The Greater Coucal and the Indian Pond Heron

The land of granite dust and ornamental stone......one more building.

Around me were the sounds of another grand structure being built. The Business Park is filled with these new, spanking-clean looking structures where the under-30s roam about, feeling as if they own the world. There's not an inch of shade anywhere though; near the "food court" (an awful phrase with bad associations and even  worse food), there are some trees that are clearly ornamental to the degree that the local avifauna will not go within a hundred metres of them. Clearly, the birds know these trees to be alien to South India. I've been through much of Bangalore and its environs and I've never seen this tree anywhere! It must be some young, clueless libertine's idea of "being different" (it's amazing how in this age, "being different" just means being exactly like everyone else who wants to "be different"; we have indeed redefined the word "different"!)

Dismally inhospitable but impeccably clean and green

All in all, the Business Park is inhospitable to any sane man. I must say that. It has no decent food anywhere, no pharmacy except a few ramshackle ambulances, and importantly, no shade. Maybe 20 years from now the trees that have been planted will provide some decent canopy. Even the offices are inhospitable. The housekeeping staff are old hands at petty thievery, and loneliness roams the corridors. The ironic thing is the efforts being made to make the place look and feel peaceful; some meadows which manage to attract some wagtails, while driving away any other bird.

Apart from that, there is the dust. Of dry sand and mud, broken kerbs everywhere, and granite lying about like refuse; and worse still, granite dust that eats into everything. Everyday there is the sound of power-drills boring into granite or some other ornamental stone.

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We have eyes only for white golf balls

Next door are the Golf Links. There, some play one of the most elitist, costly games in the world on the meadows. Trees are everywhere; some man-made water bodies too; and pristine meadows. It's avifauna paradise, or so it seems; only the people who play golf there have no eyes for these, I'm sure. The customary  high nets, unsightly and unfriendly to birds, surround the place though. There's a few feet between the pylons which support these nets and the actual wall that separates the Golf Links from the Business Park. Here there is rich plant life, many trees, but no birds want to really go there because it will be a tough and revealing trench to get out of. I have seen chameleons, though, and heard an insect, the one that buzzes at night, don't know what it's called - and this insect thrives there because there no birds to keep its numbers down.

At a few select spots next to the wall, there's enough of a rise from which one can peer onto the meadows in the Golf Links, from the Business Park. It's like how schoolboys peer over a fence eagerly. Precious few spots, actually; because the taxi drivers often relieve themselves near the wall and you cannot really be sure you're not stepping on something like that.

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This patch of wall is birding territory for me.

Avifauna in the land of granite dust

It's been interesting that in spite of every difficulty, birds do find roosting places, food and nesting ground. They manage to eke out an existence of sorts even though man has done all he can to keep them out and take over what was their habitat completely - even towards the close of the last millenium this spot, where the Business Park stands today, was just fallow countryside, home to all grassland birds. Now there's nothing left except in the military area next to the Business Park, which in any case had always been there.

Of course there are the usual birds we would all expect to see, like the feral pigeons, House Crows and both kinds of Myna. Both Mynas and Crows, in fact, nest in the hollows at the top of some of the steel pylons that support the high nets.

Within the Business Park, there used to be quite a few birds who want to get away from predators, and so make their homes in the pittance of greenery that is now being grown in the Park. When I first came to the Business Park, we had Spotted Munias, Pied Bushchats, Large Pied Wagtails (or White-browed Wagtails, as they are known today) and Ashy Prinias. The Spotted Munias tried many nesting places, but couldn't sustain these, because the Park management was (and, I suspect, still is) devoted to keeping the place green but driving out any birds - a strange juxtaposition of endeavours. The Munias were quite persistent for many months at many places within the Business Park; nowadays, over the past year or so, I don't recall seeing a single one. They've all gone. So have the Pied Bushchats - they have gone back into the Golf Links.

