An encounter with a Citrine Wagtail

The White-browed Wagtail is an old, old friend. And, a resident at the buffalo wallow (okay, call it a pond if that suits you more, or a lake if you please) barely 200 metres from where I stay, where I do a lot of my birding.

Naturally then, I have any number of absolute stunners of this constantly tail-wagging bird; and it weighs in with a big (or long) poem in Stray Birds too.

But this post is not about the White-browed Wagtail -- rather its about a Citrine Wagtail that I encountered today morning on my traipse around the buffalo wallow. As encounters with birds go, this was long and extended (and since I had the extended reach of a Nikon 14 E II TC aiding me) and also led to quite a few keepers.

Incidentally, this bird is not a resident at the buffalo wallow, but a migrant who -- if I am right (along with the White-faced Wagtail) makes its appearance in end September / early October.

That I got to meet it so late is testimonial to the fact that I have been busy elsewhere, and also to the fact that the buffalo wallow's perimeter (the Wagtail is essentially a bird that is always on a walkabout at the edges of water bodies, a wader so to say) is nowadays heavily overgrown with weeds and grasses.

But meet it I did, and that too when it was bright and light, early in the morning. If White-browed Wagtails are tough to photograph (they will saunter in a zig-zag right at waters edge, through all the the dregs of civilization piled up there -- the plastic bottles, the plastic packets, the quarter and half bottles of cheap alcohol, the coconuts and so on, all the while wagging their tails furiously) but not exactly shy, so waiting up for them works. The Citrine Wagtail however is a different kettle of fish and doesn't take kindly if you come close and also doesn't saunter as nonchalantly as the White-browed Wagtails.

Suffice it to say that I have never managed to take "exceptionally good" photos of this bird, so seeing one of them feet deep in a trickle of water (technically the run-off from a still full buffalo wallow) made me feel that I have struck gold.

Of the 50 or so photos that I could take a lot were truly full-frame; but then not surprisingly a lot of them are useless too -- with such a small bird, DOF is a huge thing...and in most of the photos, the entire bird is not in focus, in quite some of them the eye and bill are certainly not!

But then, I know I will meet this fella again :-)

And I do have a couple of exceptional photographs from this encounter. Especially one which shows the bird facing the camera and looking askance, its tail in the background and out of focus and its yellow breast dappled / lambent / awash with the light reflected by the water from the runoff.

I don't have the right word to describe it -- light bouncing / reflecting from rippling water, itself looking like a ripple; but then its a good problem to have, its a good problem to have...and maybe the word will come to me too, as the bird has -- unbidden.

             

Stray Birds @ Thalam -- an update

The exhibition is still open.

That is to say, it has been extended till this Thursday, the 21st of November.

So if you are in Bangalore (or passing through) do go and say hello to the Stray Birds! 

Must have something to do with the fact that it is seeing a lot of footfalls.

Or that all the birds look serene and peaceful on the walls of Thalam, as if they were on familiar perches, and as such, the Thalam guys are not too inclined to take off the exhibits.

Anyway, I wouldn't know, I am here in Hyderabad and missing out on all the action.

~~

The Bangalore Mirror did a story on the Stray Birds.

Read it here 

The actual story (in the physical -- as opposed to online -- newspaper) has a lot many more birds.

Hopefully, I will get my hands onto a copy of the newspaper.

 

  

Stray Birds in the news, etcetera

The Hindu's Metro Plus Bangalore edition covered Stray Birds today.

No, this was not my doing at all, but rather that of the Thalam guys (from what little I understand about how these things happen). Do take a look, see here. I must say the questions I was asked were pretty thought-provoking (and evidently well thought out).

I would have liked some more questions about the bird poems themselves, but as we all know pictures (or photos) garner far more notice. In fact, I am told that Thalam is seeing a lot of footfalls everyday since the opening of Stray Birds. 

Thank you Harini, thank you  Thalam!

~ ~ ~

In the little bit of boxing that I have done, I have never lost a tooth (thanks to technique, gum guards, etc.) and the damage has been limited to swollen lips and the taste of blood -- which in a very funny way, is heady, almost a mood-upper, in the way it keeps you keyed up.

