This is a piece I wrote for One India, One People for their column Know India Better

A Birding Paradise…

…and how to make the most of it!

With over 1300 species of birds, India is one of the world’s most coveted destinations for bird watchers. Even bustling metros like Mumbai and Delhi boast of a count of 150-200 species!

Becoming a Bird Brain

Pack a pair of binoculars, a bottle of water, a cap. Switch off your mobile. Set out for a forest at dawn, a little before the sun is up, when the sky is faintly tinted with pink and gold. Wander into the quiet, cool shade of the tall trees, far from the madding crowd. Stand perfectly still. Hearken to the trills, twitters and cheeps of the wingéd marvels that flit about in the trees or root for grubs in the grass. Spot a bird with your naked eyes first and then use your binoculars to get a closer look.  No sudden movements or sounds. Breathe in and out softly and keep your eyes focused. You have entered the magical world of bird watching!

Birds come in every colour of the spectrum (and some hues not found in any paint box) and their melodious voices and graceful movements are a feast for the eyes and balm for the soul.  After three years spent visiting numerous wildlife sanctuaries and wetlands across India (and locally in Mumbai), I can vouch for the fact that there is no greater stress-buster than a morning spent watching birds.

India has around 1300 species of birds, some of which are resident, and others which migrate here from all over the world to feed (and breed) in the monsoon and winter months. The northeastern region has the highest bird diversity with 850 species.

Bird watching or birding has become a popular pastime in India, especially in the last ten years. The number of serious bird watchers or birders is growing and is probably in the region of a quarter of a million. Of course, considering that we are more than a billion strong, this figure is negligible compared to the millions of bird watchers in a country like the USA which has around 750 bird species or the UK which has a mere 600. Birders in these countries are usually wealthy and middle-aged and women make up more than half. They also have active associations like the USA’s Audubon Society and the American Birding Association and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (UK), that issue rare bird sighting alerts and hold regular bird watching galas such as the Great Backyard Bird Count, the Christmas Bird Count and the Big Garden Bird Watch. There are competitions too, like The Big Year in the US (a film was made based on a book of the same name), in which birders aim to spot the maximum number of bird species in a calendar year.

India has caught up. It has its own competition that kicked off in 2005, the annual HSBC India Bird Race, which is a 12-hour ‘chase’ held in different cities from November to March. In its initial editions, before it was widely covered in the media, most people thought it was like a greyhound ‘race’ involving birds!

While birding is a multi-billion dollar enterprise in the West, and in some countries like Japan and Australia as well, it is picking up slowly but steadily in India, especially among young professionals and the well-to-do. Many are in it for the fantastic opportunities for photography it offers.

There are a handful of excellent birding guides or expert birders, based in different parts of India and nature tour outfits that arrange for birding expeditions to reserves like Corbett, Dandeli, Ladakh and Bandhavgarh, as well as places like Jamnagar and Bhigwan for water birds (waders and waterfowl). Some like the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) even arrange for birding and wildlife watching trips abroad.

The Basics

The beauty of birding lies in its simplicity. The hobby will not burn a large hole in your pocket unlike indulging in adventure sports or arranging jaunts to pricey resorts. Since the usual sightseeing hurly-burly is completely avoided, birding hotspots can be explored in a space of 3 or 4 days or even over a weekend, in which one can sometimes tot up a count of 100-150 species, depending on the region. If one is going to remote areas like the northeast which has an amazing number of avian species, one has to factor in more time (and money) but of course that also depends on where one lives!

Equipment consists of a pair of good binoculars that are available in the range of Rs.8000–Rs.12000.  One can also invest in a swanky pair of Swarovski binoculars which cost a whopping lakh of rupees or more! An avid birder considers that a wise capital expense because, since there are no moving parts in binoculars (except for the focus adjustment dials), they last a very long time if properly maintained.

Spotting scopes (which are a little like telescopes) are another ball game altogether. A bird sitting a mile away on a dead tree stump miraculously comes into focus in all its brilliant clarity through a scope. However, a scope comes at a steep price (upwards of Rs.12000, tripod extra!) and lugging it around can be quite painful. Usually, birding guides carry one or two spotting scopes and if a bird condescends to sit in one place for more than five minutes, then everyone has a chance to see it. This entails mastering the tricky manoeuvre of being first in the ‘scope line’!

