Bird-brain Among Birders

A trip to Sunderbans only evoked a pleasant feeling of going out into wilderness and, maybe, manage to see a few wild animals while I was at it. Little did I realize that my first sighting of a new species would happen at the Howrah Railway Station. I had heard that such beings existed but it was, nevertheless, a fact that I was shocked and surprised by the fact that Birders were not mythical beings. Worse still was the discovery that the harmless beings, that I had hitherto trekked with, also morphed into these awesome (or is it awful?) beings when I met them at Howrah.
For a person who could not see any difference between a sandpiper and a sand plover, this was a huge shock. (Confession: The only sandpiper I had known till this trip came in a bottle). I can still hark back to my first lesson on birds - that the black one was a crow and the brown one a sparrow. I capped off my learning about birds and was proud to have mastered the theory on the day I realized that the hen, which is still not convinced that wings can be used for flying, and the eagle, which soars so high always that it seems unconvinced that the legs are of any use at all for locomotion, are both birds. That my pinnacle of achievement did not even mount to a respectable amount of bull excreta was driven into me in the course of this trip.
Three days spent in a launch (I skip the nights at the resort - drunken revelry is not a fit subject for this blog) surrounded by bazooka sized cameras, machine-gun like binoculars and frenzied cries off "There! There! Look at that ibis" and the like! In the intervals when the launch took to the middle of the waters and no sightings were possible, the conversation revolved between the Greek of photography esoterica and the Latin of rare birds like the Great Indian Bustard. Having no experience of looking wise and interspersing apparently knowledgeable questions that concealed the absolute vacuum inside, I was reduced to gawking and looking the perfect imbecile (NOT looking my natural self, thank you!).
Matters were compounded for me when I discovered another of my uncanny abilities. When people were excitedly looking at that collared Kingfisher, I discovered that I had this knack of looking everywhere else except where it was. When they helpfully handed me the binoculars and said, "Look 2 O'Clock", I had to curb my urge for lifting my wrist for a look at my watch and compute what direction it meant. By the time I had done these trigonometric computations, the launch would have moved on, the bird would stay put and I would have to rework it all for 3 O'Clock. The net result was a Suresh spinning like a top (well - only 180 degrees, since even I had not gone so far as to look at the other bank of the river for a bird on this bank) on the deck of the launch with the birds looking on with grave interest, rather than the other way around.
Did I forget to mention? The Sunderbans is a lot of islands at which you can look on but not step on. So, you traveled in boats and tried to sight animals and birds that could be seen - if they deigned to come - on the banks of the river. This river too, incidentally, was one of the confused lot - it had not made up its mind whether it was a river or the backwaters since the water was brackish. The clayey soil ensured that trees had to adopt the ingenious means of poking their roots out into the air to breath - the so-called breathing roots. THAT was the only satisfactory part for me. Thankfully trees are large enough to be more easily located and also stayed put in one place so that I could take hours to locate them and still expect to find them.
Despite my super-abilities, I did manage to sight three crocodiles sun-bathing (I know - not the most brilliant feat of observation), a couple of monitor lizards and one jungle cat that swished a disdainful tail at me as it vanished into the woods. There was one monitor lizard that had blended so well into the trunk of the tree it was resting on that it was nearly impossible to locate. I did manage to sight it (AT LAST!) - a feat of which I was inordinately proud.
Some sights that will linger in my mind - a tree so hung with parakeets that it seemed to have more birds than leaves; a sandpiper taking a floating crocodile for a log and trying to alight on it only to recognize what it was at the last moment and hurriedly flying away; and, above all, the serene waters and lush green woods that were a balm to the eyes and the soul.
The wild has always exercised a fascination for me - and my own joy comes merely from soaking in the ambiance. I must, however, admit that this frenzy to locate the next bird found lodgings in me too and I was running around the boat and peering (in exactly the opposite direction most of the time) to sight the common kingfisher (something I disdain to notice even when it dances a saraband in front of me in Bangalore) and being sorely disappointed when I failed. The infection is wearing off now - but, who knows, I may yet morph into one of those mythical beings - Birders. Then, indeed, would you see a bird-brained Birder!
P.S: I am no photography buff and, so, no photographs till I get some from one of my companions on the trip.
PPS: About the only good news on my return from the trip is the fact that Blogadda seems to have shortlisted my blog for its awards in the Humor category. (Surprising, I know but these things do happen sometimes)
http://win.blogadda.com/view-blogs-voting/humor_satire/Life_is_Like_This/