Meet the "Birdman"

Deccan Chronicle's Hyderabad edition covered me in today's edition, take a look see here

The bird shown in the story is a little fella known as the River Kingfisher (also known as the Common Kingfisher, but as I have asked myself a thousand times -- and it seems M Krishnan also concurs with me -- what is "common" about this spectacularly plumaged joy of a bird?) I had photographed near a trout pool somewhere in Uttarkhand.

And yes, I like being called the Birdman, thank you Barkha and Deccan Chronicle :-)

I do feel a kinship with the Black Kites, at least a kinship that is deeper than what I feel with other birds and this kinship has led me to stop my motorcycle and gaze up at the skies (on the Vizag coast, near Delhi and all through Hyderabad) numerous times and also to ink many a poem.

Would ears (or hearing aids) help in photographing birds better?

I wouldn't know; I do what I can do with my eyes and its pure bliss and joy!

The quotes aren't exactly in context, but then they are not contentious either, so its okay.

Thanks also to Sujata Roy and Oxford Bookstores for setting this up.

Now if only the birds could read this, they would be happy too that I have been called the birdman!      

 

Rajesh Khanna -- the death of a super star

Do super stars (or for that matter actors and artists) really die?

A moot question, especially when one considers that they are larger than life and part of the make-believe and fantasy, love and romance, histrionics and dramatics and generally escapist world of films?

And, that every role that they may have essayed every film that they super starred in are part of popular culture, (available more or less as and when we want to relive them) and also living in our memories?

I don't really think so; and I also think that when one chooses to be an artist, one chooses to live for a "body of work" and that life subsumes the mortal one.

Either way, in my own peculiar case, Rajesh Khanna hasn't died and will live in my memories and resonate in my being through all those unforgettable songs he starred in, those songs to which he emoted as the one and only Rajesh Khanna could have, as only a superstar could have.

In my peculiar case, my name itself resonates with Rajesh Khanna's most well known movie and it is a song from that movie

...kabhi jab yoon huyin bojhal saanse,
bhar aaye baithey baithey,
jab yoon hi aankhen 
kabhi machal ke, pyaar se chal ke,
chuyey koyi mujhey par nazar na aaye, nazar naa aye...

that comes closest to haunting me, in a sad yet, in its own truthfully welcome way.

And then, while we are on this topic, a confession too -- I haven't yet seen Anand entirely; somehow missed it on the TV on DD whenever it came and never got around to seeing it on DVD, etc.

Maybe someday soon, for the aforementioned song, for the story, for the dramatics and melodrama, and for the lovely song --

Jindagi kaisi hai paheli, haaye
kabhi to hansaye kabhi ye rulaye..

Someday soon, someday soon...

While on this -- what was Rajesh Khanna the person like -- after all he was flesh and blood like most of us too, a considerate human being, a great husband, a good father, etc.?

I wouldn't know, you wouldn't know, but seems like Gautam Kaul did and it makes for compelling reading too. I first thought this to be in bad taste and not really worth publishing, so soon after Rajesh Khanna's demise.

But then, I realised such articles would anyway not hurt the dead, they are beyond all hurt. And then again, in all probability Gautam Kaul is just chronicling things "not that well known" about Kaka.

Read it here.          

          

Of Birds and Birdsong

Though I haven't managed to write much about it (largely because of the amount of time that goes into it) the biggest thing that has happened to me in the last 2 years is how I have been totally drawn into the fascinating world of birds and birding.

What started as a "lets see if I am any better at it now with digital than I was with film" lark led to one long lens and then onto another long lens. And yes, I continuously lust for lenses (and tripods and full frame cameras and camo coating and this and that) now that I know what a f/4.0 and ISO 3200 compatible setup will further impact the quality of my bird photographs in a positive way.

