In this new weekly series, we bring to you some Himalayan beauty in the form of Aves that inhabit the great, reticent mountains in Chopta, along with poetry dedicated to them.
This week, we bring to your eyes the wonder of colours that these seven winged creatures are. We hope you enjoy this series.
Poems by Sourabha Rao. Photo courtesy shared below each image.
1. Himalayan monal
© Baiju Patil
the grace of iridescence and the sudden fire of the tail
a body painted so by life’s intelligence
the kind of attention a lovelorn heart could envy in half-a-heartbeat
you perch on branches and rocks and patches of snow
and when you fly away, comet-like…celestial
a revelation reverberates in the air
with your touch, every patch of snow learns colours
every tree, every piece of stone – a temple
we tread on to reach Chandrashila
never being able to grasp the nuances you wear
so many more things exist to humble us than the Himalaya…in the Himalaya
2. Stripe-throated yuhina
© pd_wildlifephotography
even our delusions are imitations
a crown, for instance, symbol of supremacy
only, pitifully meek before that of this ave
with its black-and-orange wings, its armour
this monarch, so free and light
goes on erasing (our) borders in flight
even when not singing
the songs in its throat trickle down its neck
melodies meant for seeing
3. Plumbeous water redstart
© Abhey Bhardwaj
something about the water redstart
living close to speedy streams and ‘arms of the sea’
skittery on mute boulders
slows you down
before a stream’s gurgle
this winged reality wearing blue
its rusty red tail, a comet leaving behind a blazing trail
is more magnanimous than the illusion of the sky
4. Coal tit
© Santosh Saligram
a handful of restlessness
against cold, mute mountains
flitting about, frantically
to the point of being all ablur
something your roving mind can sometimes relate to
with a trust a tit enables in you and still remains aloof to it
this is a grief you will try not to suffer
and we thought we needed temples on the mountains
5. Great barbet
© Namita Keskar
ravaged by beauty, we don’t flee from it
instead, we ache to preserve it
every poem, every image
an enchanted soliloquy
allowing us to lapse into joy
there is an impulse, to simply see this bird-beloved
impulse that then learns to grow, learns patience
there is a love like this to be grateful for
you just have to find a tree it perches on
6. Chestnut-headed tesia
© Kiran Halder
you visit our filthy frontyards
and sanctify them, cleanse by simply being
as if you are a virtue we’re yet to learn
you are the light around which revolve
both our ignorances and wild curiosities
waiting to be tempered with discernment
the world is a soft, saffron song
and you – a fervent verse in it
including us in its tuneful feast
maybe another time we see you
we learn to welcome and host you better
so long, absolve us, my little winged friend
7. Tickell’s thrush
© Santosh Saligram
equanimity is a difficult goddess to please
when you are so much more than a call
and show yourself like a long-awaited lover
a sublime shock
there is a rush of madness
unabashed and searingly sincere
I hear someone foul-mouthing in the joy of seeing you
impoliteness is suddenly endearing
miracle is where the heart simply yields
Birds of Chopta - Week 2
Birds of Chopta - Week 3