It was that very taste of blood that kept me going through the bus journeys to B'lore, the pillion-borne flying on a friend's bike and the launch of Stray Birds.

Yet, spending the whole day with your tongue trying to be an eye proffering uneducated diagnoses of your oral well being is no way to be.

So, the tooth had to come out (on Tuesday, some three days ago).

The knockout blows of the painkiller thereafter has been something altogether, even to someone like me.

The morning after grogginess (especially on the first day) was yet another. Luckily for me, I have a Dentist whom I can trust my life with, yet getting a tooth removed is certainly unnerving. But somehow, in some kind of an evolutionary way, I seem to have managed to survive it. 

And yes, pain is good -- if for nothing else, for the fact that it makes one feel alive.

(On an irreverent, very self-depreciating aside -- that leaves me with 30 teeth. Thirty teeth and 2 hearing aids in my 40th year. If I do the math, what exactly is my value in the Marriage Market now?)   

This and that in B'lore -- 1

Typically, 2-3 days after an event like Stray Birds @ Thalam, I should be doing a lot of digital PR.

Here on this blog and in other places like FB, etc.

(Digital PR -- in this specific case -- should involve me posting excerpts of my interview(s) and the links where they can be read at leisure by all and sundry. It should also involve a lot of  photographs of the launch / release, with some specifically showing me hobnobbing with celebrities and a lot of me dazzling the camera with the sparkle of my teeth and dermabrased skin.)      

But as you must have already guessed, I am not doing anything like that.

For one, nothing barely spectacular happened -- the event was low key (and lacked build-up) and even if anything like that happened, I would certainly not blog about it, will I?

And -- in a day and age when the What's App glitterati have elevated the word "selfie" to an altogether stratospheric level -- while I am not bad in the teeth department, far from having dermabrased dazzle, my face is the kind that would probably not even make it into any "dark is beautiful" campaigns, thanks to the liberal growth of blackheads on it (courtesy of more or less a lifetime spent out in the "unforgiving" sun).

So there. No digital PR here, either way.

~

Speaking of dazzling photographs, it sure is a heady feeling to see your work up on the walls of a gallery, with the lighting putting each framed bird under the spotlight. And, whatever it be said for the numerous "likes" bird photographs shared on FB gather, nothing beats displaying a bird in all its "everything in focus" glory in sizes bigger than cellphone (and phablet) screens. Who knows, someday I will also be spendthrift enough to print 20X30 (and even bigger) bird photographs.

~

Some trivia.

The exhibits were 50 in number when I went to get the prints.

One bird went missing somewhere in between the computer and the printer.

That meant there should be 49 birds up on Thalam's walls.

But there are 46, it seems 3 birds went missing somewhere in the flight of the courier packet from Hyderabad to B'lore.

I lugged along another 4 frames (along with some copies of all three of my books). But that's okay, since I am anyway used to lugging weights and expectations.

~

My biggest trepidation was the journey to B'lore (by bus). But since I was sleep-deprived and mentally exhausted (preparing for any public event does that to me -- mostly because I am all alone in dealing with the logistics) and was not carrying along any of my photographic gear, it was easy enough on the way out. The last hour or so into B'lore was in fact as relaxing as the concluding stretches of any of my train journeys -- with a wintry sun dappling a dew soaked bus and the sight of a just-waking-up Hebbal Lake (where I have never managed to go birding, in all my forays in B'lore) with its attendant Black and Brahminy Kites was a welcoming insight of the fact that -- hey, I do know some landmarks in B'lore too!

Coming back was something else, however. The horrors of Majestic (compounded by the traffic snarls all around) meant that is was a scene out of my worst nightmares repeating itself. Thankfully, I had a friend around and he has excellent phone skills.

So, I caught the bus and got back to the Deccan, far lighter than I had set out. And I can say, all's well that ends well.
          

Stray Birds @ Thalam -- A big thank you!

So I bussed it -- to and fro.