Ashy Prinias have found some success, though, and are regularly seen and heard within the bushes near the Golf Links. The Wagtails have been successful beyond their dreams; they seem to prefer the Park more than the Golf Links! Not a day goes by on which the Wagtails are not seen. They nest in many places, all near the artificial ornamental water structures all over the Park.

Surprisingly, a huge flock of House Swifts keep flying madly about some of the buildings; the flock could easily number about a hundred or so birds. They are sweet, trilling, tiny, flying about really fast and madly, aimlessly, it seems, and are refreshing to watch.

In March and April, flocks of Starlings (probably both Grey-headed and Rosy) passed by in huge numbers, sometimes 300 - 400 or so in a single flock. There are also what could be Indian Pond Herons or Little Egrets which pass by regularly in flocks of about 10-20.

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Within the Golf Links, there is a deathly lack of bird life in the trees near the wall separating them from the Business Park. Not even an occasional Flowerpecker or a Sunbird; not even a Tailorbird! I've seen about one or two Purple-rumped Sunbirds in the last year, and today I did see and hear a Tickell's Flowerpecker. But it's like a deathly silence otherwise.

There is enough, however, within the Golf Links meadows, in terms of bird life.

Shikra? Eurasian Sparrowhawk? Common Hawk-Cuckoo?

These last few months I have been trying to track down a bird that sometimes roosts in the trees bordering the pylons. The first time I saw it, it was on the Business Park side and looked like a female Shikra (the Shikra being the most abundant expected short-winged hawk in these parts). On closer inspection, serious doubts have arisen in my mind, though. The other difficulty is that the bird is absolutely silent. It could be a Shikra; or a Eurasian Sparrowhawk; it could also be a Brainfever Bird (or Common Hawk-Cuckoo). The colour seems to say Shikra; the behaviour seems to say either Eurasian Sparrowhawk or Common Hawk-Cuckoo. The sub-terminal bands on the tail seem to point to this being either of the latter birds; but neither of these is too common in these parts. This is an ongoing mystery that hopefully will get solved sometime. It has provided a lot of excitement, though, and I love the fact that this could get solved any day now.

Western Marsh Harrier?

One of the other really exciting sights was one evening well past sundown, when a dark, sooty-coloured raptor flew heavily over the D-Block. It was not large enough to be one of the Kites (besides, the tail was held stiff and straight without a fork) and it was definitely larger than the short-winged hawks, though the wing-shape in flight looked like one of them. It was also particularly sooty-coloured. I suspect this could have been a Western Marsh-Harrier. I've never seen the bird again; so perhaps it was a vagrant in these parts. But I do know it could not have been any of the other raptors.

More usual suspects

There are White-breasted Kingfishers that pass through the Golf Links often; because of the man-made water bodies. This also means that Brahminy Kites are more numerous than usual, too. The Black Kites seem to love the meadows and are often found perched on the ground, pulling up earthworms or other insects and such. They are found in huge numbers; I keep peering to see if an eagle joins them; or a harrier or any other bird of prey. There could well be some other raptor out there too.

Asian Koels are found in plenty within the Golf Links, as are Rose-ringed Parakeets, which is all as it should be. I've never seen any of the robins or chats except the Pied Bushchat, though.

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The Heron and the Coucal

Today was very refreshing and soothing. I did not see any new birds I've not seen before; but what I saw must be described, because it brought peace to my heart.

There had a been a constant "coop coop coop" going on for a while; I was scanning the trees for the answer to my mystery bird. Then there was a splash of white that fluttered down on to the grass in the Golf Links.

I had to clamber up to a point where I could see the bird, and I was rewarded handsomely by an Indian Pond Heron in breeding plumage. The Pond Heron is not new to the Golf Links; I have seen some of them before on the meadows, but this was a close-up.

It's lovely how birds combine colours - lovely and indeed awe-inspiring. The Pond Heron is crow-sized, with a longish neck and a long, pointed yellow bill with a conspicuous black tip. Seen from under when in flight, it looks absolutely white and graceful. But during the breeding season, the back of the bird attains a lovely chestnut-brown or maroon-brown colour which is in fact the effect of the growth of soft, downy plumes of that colour. It is a work of art, like a water colour that has deliberately been allowed to run a bit in gentle streaks over the white flanks. The neck of the bird attains a light coffee sandy colour. An off-white crest, consisting of longish streamer-like feathers, is also visible, though almost always folded back on to the head and never raised.

