Here’s the third part of our ‘Birds of Chopta’ series – with these seven birds and some poetry dedicated to each one of them. We hope you enjoy it.
Poems by Sourabha Rao. Photo courtesy shared below each image.
1. Grey-winged blackbird
© Manavendra Sah
you wonder why, for some of us
black is grief, mourning, evil and even death
here’s an orange bill and a smear of grey on wings
like a heart-rending attempt to make up for our own misreadings
a blackbird is now only beauty and sheer joy
its thrushy songs and sweet phrases, a dialect of mountain language
there’s a whole lot of new things to feel in its presence and wonder
what the colour for privilege is
when the sky is dark
some look for omens and some look for stars
2. Blue whistling thrush
© Madhura
some creatures are like this
whole galaxies on their midnight-blue backs but uncomplaining
energy that doesn’t ebb away as self-indulgent melancholy
the allure is always more with the unavailable
an avian stoicism one wishes could be translated into our heart-language
it whistles out humility if one’s willing is sincere
and then it’s all about the magic of self-abandon
salvation when there’s a world of breaths still keeping one’s body warm
3. Common rosefinch
© Sushmeet Kathuria
some birds prompt butterflies in your stomach
as if asking if you had lived at all until now
then again, it’s not a question
your wonder, the new language, brings you together
and your new muse does not even have to understand it
you feel what you feel, and that is somehow enough
you finally learn to talk about love without having to talk about pain
4. White-throated laughingthrush
© Shuva
what is better – to be and be acutely aware of being
or to be and not have a thought about being
is there a difference at all, does it matter at all
may there be a place for everything you feel
the way colours and their nuances on this ave’s body
that kind of inclusiveness that this laughingthrush is
which doesn’t seem to know its own power
and is hence the most powerful in its enchantment
5. Eurasian jay
© Santosh Saligram
all forests are ancestral
offering a belonging for all
a space without intense interruptions and intrusions
when you meekly wait for mountains to murmur things to you
you see a jay peeking at you
rasping screech and perky movements and moustache and all
you know you’ve been spoken to
from something bigger than yourself
you didn’t have to kneel to pray for joy
to pay attention was enough
6. Rufous sibia
© Soumya Ranjan Bhattacharyya
that’s the thing about mountains
it’s not always the question of scale
it could be a sibia
which suddenly becomes all that you care about
pollen-smeared endearing face beside rhododendron
when it flies away, it doesn’t leave wing-print in the wind
but oh, the storms it would have stirred within you
this is how you make a nest in you for it
one always full of this rufous echo
only for your ears
the sweet, sweet delusion of exclusive love
7. Himalayan bulbul
© Haritri Goswami
when did longevity become the measure of a good relationship
so many human-world details become questionable
when you see a Himalayan bulbul, calling
a meeting of less than a minute
with no seeming communication whatsoever
but these avian beings of the mountains
do something to you in a matter of seconds
you struggle
to figure out how they become something you pursue with such devotion
you might be nothing more than a bunch of half-thoughts
but never happier
Birds of Chopta - Week 1
Birds of Chopta - Week 2