"To" was fine, "fro" was crazier than my craziest nightmares and reminiscent of the wild dashes to make it into the Rajdhani -- many a time while it was moving -- from B'lore to Hyderabad (surprisingly) less than a year ago.

Fro, wouldn't have been possible (since I cannot call up Enquiry numbers and bus drivers) if I wasn't lucky enough to have a good Samaritan (and a friend of long standing) along -- to put his baritone and hustling skills to excellent use.

Linking up again with M and getting babysat (yes, I am serious, what do you know) by his 2 year old daughter was in many ways the highlight of this trip (as was the pillion ride to some place where M owns land...).   

Speaking of Thalam itself, it was a cool do, with quite a few chairs filled for the duration of the Book Launch and poetry reading. I was lucky enough to benefit from the erudite expertise of poet and writer, Ms Shikha Malviya -- she introduced me and the book, read some poems from it and then even asked me quite a few thought-provoking questions.

Naturally, she also did me the honour of releasing the book.

I again (after the Goethe event) got the idea that the bird photographs were a big draw and it was heartening to see people inside Thalam and getting close up to the birds long before the exhibition opened.

And I am sure, the photographs will continue to be a draw all through the rest of this week.

Thank you Thalam for a memorable evening (and for giving the Stray Birds the perches of your walls).

Thank you Ms. Shikha Malviya for being the nice and genuine person you are.

Thank you everyone who made it to Thalam for Stray Birds.

   

   
   

Bussing it to Bengaluru

I constantly claim and even mock-celebrate the fact that I have a strong mind. And no, its certainly not because of the fact that I have managed to deal with the heartbreak of bird photography pretty adeptly. After all, when it comes to birds, there is always another chance to score, if not this season then in the next (speaking of which I am more than a bit put off as of now, owing to the fact that I still haven't had a proper encounter with the Chataks or even come across the Red Avadavats or the Eurasian Wrynecks this year).

And hey, I am not referring to the thousand and one rejections that I am collecting (apart from a handful of  "actual" e-mails, they are all automated "rejections" and gathering electronic dust in a specified folder in my GMail inbox) on a certain matrimonial site.

I am referring to how I have managed to stay sane after so many run-ins with the IRCTC website for booking a ticket under the Tatkal scheme.

Primarily, because I am too poor to fly.

And because I hate buses -- especially so as it is well nigh impossible to figure out which one is yours in the chaotic bedlam that is Lakdi-ka-pul, from where most of the higher end buses (allegedly the most comfortable) leave.

Anyway, today's run-in with IRCTC was nightmarish. I am logged in long before the Tatkal hour strikes. Something like 15-20 minutes in advance. And since I don't want to be timed out, I keep "refreshing" the page every minute or so. Yet, with more than 8 or so minutes to go for the Tatkal hour, I see that "Bangalore Rajdhani" is already showing "Regret/CKWL1".

I am like WTF and I am like WTF some more.

But that (or breaking things or pulling out your hair) is of no avail with IRCTC.

Then, (quite naturally for IRCTC) I get kicked out the moment it is 10.00 AM

Even more naturally, by the time I can log back into IRCTC, the show is all over. And the tickets up for grab under the Tatkal quota for every single train (apart from one) are booked out. I keep trying and put my bull-headed nature to the utmost use and try in that one train too. And my ticket which was "Available 35" comes to me as "WL 33".

I then try once again; in the next class and this time (though it was "Available 002" at the time of booking) the ticket just doesn't manage to get ticketed! Even though the transaction goes through.

So anticlimactically enough, its a bus to Bengaluru (and no, its not from the chaotic bedlam of Lakdi-ka-pul, but far closer by and from a real "station") this time around.

This certainly has to rank as a life event for me -- but then, anything for the birds.



          

Stray Birds @ Thalam, Bangalore

As promised, it is happening :-)

In fact, a big number of the Stray Birds have already set out on their way to Bangalore and should be getting up on the walls of Thalam starting today evening.

And some more may travel with me.

If you are in Bangalore, do take this as a personal invite and do please come.

For an evening of poetry and photography.

For an evening of Stray Birds.