A book about birds found in a particular region, or what is known as a ‘field guide’, is a must. There is the trusty Salim Ali’s Book of Indian Birds or the ones by ‘firang’ authors like Pamela Rasmussen (Birds of South Asia) or Grimmet and Inskipp (A Pocket Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent) or Krys Kazmierzcak (A Field Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent). That will be another Rs.700-Rs.900 please! The guides are invaluable for both the novice and the expert. They feature paintings of birds in realistic colours and in various angles, including flight (which is important for identifying raptors like eagles) and details about sizes, sub-species, habitats and calls.

You must also remember to stock up on dull-coloured clothing, a hat for protection against the sun and sturdy shoes for tramping in the mud. Birds have good eyesight and bright colours like yellow, red and white are like warning flags. Earthy shades like dark brown, green and grey are the most suitable.

For first-timers, it makes sense to bird with an experienced person initially. There are Internet groups which one can join. The group sends an alert to all members whenever there is a local trip. For example, Birds of Bombay is a group on Yahoo. The Mumbai Bird Club and BNHS post regularly on it. Social networking sites are also a great way to hook up with birding enthusiasts all over India.

Right at Your Window

The best way to begin is to watch the birds outside your window—literally, in your backyard! That’s how I took the plunge after my first local group bird watching stint. You will be surprised at the number of avian species that have adapted to living in the urban jungle. Birds believe in frugality—they need some trees, a smattering of seeds, insects or fruits and a source of water. Fruiting trees like the ficus species or fig trees (peepal for instance) are bird magnets. Flowers like the powder puff and hibiscus are favoured by nectar-drinking birds. Trees also provide safe homes for nesting birds. I can guarantee that you will see at least a dozen species right outside your home if you listen and watch carefully every day for a week or two and in different seasons.

I am sure there are some species which you may have already ‘seen’ but not really ‘noticed’. These are crows, mynas, sparrows and pigeons. Do you consider them pests? Pigeons and crows probably are. Try to look at them with different eyes, the eyes of a pair of binoculars. Note the glittering sparkles of green, blue and purple in a pigeon’s neck (the correct species name is blue rock pigeon, by the way). Look closely at a house crow’s beak. Does it sport a bunch of soft furry feathers underneath like a funky beard? Have you ever chanced upon sparrows taking a mud bath? Do you know why they do it? To get rid of skin parasites! Incidentally, male sparrows are bigger and have darker markings on their wings.

Crows love to play games. You must have had one dive-bombing you as you walk on the street, or seen a bunch of them riding the roof of a city bus. A flock will suddenly erupt out of the trees, cawing madly. Then they will all settle down and be so quiet that you will hear not a peep till the next raucous hullabaloo. Truant crows have a mischievous habit of cawing outside your bedroom window at the crack of dawn, in a grating, guttural tone as if they are rolling marbles round in their throat. And if you feed them even once, they’ll be back at exactly the same time every day. They have memories like elephants, so you miss a feed at your own risk!

Mynas are chatterboxes. Thankfully, unlike the poor crows, they have sweet voices. They are pretty birds who look like they’ve dipped their beaks and feet in a bowl of haldi. They sport a scintillating dash of yellow mascara besides!

Parakeets, which are related to parrots, are city slickers. They move about in flocks and create a racket that will shame a bunch of noisy kindergarten kids. Their screeching is so loud that you can hear them even when they are flying way above you. Unmistakably green, with long tails, candy orange beaks and beady black eyes, there are two kinds—the rose-ringed which has an almost-there pale pink collar and the Alexandrine which has stylish red epaulettes.

Raptors are birds of prey (kites, falcons, harriers, eagles). They have wicked talons, hooked beaks and razor-sharp eyesight. A tumult among the pigeons signals a black kite (also known as a pariah kite) on the prowl. Crows are more courageous. They will harry the kite, boldly flying at it, till it leaves the area out of sheer frustration. Black kites are common in the big metros because they have become scavengers and Municipal dumps offer a sumptuous feast.

A surprising bird is the white-throated kingfisher. Surprising, because kingfishers are supposed to live near lakes, rivers and estuaries. This one, however, has adapted and does very well for itself, fishing for scraps in urban nullahs and rubbish tips like the black kite. Kingfishers sit in a dumpy fashion on wires and poles and a long, thick red bill is an immediate giveaway.

