Wear: Dull-coloured clothes, hats/.caps, comfy walking shoes Bring: Bird books/apps, binoculars, cameras, pads/pencils if you like to sketch or take notes. Plenty of water, and snacks if you like to share (we do!)
Post outing restaurant, with parking available, The Rasaganga, location:
Today was a very strange day! First I wanted to go to Wayanad and visit the CG Earth resort….that plan fell through. Then I had been invited to go to Coorg. That plan fell through. Then I was invited to go to Agastya. That plan….(fill in the blanks). Then I decided to organize a walk, and posted an announcement at the last minute yesterday. We were only four on the group, and one person didn’t show up at Begur Kere; the three of us could not walk in the extremely muddy path at the lake. The outing (fill in the blanks.) We thought of going for the second Sunday Bngbirds outing at Lalbagh, but the rain intensified. That plan (fill in the blanks.) So Shalini dropped me back home and went home herself. I did the Sunday ToI cryptic crossword, peacefully. Then I called Tej, who didn’t want to go to Lalbagh; he dropped by. In conversation, he mentioned that he would like to go on a butterfly outing. I remembered that there was a butterfly count today! It was 9am, I called Nagesh….and after a quick breakfast, Tej and I joined the butterfly walk. Both of us had a great time (this included a sighting of what Priya and I think was a juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle…though Ashwin disagrees!) After that, I called up Uma, took the coordinates from her, and Tej and I went to the Turahalli area (er, Banakshankari 6th Stage as it is called!). The rain alternately increased and decreased in intensity, but we walked around, and sighted quite a few birds, including two Grey Francolins that took off from a foot or so ahead of us. Finally got home at 3pm or so! I’ve posted the video of the Common Four-rings courting, from Doresanipalya, and of the peacocks (not peahens, though we saw those too) sitting out the rain at Turahalli. It was very nice to spend the day with Tej, and I am sitting at leisure, captioning my photos, uploading the videos, and creating blogposts (these are my diaries of each outing.) It might have been a drippy, rainy, gloomy day…but I enjoyed the outdoors at three places, and am filled with the serenity that accompanies such jaunts! I give thanks for so many things…my good health, the ability to spend time doing the things I want to do, and good friends to do them with! Every day is Thanksgiving for me. I will soon post the album of the day…meanwhile…I hope each of you has had as good a Sunday as I did!
With the help of Surya Raghanvenar of KANS, I have organized. an overnight trip to Aiyur Forest/Sami Eri area. This is with Kenneth Anderson Nature Society and Tamil Nadu Forest Department. The DCF, Ms Karthikeyani, has given permission for 8 of us to stay overnight in the Aiyur Forest Guest House. (KANS will be bringing about 12 members from Hosur/Krishnagiri.) I have blocked the following rooms: 2 rooms with 2 beds each. Of these, 1 room will be occupied by Ramya and myself, and the other by Uday and Subhankar. 1 room with 4 beds: These beds are up for occupation by those who are interested. The cost of the accommodation, inclusive of evening tea/snacks and dinner on the evening of Saturday, 3 Sept, and morning chai, post-birding breakfast, and lunch on Sunday 4 Sept, is Rs.1600 per person, approx. (If we choose not to have lunch and leave for Bangalore on Sunday, the rate might come down a little, but budget for this please.) Subhankar’s car has 3 seats free, he is starting from Bellandur. Uday’s car has 2 seats free, he is starting from J P Nagar 7th Phase. Those who are joining in these cars ( we are taking only 2 cars!) can also work out a mutually convenient point where they can join us. (Eg Hosur Road, beyond Silk Board). If you are interested in joining, please message me, on this group or directly. I am at Krishnagiri today and tomorrow, conducting a biodiversity walk for Tamarind Valley Collective, but will start the WA group for the outing after I get the responses. Aiyur is an excellent place for all kinds of wildlife, including birds. Tentative schedule: Sat, 3 Sept: Leave at 10.30am, according to what we decide. Breakfast stop at AAHHAA Restaurant, STEP colony, Hosur (location: https://goo.gl/maps/qTyT1tWwJoC5Rudo9)
We reach Aiyur FGH (Forest Guest House) by about 3.30 to 4pm. Evening birding/Nature walk Dinner. Night walk.
Sun, 4 Sept: 6.30am, morning bird/nature walk. Return for breakfast. Leave, birding along the way home.
A female Giant Wood Spider captures and begins to eat an Orb Weaver. Her mate, the little red dot to the left, joins her in the feast.
4th September, walk to Gutteri:
Clouds on the hill
White Four-ring (Ypthima ceylonica)
Common Bush Brown:
Stone Flower”kallu hoovu” (Parmotrema perlatum) is a lichen,used as a spice in Karnataka and other states.It is used to make Goda Masala, an important ingredient in Maharashtrian cuisine. 2. It is also widely used in making the potli masala of non-vegetarian preparations like Naali Nihari and biryani.Also used in Ayurveda.
I walk to my daughter’s home. The sky fills with massed, heavy clouds. The air cools. A strong breeze starts blowing. Halfway there, the first drops fall on the ground, which is dry from no rain for the past few days. The dark polka dots start merging together. The drops start spattering, instead of just wetting the ground. Out comes my umbrella, in time to have the drizzle develop into heavy rain, sheeting down. I am walking through a thin film of rainwater, and am splashed by passing vehicles… but my upper half is relatively dry. I pass other people who have not thought of bringing along umbrellas, sheltering where they can. A flash of lightning, followed by a growl of thunder. I love walking in the rain… a delight that has never changed from my childhood in the Kolkata downpours, to my evening years in the Bangalore showers. The life-giving part of the year is here. I look up into the grey, scudding clouds, and welcome the monsoon.
I thirst…
Not for love, money or
Even happiness.
I thirst for water
To quench the parched earth
To bring green to the brown
To bring fresh hope to those
Who raise crops and food for us.
I need water
To fill the pots
Of each slum-dweller
Who puts her (it’s never a he)
Vessel in a long line
And waits to drink, wash and live.
I have had enough of grishma ritu.
I want varsha…not just the odd shower
Or thunderstorm, but a steady,
Cloudy, drumming season
That will replenish the depleted
Plateau,that we live on
And call home.
I thirst…
Not for love, money or
Even happiness.
I thirst for water
To quench the parched earth
To bring green to the brown
To bring fresh hope to those
Who raise crops and food for us.
I need water
To fill the pots
Of each slum-dweller
Who puts her (it’s never a he)
Vessel in a long line of colours,
Waiting to drink, wash and live.
I have had enough of grishma ritu.
I want varsha…not just the odd shower
Or thunderstorm, but a steady,
Cloudy, drumming season
That will replenish the depleted
Plateau,that we live on
And call home.
Inside her little box of an apartment
Lies the elderly woman,
While I tell her about the rain
That is wetting the roads
Outside. Confined to her bed,
She cannot even move
To the window, without help,
To look at the few drops
Falling from the sky.
The plants she has in pots
Cannot feel the rain, either.
All they can get
Is the “filtered water”
Whenever the sullen maid
Remembers them.
The woman is able
To have a roof over her head…
But some simple joys,
Like savouring the raindrops
Which wet that roof,
Are beyond her,
Small deprivations
Can sometimes be big ones.
Deponti to the world 