I am not attached to water birds; I love passerines immensely more. But this was a lovely sight, I must say. Observing the bird's behaviour was even more soothing. It seemed to move slowly and absolutely daintily; wary, I think, of low-flying raptors (like harriers or sparrowhawks) that flush birds from the ground. Sometimes, a measured dainty walk; sometimes a leg raised but not lowered; and sometimes, a sudden twist, turn, quick few steps to capture an insect morsel. I realised that the bird was watching for unwary insects on the grass.

I had observed that the insistent "coop coop coop" had become louder, more resonant and deep and closer at hand. I had been scanning the trees opposite the meadow, for Greater Coucals which are numerous in and around both the Business Park and the Golf Links. Then, from a tree absolutely at the edge of the net, a huge Greater Coucal descended to the ground. These are huge but wary birds; and somehow, in true Coucal fashion, it perceived me peering over the wall, and it was back into the branches of the tree before I could get a decent glimpse. I then realised how deep, rumbling and resonant the 'coop coop coop' call could be, when I heard it up close. After a few seconds, the bird lifted into flight and disappeared into the top branches of the trees opposite the meadow. I saw a lovely but momentary vision of deep, chestnut wings and glossy black body and long, thick tail as the bird vanished into the tops of the trees opposite.

Greater Coucals love to roost in the trees in the Golf Links and are often heard and quite numerous; I've often seen them roosting at mid-day in the trees that are near the Gate 2 entrance.

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It's amazing to watch the birds; they seem so un-self-conscious, peaceful and free. But it is a wild world out there; in the trees opposite the meadow, on the ground, a huge number of Black Kites regularly descend to the ground. These raptors, though mainly scavengers, are not exactly harmless; they can easily take a crow-sized bird like the Pond Heron with ease if they decided to! And in fact, if my mystery bird is really the Eurasian Sparrowhawk, like I largely suspect, a Pond Heron or even a Greater Coucal, though larger than the Sparrowhawk, can easily be taken by surprise and tremendous speed. Being torn to death under the talons of such raptors is one of the worst fates that a bird can meet with! So while the Pond Heron might have enchanted me with dainty movements and lovely colours, it must have been wary as ever, because the arrival of a Sparrowhawk can send all the birds and small animals racing for cover.

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An hour spent watching the birds is time well spent; I recommend it even if you cannot recognize even a crow or a pigeon. It can bring a curious peace; and a good dose of refreshing and rejuvenation into our thoughts. Try it!! Get into a park within a city; watch the birds; listen to their sounds.

The eternal - examining the evidence

How much time do you spend in a day thinking about eternal things?

Most of us, due to prevailing winds of thought these last few decades, are almost subconsciously trained to think that nothing we see is eternal - whether 'natural' or man-made. Of course we know nothing man-made lasts forever, but we don't even wonder about 'natural' things.

We spend our moments thinking hard about the here and now, and sometimes the future, mostly in terms of laying up for it. But as the 'future' becomes the present and as time rolls on, our lives end in death. Death we dread, but rarely think about. We live like we're going to live forever and never die.

What do I really mean when I say 'eternal things'?

I mean, does anything we see last forever? Well beyond a time when the earthly story of humankind has long gone? Is there something that transcends the story of humankind, which will continue to exist even if humankind and life on earth ceased to exist?

One typical response to such questions is, who cares. Why think about a time when I may not even exist. It's stupidity. A waste of precious time (never mind the answer to the question "precious exactly for doing what? something which might last forever?")

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As I look around me (and even within me), I see a very unique dichotomy. We live by sight - by what we can see, touch, feel, hear. But there are those parts of us that are not seen. Have I seen my feelings? Have I seen my emotions? These are intangibles, but no one would deny they really exist. Yet, each of us lives as if we only were a physical body. It's a strange dichotomy.