Flying In

Come winter and birds that live far north (in the cold reaches of northern Russia and Asia) prepare for a trip to warmer climes, to find food, breed and collect some frequent flyer miles. These are the migrants, the only globetrotters who don’t need passports or visas to fly across borders! India is a favourite watering hole for winter migrants, especially water birds and raptors. For birders the months between October and March provide a veritable feast as nearly a quarter of the 1300 species (around 296 species) throng wetlands in the coastal states both in the west and on the east, including Gujarat and Maharashtra, Rajasthan (Bharatpur and Tal Chhapar) as also areas like the Rann of Kutch and the Sunderbans, in fact wherever there are good sources of water and sufficient food. Some migrate further south. Birds also migrate within a region, from upper altitudes to lower altitudes in winter and back again in summer. Sometimes a bird which doesn’t usually come to India strays off its course and lands up here. It is then called a vagrant, a bird hobo, and you will be lucky if you see one!

Migration is affected by various factors. Scientists think that global warming has played a big role in recent years in the dwindling numbers of migratory birds. For example, the Siberian crane which was a regular visitor to Bharatpur’s Keoladeo Ghana National Park, stopped coming there when the ponds and lakes dried up in consecutive years. A prolonged summer in the northern hemisphere confuses migrant birds and they start their journey too late. When they arrive in India, they find that winter here is already over! Migrants may starve if they don’t find food at their rest stops or they may be shot down by hunters or caught in the crossfire of war (for instance in countries like Afghanistan).

Birds which are found in the same areas throughout the year are called residents. Some of the commonly-observed (widespread) residents besides of course, the ubiquitous crows, pigeons, mynas and sparrows, include the red-vented and red-whiskered bulbuls, the magpie and Indian robins, coppersmith or crimson-breasted barbets, ashy and plain prinias, tailorbirds, purple sunbirds, cattle egrets and pond herons.

How do birds know which way to go?  Some birds fly throughout the day and night and some fly over immense stretches of water without a visual landmark to guide them. Researchers think that birds orient themselves to the magnetic field that surrounds the Earth and that they navigate by the Sun and the stars.

Birding Hotspots

Avid birders travel to different places to see different species, especially endemics. Endemics are birds which are found only in a restricted area and nowhere else. For example, the Malabar grey hornbill, the Nilgiri laughing thrush and the grey-headed bulbul are endemic to the Western Ghats.

Some of the areas listed among the top ten birding destinations are: Kutch, including the Great and the Little Rann which lie in the path of migrating birds. Here one can see the Indian bustard and water birds like cranes and raptors like harriers and eagles. Going a little to the east, you have the Bharatpur sanctuary in Rajasthan, a haven for water birds. Move down south to Goa. Yes, I know you think at once of golden beaches and azure seas but Goa has eight kingfisher species, imagine! Travel deeper south and you have Thattekad Sanctuary in Kerala, famous for the Sri Lankan frogmouth and owls. Turn northwards now, right up to the foothills of the Himalayas. Uttarakhand’s Corbett National Park, Sattal and Pangot are wonderful places, not only for tigers but for birds like the ibisbill, the great slaty woodpecker and the koklass pheasant. Going eastwards, Lava and Neora in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal harbour some exotic species, for instance, the satyr tragopan and the rusty-bellied shortwing. Hold your breath, for now we enter a veritable wonderland of birds. This is the northeast. Arunachal’s Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary and Namdapha (beware of the leeches here!), Assam’s Kaziranga and Nameri reserves and of course, Sikkim, are a birder’s dream come true. You can see birds like Ward’s trogon and the beautiful nuthatch (that’s its name, I’m not joking!).

This is definitely not an exhaustive list, for there are countless other spots all over India like Ladakh, Kashmir, the Ranganathittu sanctuary and Nagarhole in Karnataka, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and green lungs near big cities (the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and the Sewri mudflats in Mumbai or Sultanpur in Delhi) which teem with birdlife.

Birding Tours

There are several groups and individuals who take enthusiasts to different birding hotspots. There is Manoj Sharma who owns Pheasant Jungles and leads tours in Corbett, Sattal and Pangot; Jugal Kishore who is a birding expert from Gujarat; Adesh Shivkar and Mandar Khadilkar of Nature India Tours in Mumbai; Hemant Ogale who runs Whistling Woods in Amboli, Maharashtra and Pankaj Lad of Canopy Goa. There are several local experts based in the metros and in the specific nature or wildlife reserves who act as both local resource persons and birding guides.

