Here’s the fourth part of our ‘Birds of Chopta’ series – with the following seven birds and poems dedicated to each one of them. We hope you enjoy it.
Poems by Sourabha Rao. Photo courtesy shared below each image.
1. Speckled wood-pigeon
© Hemant Vashista
for now, there is a tree, and a pigeon
the tree, mute and rooted
that sense of assurance that only a tree can give
the bird, light and winged
that sense of freedom that only a bird can give
what grit it takes to stay grounded like a tree when needed
what an astonishing thing it is to fly, metaphorically at least, when needed
scattered thoughts on your mind
like the specks sprinkled on this pigeon
for now, two specks of life
you, and the speckled wood pigeon
are world enough
2. Kalij pheasant
© Nitin Pasricha
the mystifying charm of a silhouette
it’s not hiding, but it isn’t being visible either
so then, how and when do we know we’ve seen the truth at all
perhaps one ought to be vigilant when one claims to know it
there is a tree by the boulders over which flows a river
floods had once taken the breath away, forever, of so many of our kind here
that’s a truth
a Kalij pheasant perches on this tree now
and her queenly elegance is another
for now, my friend, tell me which truth haunts you more
3. Chestnut-bellied nuthatch
© Krishna Kumari
in the scrambling angles and tangles of branches of a tree
a nuthatch
so frail
but so free
when it prances on a branch, Earthwards
it grants the sky a sense of gravity
a force that knows how to let go of a pair of wings
and still be always there
the way a string never keeps a musical note hostage to release it
4. Grey-headed woodpecker
© Kalmadi Rajiv
your heart doesn’t have to be a tempest of praises
sometimes, love for another than one’s self moves you
to an entrancing silence
and silence can be home, too
like this fellow earthling’s nests in damaged and dead trees
so is home outside of you at all? this avian-heart seems to ask
and you know, at that moment
wherever you stand
your feet firm and your heart with its enchantment
your being buoyed by and throbbing with love
is home…always within
5. Upland pipit
© Mitesh Patel
upwards, cranes its neck an upland pipit
looks at the Himalayan heights in the eye
a simple act of enormous bravery
it can scale the dizzying mountains, too
on nothing more than a whim
whim and wings and wind and all
what is it like to live without that eternal debate of free will
never lost inside one’s own head
to be with the spring flowers on moment
and on the barren snow the next
one doesn’t need wings to know freedom
6. Spotted forktail
© Santosh Saligram
the world isn’t always beauty’s invitation to itself
but there are beings that consecrate our futile chaos
with their mere presence
a vast forgiveness
a tiny being balancing our forked existences
whether we learn better or not, it does not judge
neither is there an omen in its coming or leaving
amidst our filth, it knows to be untouched by it
it knows there is a lot more than good and evil
its is a faith full of mercy
7. Slaty-headed parakeet
© Ankur Mehrotra
there are fellow beings who, right before your eyes
look like a chimerical allure
beings with little beating hearts and boundless generosity
who make you a polyglot in your own right
if you perceive birdsongs and animal roars and growls
and you do not need any other language
to hold all that stirs in you like waves
you are an ocean in containing it
discovering your own depths
as these parakeets are about to skim to the sky
Birds of Chopta - Week 1
Birds of Chopta - Week 2
Birds of Chopta - Week 3