I don't miss

I don’t miss
the petrol fumes
the crowded rooms
I don’t miss
nosy women
gossipping
I don’t miss
needless shopping
endless driving
I don’t miss
rude cashiers
queues at counters
I don’t miss
rain lashing
headlamps flashing
I don’t miss
Dismal PTMs
Sweaty ATMs

Birdwatching 1

Of late , I am seeing more and more of birds . When I tell people , they think either I am hallucinating or I am making it up. Neither of which is true . I actually see them . 

It would be better to think philosophically , that I am destined to see them . Not others . Bad luck fellas . 

Today i saw a pair of brown headed barbets making a nest high up in the eucalyptus . It is a huge tree which hosts lots of these exotic birds , making it an exciting place . My kids are not very inclined to bird watching , but they do display occasional enthusiasm and are kind enough to tip toe quietly to see a flameback woodpecker look for grubs in the hollow of the eucalyptus , its red beret a red blur .

Yesterday was a lucky day. I saw two new species of birds . A group of three yellow footed green pigeons sailed across from a bottle brush tree across the street to settle on a dying mango tree. I could spot just one and see its head and characteristic yellow feet .the green of the body merged with the foliage . 

In the afternoon , when I went for some errand to the terrace I heard the lapwing (teetahari ) go ballistic on a small diminutive grey coloured bird . Even the mynahs were kicking up a ruckus , flying and screaming at and around the intruder.  The carriage of the bird was majestic and undettered , upright , unfazed by all the scandal its appearance had caused . I had to look up the google to identify it as one of the smallest predator birds , namely Shikra.

A stunted neem tree houses several deep craters in its trunk , each hole housed by a pair of spotted owlets who stare deeply into our souls , unblinkingly , whenever we choose to look their way . I met one of them at close quarters and it put on quite a display . Alternately , bowing and staring erect, all the while keeping on its unnervingly fixed gaze frozen on me . I later read that this was how they reacted when they feel threatened . 

Threatened , by me ? Whereas , here I am in awe of owls , googling my data away , my goosebumps rising at avian stares .  

 

Lockdown Nightmares

Through the night 

I fight 

No sleep , forget "tight"

a strange plight 

Dark , not light 

yet 

toss and turn 

breath burn(s) 

Thoughts churn 

mind is an urn 

swirling flashes 

grains , ashes 

dreams are weird 

nothing is lucid 

a new term coined 

lockdown , sanity locked 

and downed /drowned ? 

fear paralyses 

Like mid sleep terrors 

inept   crooners

Putting rest 

to severe test 

 

 

Dreams

Lately , the dreams are upsettingly strange and vivid .
I mostly dream in the wee hours of the morning , when you are awake and not quite so . For the past week , a peacock has taken its temporary perch on the branch of gigantic eucalyptus outside . At precisely 4 am every morning , it calls out to its kith and kin , and yells a full throated war cry to the reddening sky . It might be a” good morning ” too , in fowl-ese . I don’t know . It is loud , piercing , and like a streaming liquid , it enters my dreams , through the cracks in my consciousness , and manifests strangely there .
Once it became the blood -curdling yell of a cannibal . On an other occasion , it became the call for solidarity , a marching beat , for a higgledy piggledy group of ragged soldiers .

My dreams are often infiltrated by today’s insecurities . Of Covid 19 news and deaths , debates and projections , lockdowns and curfew , sirens and slamming of doors. We are traversing uncharted waters and sleep is hard to come by . Any hastily snatched nap has a definite element of a nightmare .
In my dreams , I have negotiated flooded forest floors , clad in a nightie , with an umbrella for companion .
My better half is faring no better . Yesterday , I caught him groaning in his afternoon nap .Wide awake , I waited for the groans to end .
They didnt. On the contrary , they became more persistent and loud . Alarmed , I shook him awake . He says he was chasing a pack of black dogs off the terrace . Then he turned to his side and resumed peaceful . unbroken snoring .