Birding tours are a class apart. Rest assured that it will not be a typical Indian ‘touristy’ thing with partying, ‘naach gaana’, ‘antakshari’ and loud chatter. Expect to awaken at 6 a.m. and drive, walk or sometimes climb, miles through the forest. Expect to go for a night walk to see nocturnal birds after a tiring day spent birding. Expect to stop every now and then and endlessly get in and out of buses, cars and jeeps when a bird is spotted. Expect very basic facilities at remote places like Eaglenest, where there is no electricity, no running water and only tents for accommodation. Expect disappointment if promised bird species don’t show up or if rain and mist drive birds into the bushes. Expect complete absorption in, and single-minded passion for, birds from tour leaders and fellow-birders.

Above all, expect a once-in-a-lifetime experience that will leave you thirsting for more, and more and more!  Expect miffed family members who cannot understand what it is you run after and why you spend tons of money on going to places featuring absolutely no mod cons. Expect curious questions from friends and colleagues who will one day tell you, strangely enough, that they have started looking at birds and regard you as some sort of avifauna ready reckoner!

Watching birds gives you that rare ‘Aha!’ feeling. It leaves you feeling at one with creation, at peace with yourself and everyone around you. It leaves you with a gleam in your eye and a song in your heart. It leaves you with a feeling of wonder that there are still some breathtakingly bright and beautiful things left. All things considered, birds make life that much more worth living.

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Do’s & Don’ts

Here are a few tips for novice birders. I would not be so presumptuous as to call myself a veteran but I have learned a little something!

·         Don’t be disheartened if you cannot spot a bird immediately. Birds normally don’t sit still in one place especially when they are foraging for food in the early morning. Even experienced birders can sometimes fail to spot a bird.  What seems like a bird may turn out to be a trembling leaf or a giant bumble bee or a dead twig! It takes plenty of time and oodles of patience, but the wait is well worth it.

·         First locate the bird by its sound. Then track its movement with your naked eyes. Lastly raise your binoculars and point them at the spot. Adjust the focus. You may have to keep shifting as the bird moves about.

·         Don’t shout or point if you see a bird that others haven’t. It will frighten the poor thing away. Quietly communicate its location using clock positions. For instance, “If the trunk of the tree is 12 o’clock, the bird is at the 3 o’clock position or at the 9 o’clock position.”

·         Use other trees or bushes to pinpoint location. “It is sitting on a branch of a tree behind that is in line with that tall tree in front of us.”

·         Buy your own binoculars and field guide. Nothing is more annoying to the others in a group than if you borrow theirs.

·         Don’t pester people around you by saying, “What? Where? I can’t see it!” Observe the direction in which everyone is looking and try to zero in. If you still can’t see it, don’t lose your cool. Most birders are very generous with their help to novices and eventually someone will point it out to you.

·         Don’t rush forward or crowd to the front. Wait till everyone is in position.

·         Don’t be selfish and keep a sighting to yourself. Share information with others, but do it quietly.

·         Don’t try to ‘flush out’ a bird from the undergrowth by crashing into it or dashing around. That’s not nice.

·         Some birds can throw their voices like ventriloquists, so the direction of the sound may be misleading!

·         Never disturb a nesting bird or try to peek into a nest or steal the eggs. Even photographing a nest is a ‘no-no’ as the flash may disturb the bird which might then abandon the nest.

·         Try to learn as much about the bird as possible after observing it by using your field guide.

·         Learn to recognise the calls of common birds first. There are websites and CDs available with recordings of bird calls. Listen and try to remember.

·         Playing back recorded bird calls or imitating bird calls or making bird sounds to lure them out of hiding is not ethical. Birds are territorial and it may traumatise them if they hear a call but don’t see the ‘rival’, or ‘mate’ if it happens to be the breeding season.

·         Water birds (waders and ducks) are easier to watch than other species since they congregate in one spot and don’t move about too much. It may be a more rewarding experience for a first-time birder to start by observing these.

·         Maintain a disciplined queue at a spotting scope. Take just five seconds to look through it to give others behind you a chance. The bird may not be so obliging as to linger there till everyone has had a look!

·         Ask questions and be curious and interested in whatever is happening around you, but at the appropriate time, not when everyone is busy looking at a bird.

