Ekadesh.com

In 2020, I started writing again after a long gap. 

I plan to organize my writings - stories and blog, in a separate website from now on, at ekadesh.com.

not forever...

Red-vented bulbul Pycnonotus cafer | Kathmandu, Nepal | May 18 2015

“Not forever does the bulbul sing

In balmy shades of bowers,

Not forever lasts the spring

Nor ever blossom the flowers.

Not forever reigneth joy,

Sets the sun on days of bliss,

Friendships not forever last,

They know not life, who know not this.”

- Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

give today your owl.... :)

A wise old owl lived in an oak

The more he saw the less he spoke

The less he spoke the more he heard.

Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?

A Wise Old Owl

- Anon

Athena the Spotted owlet Athene brama | Maharajgunj, Kathmandu | 10:00 am May 6 2015

Meet Athena.
...and yes I named her just now after checking the scientific name ;). I'm assuming she's a she. Her roost is an electric pole behind my home where she has been living for some years now. After several failed attempt to get a good photo (thanks to her super sensitive sight and hearing) I finally managed to get this shot with my 250mm canon zoom lens.

Ever so alert my little neighbour observes my behaviour from the safety of her urban home | 12:48 pm May 8 2015

Edit: May 21, 2015

After several observation during the past week I found out that Athena is raising a family. I noticed four different individuals in a single sighting (though I strongly suspect there is a fifth one). It seems like Athena and her mate are raising 2-3 fledglings.

Suspecting no foul play this curious fledgling allowed me within few meters of itself...the edge of my roof | 12:51 pm May 21 2015

Other observations:

a) May 17 - Saw an owlet chasing a mongoose (probably Indian grey mongoose) out of their territory. The frightened mongoose was running and hiding all the way as the owlet swept threateningly close to the ground to warn the trespasser.

Run, Forrest, Run! | 10:21 am

b) May 21 - Athena and her mate chased three common mynas that were flocking close to their nest.

.....later discovered the common myna nest on the top floor | May 22 2015

c) May 21 - A red-vented bulbul was sharing the branch in which Athena was perching and she was cool with it.

...it's cool bro | 4:32 pm

d) May 21 - Athena brought a fresh kill for her young fledgling which was on ground hiding behind a drainage pipe (see photo). Though I could not identify the prey species it appears to be a small/young bird.

peek-a-boo | 4:48 pm

Some other birds sharing their territory:

1. House crow

2. House sparrow

3. Common myna

4. Jungle myna

5. Rock pigeon

6. Oriental magpie robin (Male and Female)

7. Spotted dove (Pair)

8. Cattle egret (seasonal migration for breeding)

9. Black-crowned night heron (seasonal migration for breeding)

10. Red-vented bulbul

Home territory

External Links

http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Athene&species=brama
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_owlet

http://www.thejaps.org.pk/docs/18_1_2008/07-732-Mahmood-Final.pdf
http://www.zoosprint.org/zooprintjournal/2003/august/1163-1165.pdf

Tyger Tyger

Tyger Tyger | Setidevi Community Forest, Mangalpur, Chitwan | September 2012

Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

The Tyger

BY WILLIAM BLAKE

what are you afraid of..

Halji Village, Humla | June 2013

I was returning home from my morning college on a safa tempo, seated on the front, next to the driver. I couldn't make up my mind. I was trying to decide on a song and was moving randomly through the music play-list on my phone. Seeing the tempo was half empty (yea not half full...) the driver stopped at Lainchaur to wait for passengers. I looked out of the small window on my left and saw a homeless person. He was sitting on the pavement, leaning back on the wall. I think he had a small tattered mat spread to sit on. His few belongings - three old worn out bags of different shapes and sizes, dirt hiding their dull colors, were spread around him to support him so he could be more comfortable in his temporary arrangement. He seemed to be in his late thirties, had a Mongolian face, sparse beard...someone from hills or higher....Himalayas, I thought. His white cap and old down-jacket were dirty, going too long without a wash. What are you doing so far from home? My mind began to wander. On a different life,...

I see him on a Himalayan pasture tending to his flock of sheep. Tashi delek dai I greet him and he returns the greeting getting curious of the traveller. Tired from walking I take a break to wait for my friends. I hop out of my big blue trekking bag and start a conversation. I ask him and he tells me he's from the village I passed by an hour earlier where we'd stopped briefly for a cup of tea. He tells me about his life on the mountains, his plans, his family and dreams. I tell him about mine...I tell him how much I love travelling and meeting people and being out there. I tell him I'm searching for my questions. He has a carefree smile on his face. 

On the sidewalk few pedestrians pass by left and right hurrying on their business, and their different lives. He was holding something in his hand. I couldn't see it properly from where I was. With a little spit to wet his finger he began polishing the surface of the object. I figured it was his wristwatch. He seemed content, oblivious to the rest of the world. Still working on his watch he slowly looked around and his eyes met mine. For a split second. I quickly averted my gaze. I tried to make it look natural I let my eyes wander around a bit and back. It seemed like he was deep in thought, the peaceful smile still playing on his face below his sparse moustache. The tempo started moving and soon he was lost from my view.

out of nowhere......

