just then… that pissed off hawk flew past us… with its bird… it was absolutely dark over there… but the quick flashes from the camera was enough to recognize those feathers… those colorful feathers… the same feathers which looked so playful just a while back but now they were trying to hide the tears dropping out of those deep green eyes… it looked hell sad and embarrassed… it again disappeared and flew away… but this time it gave a lasting picture... not just in the camera but also in our minds…

(Now, if anyone’s wondering how can birds be around till almost 10 in the night, then… all I can tell you is… let your imaginations go wild or get some sleep…!!!)

Later that night, when I was trying hard to think of a topic to update my stupid blog I realized I wasn’t really ready to take sides… I would have been wrong if I judged that hawk as cheap… I would have been more wrong if I judged the Animal Control guys as insensitive… they were doing their duty and certain issues like these require a tinge of rudeness… I didn’t have the right to judge any of the other birds I saw having their hearty moments in that darkness… Most of them were obviously in love and were just relishing the scenic romance our betta had brought into their lives… I couldn’t even judge myself or my friends…  And obviously I couldn’t judge that bird… how could I??? Naturally innocent and visibly guilty… To be frank I have no right to judge anyone else neither do any of them have any right to do the same on the rest… This is not about Moral Policing, its just about some public conduct…

But hey… is it the society that has turned intolerant or is it the boundaries that needs to be drawn in public conduct…? Of course we have laws but… what do we have apart from that??? Anyway my sleep was screwed up by now, my thoughts went berserk… I just needed some peaceful sleep to get ready for a hectic week at work…! I wanted to just forget about everything… but,

I chose to retain the image of that bird which we had seen earlier in the evening… not the last one… and now all I can remember is her deep green eyes… “Minching” gleefully!!!

…and her playful feathers…!!!

- Nand Kishore G