·         Don’t wander away from the group or chase after a bird on your own. You can get lost.

Remember, if you see fewer birds than expected or none at all, just being in the midst of nature is in itself refreshing and rejuvenating.

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A Birding Glossary

There are some terms that birders use frequently which might sound like Greek to you if you are a fresher! Here are a few.

Flyway – A route used by migrating birds between their breeding and wintering grounds.

Frugivorous – Fruit-eating.

Insectivorous – Insect-eating.

Jizz – The characteristic qualities of a bird which make it instantly identifiable, even in flight. For example, the stout red bill of a kingfisher. Veteran birders can recognise a bird merely from its jizz.

Life List – a list of all the birds that a birder expects to see in a lifetime. A handful of birders have seen more than 8000 species of the world’s 10000, but it is an expensive, sometimes uncomfortable and time-consuming affair, turning what should be a pleasurable activity into an OCD.

Lifer – This doesn't mean a convict sentenced to life! It means the first time a birder sees a particular species of bird. One can expect to see more than 100 lifers in the northeast of India.

Mobbing – When a group of birds try to drive away an intruder especially a larger bird of prey like raptors and owls. Crows mob kites.

Raptor – A bird of prey like eagles, harriers, kites and falcons. Vultures are not considered raptors because they feed on dead meat. They are scavengers.

Skulkers -  Birds which are shy and try to hide in the undergrowth.

Trash Birds – Birds which are there in such large numbers that they become pests. For example, blue rock pigeons and crows in cities.

Twitcher – A twitcher is a birder who obsessively pursues rare birds in the hope of striking them off on his life list.

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Web Resources

One very good way of learning more about birds and birding is by visiting websites that are hosted by birders in different cities. For instance, there is Delhi birds (delhibirds.com), Kolkata birds (kolkatabirds.com) and Bangalore birds (bangalorebirding.com). There are also bird photography websites like India Nature Watch (indianaturewatch.net) and Birds of India (birdsofindia.net; indiabirds.com and surfbirds.com), facebook groups like Indian Birds and yahoo groups like Birds of Bombay and BngBirds. For bird calls go to birdscalls.info or natureclubsurat.org which also sells bird calls on CDs. BNHS and WWF also organise local, national and international trips, the information about which is given on their websites.

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Birder’s Eye View

Mohan Varadarajan, co-founder of a software company called Knolseed Technologies, is based in Bangalore. He talks about how birding changed his life.

In 2008, I was taking a sabbatical from work, and on a whim I attended a "Naturalist Training Program" conducted by Jungle Lodges & Resorts (A Govt of Karnataka enterprise). The 3-day experience was an eye-opener for me, and my first formal introduction into the wonderful world of "birding". The next few
months were exciting times. I started going out on bird watching trails in every available green patch within Bangalore (my city). I noticed birds where there were none before.  Camera-shy coucals and malkohas, leafbirds, sunbirds and flowerpeckers smaller than my thumb. Even exotic paradise flycatchers, right in the heart of the city. I found out (to some embarrassment) that everything that hovers is not an eagle. Most of them are in fact, kites. And of eagles and kites, there are many—black-shouldered, Brahminy, short-toed and crested.

And the surprises just kept coming—the precise engineering of the nests, the changes in plumage with mood and season, birds whose arrival signals the monsoon (pied-crested cuckoo), and those that depart with the winter (Indian pitta). Observing bird behaviour is a fascinating activity. The plot has all the makings of a box-office potboiler. There are the moles who infiltrate and plant their egg in another's nest (the Asian koel), the sirens who distract and destroy (the drongo, which imitates bird calls to distract and steal eggs), the mob that persecutes (crows), and the good guys (barn owls) who destroy the moles (literally).
These winged wonders have drawn me to distant places all over India, and with each trip, I've learnt a bit more about their world. I have met interesting people who share my passion for bird watching and made some good friends. And each time, I have returned home happy, but longing for more. Bird watching has led me to a better understanding of the significance of avian fauna in the larger web of life. Recognizing that our own well-being is closely linked with their survival, has been humbling.

I have come to appreciate the import of Senegalese poet Baba Dioum's words:
"In the end, we will protect only what we love.
We will love only what we understand.
We will understand only what we are taught."

Memories Don't Leave Like People Do...