Palanquin of goddess Bhadrakali being prepared for the Pahachare festival | Indrachwok, Kathmandu | March 20, 2015 

ok..this...THIS came at me out of nowhere...
I was taking the shortcut from Ason, Mahaboudha to visit my aunt at Indrachwok. It had been a long day and I was eager to get back home. But there was one more thing left to do.  I was running an errand for mom to collect Tulsi plants Ocimum tenuiflorum from her sister. 

While walking through Watu Marg I felt something land on my hair and jacket...and with a sickening realisation saw it was pigeon poop. Oh snap! To avoid the mush from spreading, I immediately started to carefully remove it with some tissue papers.....Alright, alright! it was more of a frantic scrubbing....scrub...scrub.......walk..walk.......ignore stares....scrub.. scrub.............when I was finally sure that no visible traces were left I looked ahead. In front of me was a pelt of a common leopard Panthera pardus in the middle of the street.

It seemed surreal at first. There was a ceremonial umbrella, chatra next to the pelt and people were praying nearby. Some were taking turns spinning the chatra over the pelt. My first thought was - "they are worshipping the leopard pelt!"....and I was witnessing a religious ceremony I had never seen or heard of before in all these years of living in Kathmandu! Upon closer inspection I realised that what I saw was the rear side of the palanquin of goddess Bhadrakali. 

Palanquins are a frequent feature of newari festivals. I observed the preparations for a while. Soon they were bringing bamboo poles to carry the palanquin. People started playing flutes and other traditional musical instruments. It was getting crowded. The procession started moving. Someone was spinning the chatra over the palanquin with great gusto as they moved through the narrow streets carefully avoiding the stray wires overhead... They took a left turn, entered an even smaller street and the crowd followed, slowly seeping inside. I watched for a while and went on my way. It was only later that I learnt that I had witnessed Pahachare.


Links with information on the Pahachare festival:

• http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2011/04/03/metro/pahachare-festival-celebrations-underway/220172.html
• http://www.demotix.com/photo/1120786/pahachare-festival-underway-newar-community-kathmandu
• http://www.pagenepal.com/posts/ghode-jatra
• http://www.reocities.com/rajumaha/dabu/vol3no1/pahachar.htm

Monkey see.....

A rhesus macaque | Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park, March 2012

...it's a camerabird!..

Camerabird!!! (From left: Geraldine Werhahn, Geraldine Werhahn)  | Chitwan, December 2012

During one of our birding trip my friend came across a peculiar bird, endemic to Nepal and new for science......

"...self propelled flowers." - R.H. Heinlein

Junonia almana, the peacock pansy | Chitwan, September 2012

In 2012 we* were helping two adjoining contiguous community forests - Setidevi and Gyaneshwor Community Forest in Mangalpur, Chitwan to prepare a check-list of mammals, birds and butterflies. Our aim was to help them conserve their biodiversity and promote eco-tourism. We recorded mammals using camera-traps, transects, sign surveys, and live sightings; birds with the help of expert birders; and the elusive dancing butterflies were captured on photographs and identified.

I took this photo during one of my many excursions. I was originally thinking about adding a pinch of scientific facts to accompany this beautiful frolicking peacock pansy  but alas, akin to the fellow in the photograph I too couldn't resist wandering around the realm of the internet. Somehow I ended up in butterfly quotes section.... Here are some I really loved.

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."

 - Hans Christian Andersen

I've watched you now a full half-hour;

Self-poised upon that yellow flower

And, little Butterfly!  Indeed

I know not if you sleep or feed.

How motionless! - not frozen seas

More motionless! and then

What joy awaits you, when the breeze

Hath found you out among the trees,

And calls you forth again! 

 - William Wordsworth, "To a Butterfly"

And what's a butterfly? At best,
He's but a caterpillar, at rest.

- John Grey

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.  

- Author Unknown

Moss covered paths between scarlet peonies,

Pale jade mountains fill your rustic windows.

I envy you, drunk with flowers,

Butterflies swirling in your dreams.

- Ch'ien Ch'i, translated by Kenneth Rexroth

The butterfly is a flying flower,

The flower a tethered butterfly.

- Ponce Denis Écouchard Lebrun

The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.

- Rabindranath Tagore

The butterfly long loved the beautiful rose,

And flirted around all day;

While round him in turn with her golden caress,

Soft fluttered the sun's warm ray....

I know not with whom the rose was in love,

But I know that I loved them all.

The butterfly, rose, and the sun's bright ray,

The star and the bird's sweet call.

  - Heinrich Heine, "A New Spring," 1826, translated from German by Charles Godfrey Leland

* The mammal, bird and butterfly check-list survey was a voluntary initiative of Friends of Nature (FON Nepal)

Yak Yak Yak Yak Yak Nepal

Yak (domestic) Bos grunniens | Humla, June 2013