In Kashmir, this too happens once in a while

The golden sun, feeling just a little dry
Rolled down the mountain,
And slid into the cool water of the lake
Watched by a lone bird in flight
That bemusedly drew circles in sky

Multi-isms of my motherland

"India also has philosophical and aesthetic traditions that are truly majestic in their scope and depth. These range from Vedanta's unifying existentialism to Ghalib's playful symbolism, from Bhagavad Gita's enlightened pragmatism to Gandhi's unflinching pacifism, from Khajuraho's informed hedonism to Kathakali's narrative corporealism, from Buddha's contemplative realism to Tagore's spiritual lyricism, from Nanak's divine eclecticism to Nehru's sophesticated secularism, and from Kabir's poetic mysticism to Rushdie's sardonic surrealism"

- Dr. Salman Akhtar,

Gifted writer and poet, exceptional orator.

Also, a psychoanalyst and psychiatrist.

in 'Freud Along the Ganges- Psychoanalytic Reflections on the People and Culture of India'

Ease

TQ: You are god sent
Holy Cow: we all are my dear
TQ: or whoever you would like to have been sent by
Holy Cow: equally god sent or non god sent, whichever way you look at it
TQ: :) Thank you would be less controversial ..
Holy Cow: Indeed. And you are welcome :-)

It's nice to be able to set things straight with friends this way.

A question

Did you exchange
A walk-on part in a war
For a lead role
In a cage?

The battle for the shoe-box nest

After this glorious period in recent history when the Holy Cow was playing hostess and waitress to the lovely mainas, there was a strange development that set into motion much "tsk tsk" ing and other sounds of approval, disapproval, surprise, horror, glee et cetera.

What had happened was that there were unexpected visitors who basically usurped the poor mainas from their royal abode- a pigeon couple. Now I love all animals, birds and other non human life. I do. But I like some more than I do others (which is basically a better way of saying I like some less than I do others), and pigeons are the unfortunate lot that fall in the less-than-others category. I think they're great and contribute to the general pleasantness of the world in several ways, but I also cannot tell a lie and say that I think they are the brightest winged things I have ever come across.

When I discovered that they were planning to make the shoe-box nest their new home, I did feel a little bad for the mainas who had built the nest from scratch (I extend the sympathies from the particular couple that built this nest to the species as a whole). Also, I honestly didn't think the plump pigeons could shuffle in and out of it as easily as the relatively smaller and more graceful mainas could have. But I shrugged after a little shake of the head and was ready to move onto playing hostess for the pigeons.

When the poor maina arrived again, expecting to find its nest untouched, it was actually attacked by the pigeon and there was a minor tiff between the two. The fight was duly watched by the Holy Cow and her dearly beloved other, where of course she supported the maina. The other also was kind enough to sympathise with the maina rather than the pigeon.

Anyway, the pigeon won and for a while there were pigeon eggs in the nest. They didn't hatch unfortunately (and might I also add that pigeon sounds aren't nearly as musical to the ears as maina sounds are).

Then there was a period where there was no real dweller, but both maina and pigeon often came, sat around and left. The pigeon was most consistent in its presence though.

Last week, it had a visitor.


This lovely bright green parrot had crawled (upside down) down the wire

Had a look at the nest


Was a bit startled to find the pigeon staring at it


And decided to take another parting look at it's would-have-been home before flying off, no doubt a little disgruntled.