We work hard for something that will sustain our physical lives. At the same time, we seem to have some intangible life within us - something (or better, some-ONE) that thinks, feels, emotes, cares, hates, loves, hopes, dreams. Has any of us ever SEEN these things tangibly? Can we PROVE they exist? It's a stupid, rhetorical question, isn't it? We do not need to prove these things exist because we KNOW they do and we're not asking for proof.

And yet. And yet, we live as if only the physical body exists. When someone dies, we grieve for a time and then forget they ever existed. That is, as long as we can remember a physical body, the person exists; but when the body is gone, the memories also slowly fade to a point where we may not remember the person who once existed.

We either deny, ignore, explain away, suppress the inner "us". We behave like it does not exist. We know that it exists, but we spend precious little time tending to it or even offering it companionship. Are you your friend? It's a very valid question isn't it.

Simply put, we think that the life of a human being is in the human being's physical body, and nothing else. We either deny or are not aware that there is an inner being, an inner ME, who thinks, feels, prefers, judges, loves, hates, etc etc.

Why am I making this distinction? Isn't the inner me inseparably part of the physical me? Why accord it a seemingly 'separate' existence? Does it have an existence of its own, apart from my physical body? A very good, worthwhile question.

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I won't attempt answers to the question. But I do ask, where DID we get this notion of words like "forever" and "eternity"? We know that the physical body has an end. If everything we ever were were only part of the physical body, wouldn't the inner me die with the physical me? Another worthwhile question. However, why do we even define words like "forever" and "eternity"? Where does that idea come from, if not from the inner us? And if it indeed comes from the inner me, how can the inner me, which we believe also dies with the physical me, think of such a thing? Where did the inner me get this idea of "forever"?

Or is "forever" just a notion, an idea, a figment of our imagination, a flight of fancy? Many of us indeed think so. Like we think that there are worlds out there which are also inhabited but (curiously and humourously, as a matter of fact) by creatures that cannot be beautiful like some of us are. I have NEVER seen aliens in any comic portrayed as being more beautiful than human beings. It's curious, but think about it. We seem to think we're beautiful. Another idea whose origin can only be the inner you, the inner me. "Everyone is beautiful on the INSIDE", we say. What (or who) is this "INSIDE"?

When someone dies, prayers are offered for the 'soul' of the person. "May his/her soul rest in peace" is almost a universally offered condolence. How does this 'condole'? By offering the idea (a mere chance, is what most of us believe) that PERHAPS the INNER PERSON does in fact live "forever", and if so, may that "inner person", now free of the constraints of the physical body, live in the peace that the person never knew while he/she inhabited the physical body.

So. Whether we like it or not, whether we believe it or not, as a race, we human beings have got some conception of something called a "soul", an "inner person", who, we hope, lives on beyond the time our physical bodies stop breathing. It's a remarkable conception because, if we only thought that what we see exists, such an idea would make absolutely and logically no sense whatsoever; and yet, even so, many of us think it's true.

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And SO, SO, I come back to my original question. If indeed there is an "inner me" that lives on beyond the physical me, why do I spend my time on earth thinking only of the physical me? Back to my original question. "How much time do you spend in a day thinking of eternal things, like the "eternal" inner me?"

If the inner "I" am indeed going to outlive the physical "I", wouldn't it make sense to think about how the inner "I" is GOING TO LIVE? Is there something I can do now, while still in the physical me, that would make "life" easier for the inner me that will outlive the physical me?

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Let me change the vantage point a bit. Let's think of what we see around us. We have a world, an "earth", we are told, where we have these curious separations of "water" and "land". Of "earth" and "sky". Of the innumerable KINDS of physical life on earth. The plants, the animals, vertebrates, invertebrates, microbes, and so on. Have we ever wondered whether they HAD to be there? We take them for granted because they're there. But did it have to be a world like this? We are told that the largest planet, Jupiter, is nothing but a gigantic ball of dense gases, with no solid land. Why couldn't earth be like that? We are told that Mars indeed has both land and water (recently discovered), but they're still looking for something called "life" there. Why couldn't earth have been like that?