But then, I do use what I have, have managed to go on quite a few field trips ( mind -- none of them involved a motorcycle and almost all of them had me walking to the point of being on dead legs) and a lot of expeditions in the open areas all around my place. I consistently keep pushing myself to think like a bird and outwit it by anticipating its next movement, by spotting it when it thinks its perfectly camouflaged, by bringing in all (of the very little I know of field craft) and of course by dressing as dully as a dodo most of the time.

I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that while this and that has been happening in my life in its own way, most of my time has been solely devoted to photographing birds and birds have been the source of much merriment, activity, joy and poetry for me.

As such it was a pleasure to review "Of Birds and Birdsong" -- a collection of the writings of eminent naturalist (and pioneering wildlife photographer) M Krishnan edited by Shanthi and Ashish Chandola.The book is a delightful read (and prose of a high quality indeed) and full of insights for the amateur birdwatcher, hobbyist photographer, professional birder or any lay reader interested in nature.

Here's the review 

Love reading about birds, birdsong and nature? Do get it, you won't be disappointed, that's a birder and naturalist's word :-)

Ink Dries -- the Oxford Bookstores launch

Giridhar sets the evening rolling :-)

Mr. Marur reading from a poem on the Hussain Sagar from Moving On

Two good, eh?

In keeping with where I was coming from, I wore green, was in my birding tee.

And did I feel as fidgety as a bird as camera after camera snapped me up? 

I did.

But thereafter I was more or less a relaxed bird, perching confidently in a familiar milieu as Giridhar set the evening rolling as the emcee and Mr. Vijay Marur once again blew the audience (a fairly sized one for poetry on a rainy Saturday evening, especially considering the Lamakaan debacle) away with his sonics, starting by reading a poem on the Hussain Sagar from Moving On (as per my wish, I thought it apt to start by paying homage to the lake) and then quite a few from Ink Dries.

After we unwrapped the copies of Ink Dries to technically launch the book, the audience took over and asked me some really interesting questions (written down for me by Giridhar and Mr. Marur).

Like, how much of poetry is lost to common logic.

Like, will poetry be successful?

Like, how much of time it took me to finish the book.

Like, why the title Ink Dries (this was asked twice by two different people and from what I recollect my answer wasn't exactly the same both times).

Was a good session that humbled me and has left me full of insights.

Thanks to all who braved the rainy weather and came to the event.  


Thanks to Sujata Roy of Oxford Bookstores for making all the (I must say, very, very professional) arrangements and I am sure I will be going a lot to their bookstore hereafter.

All the pics are courtesy Umashanker.

There, the books are out!

   

Untitled

The train
sways sighs hurtles
its carriageway a green blur

The rain
bedecks the window bars
with strings of pearls, beads

The glass panes with diamonds.

Written in the train while I am headed back home to Hyderabad where I am told the rains have been very, very heavy in the 10 or so days I was away :-)

Book Launch of Ink Dries at Oxford Bookstores

If you follow my blog or are in touch with me on Facebook (or in other ways for that matter) you must be aware that its been quite a while since Ink Dries has been out and available.

Yet, this blogpost and this invite (to "this" event).

Because Ink Dries will soon be available nationally through Oxford Bookstores.

Yes this took some doing and yes, it wasn't easy doing it and I can only thank all my readers and friends for their continued support -- something that matters a lot whenever I contemplate on the "futility" of publishing poetry in these reader-parched, let-us-all-get-published-and-famous-days. 


Maybe more on this in a bit from now. 


For now, a personal invite to you :-)


You are invited to the book launch of Ink Dries at Oxford Bookstores, Hyderabad on the 28th of July, 2012.


I will be in conversation with Mr. Vijay Marur and thereafter there will be a poetry reading by Little Theater.


If you are in Hyderabad, do please come. Immaterial, do please spread the word.


A special note of thanks to Sujata Roy (of Oxford Bookstores) and Sashi (my brother) for all they have done (especially at the last minute) to make things happen, what with me away in Uttarkhand on a birding trip.


More on that too, in a bit.


For now, this book release :-)