Curiously enough, among "life" on earth, only we can draw a map of it. Only we know about Jupiter. Ask a Rosy Starling about Jupiter, or a Green Mamba about Mars. A Three-Toed Sloth doesn't even know what the earth looks like from space! In fact, a Duck-billed Platypus doesn't even know we are human beings, or that it looks the way it looks. Can you "call" a Gharial (a fresh water crocodile found in India) and have it come over to you just because you called? A human being might call another human being by name and perhaps have that person come over just because the person was called.

Why do we have this knowledge? Why can we think? assimilate? reason? research? keep inventories? know everything?

Questions we've never thought of, perhaps; but worthwhile ones. It is indeed worth wondering why, among all the LIFE there is on planet earth, we human beings are the only ones who fully know what life is and how precious it is. The odds of this being mere coincidence belies the evidence. It really, actually looks like we were the only ones who were SUPPOSED to know what we know - this world, different kinds of life on it, the skies, the heavens, where Jupiter is, and also, curiously, the "inner me". We were SUPPOSED to know all of this, and ONLY WE were supposed to know.

That's how precious a human life really is. It has this curious streak of eternity about it; this "frisson", if you will - trapped inside a painfully mortal cocoon - a physical body. And this assemblage - the inner person and the physical - called a "man", was indeed, it seems, to rule over all life on earth. And when a man dies, the inner person outlives the physical body.

Why else would so many of us care so much about what gets written on our tombstones? Why do we go so hard after our accomplishments? Why we strive so hard to be remembered at least by people we love and who love us? Why are we careful to live in such a way as to be remembered by others when we die - that is, leave a "legacy"? The word has no meaning if, in some sense, nothing outlived the physical. If nothing outlived the physical, or if nothing existed but the physical, in one sense, there are no such things as memories, leave alone "precious" memories.

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And STILL. STILL, our everyday living is crowded with inessentials. Making a living, saving up for a future we may never live to see. It's a tragedy to see the best brains in the world using their enormous intelligence to help a select few on earth make more money.

It is rightly said about us, we live as if we will never die, and we die as if we never lived.

The supreme creature of life on earth, man, lives as if only today and only he matters. Knows and feels the tug of eternity and eternal longings on the inside, but lives daily only to satisfy physical needs and appetites. Living "hand to mouth" is not to be said only of the poor of the earth. Even the richest man on earth lives hand to mouth. If he has it in his hand, he is sure to immediately satisfy his appetite with it and deny it to someone else, if such is in his power.

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So, here again comes the original question. Do you think at all of eternal things? Life beyond death? A time when possibly a man might indeed live forever? Have no wants? No tears? no sorrows? no injustice? When every man has enough? Will there be a time like that? Not the way we live today, no.

And the land and sky - the water and the land - this earth, a speck of dust in an unimaginable universe - do we think why it had to be this way?

What about my parents? my children? Why is there family? Why do I care so much? or love so much? Is it only for life on li'l ole earth?

If there indeed were "eternity", would you want to be in it? If you do, how come you do? Where did that want come from?

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I have to conclude, in the end, that nothing about life on earth is WYSIWIG (what you see is what you get). The evidence is just too overwhelming to support the fact all we see is not all there is. In fact, we actually "see" very little of what really exists.

There must be something beyond life. But I provide no answers. I only ask the question, HOW MUCH TIME DID YOU SPEND TODAY THINKING ABOUT ETERNAL THINGS?

Because what is seen is indeed going to pass away.....but what is unseen, and still exists, will be revealed. What will it be like when that happens? What if it happens when I was not prepared for it?

Spend a little time each day asking the question WHY. Why does it all have to be arranged this way - this life on earth? It is a worthwhile question and a serious one, one whose answer might determine your eternity.