Cheenu at four

In London open-topped bus

IT'S more than six months now since I said my last goodbye to my only sibling, my brother Cheenu. It was a heart-wrenching experience because I had seen him a mere three months before when he seemed hale and hearty. The tumour started on the base of his tongue and he had difficulty swallowing even when he was in India in July-August 2012.  Amma remarked on the swelling on the right side of his neck and it was only then he told her that it had begun in July itself and that the doctor had said it might be tuberculosis. However, that test had come out negative. They had aspirated some cells from the area for testing but he said the test did not conclusively say it was cancer. That required a biopsy which he would do on his return.

He was obviously in pain but he didn't let slip a single word of complaint. He visited ENT specialists in Mumbai and in Chennai. In Mumbai, the doctor repeated all the tests that he had already undergone in the US in Mumbai, but all the result said that it was suspected Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The doctor said that since he was resident in the US, he should start treatment there.

On his 28th birthday in Mumbai - Amma, me, Cheenu, my husband Kumar

He returned with his family, wife Latha and sons Arjun and Ashwin, to the US on August 17^th and was in great pain even on the flight. As soon as he reached, he had a biopsy. The result was due in a week, but he had to leave his elder son Arjun at MIT in Boston in the meantime, because his course was starting in September. He was in such terrible agony that he couldn’t even drive.  They couldn’t take a flight because of the luggage. He just dumped Arjun in college and started back immediately. The pain was too much to bear and he checked into a hospital in Boston to see if they could alleviate it in some way. They advised him to get admitted in the Inova Hospital in Fairfax, Virginia immediately to start treatment.  In the meantime the biopsy results had come. On September 12, we got the dreaded news that the tumour was malignant. On the phone, his voice was already garbled. They began chemotherapy under one of the best doctors in the US, Dr.Dipti Patel Donnelly. The tumour had meanwhile grown rapidly and spread to the base of his neck on the right side. After the first two rounds of chemo, the news was positive. The tumour had reduced in size. After his immunity levels rose they sent him back home. He was being fed through a stomach tube and his wife Latha had to learn how to clean it and fix the food bag.

He had hardly been home for two days when he had an episode of severe breathlessness. Latha called 911 and he was taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital where he was rushed to the ICU. He was on oxygen and when he stabilized they shifted him to the Inova hospital again by helicopter. Here he was fitted with a tracheal tube to aid him in breathing.  Unfortunately the next round of chemo did not work and the doctor said that they were going to try radiation.

Cheenu was extremely reluctant to have radiation since he had to keep his head flat and still and he could not do that without a lot of pain, due to the trach tube, but somehow they persuaded him. He was very uncomfortable during the procedure. The radiation left him with a grotesquely swollen face but it did not stem the spread of the cancer, which jumped to his liver. That’s when Dr.Patel said she could nothing more and sent him home! Why did she put him through the torture of radiation therapy when she knew it would be of no use?

At home, he developed high fever and was so weak he could not even go to the bathroom on his own. As a last ditch effort, my cousin Neela contacted an oncologist in Mumbai Dr.Purvish Parekh and he got in touch with Dr.Shanti Marur who was the cancer specialist at Johns Hopkins Baltimore. It was the Thanksgiving weekend and they could admit him only after a week on November 20.

This is the email Dr.Marur sent to Dr.Parekh on November 22, 2012:

Met with Mr. Srinivasan on Tuesday. He came in stretcher bound in septic shock. We admitted him at Hopkins and he was on 2 pressors and slowly turned around. As of yesterday he was still on one pressor, but more alert. The family understands the prognosis is very poor and chemo is not an option at this point. He has rapidly progressing disease in the liver and left neck, base of tongue. This has not responded to TPF a toxic combination. Second line therapy after this would be less responsive and would require at least a doublet. Family aware more chemo will not prolong survival and would in fact increase his risk of succumbing to the underlying septic shock. Very sad situation... But wife and family are all on board and I think the visit to Hopkins is giving them closure. I was hoping I could help in some way, but situation is not salvageable.

 Thanks again for the referral,
 Best
 Shanthi

I had wanted to leave the moment I got the visa on October 25^th but Cheenu and Latha discouraged me saying that if I came in January when he was home, it would be a bigger help. Her parents were already there. I wish I had not listened to them and just gone. I lost one month of precious time which I could have spent with him. Maybe if he had seen me it would have lifted his spirits. I had also started going to Siddhivinayak temple on foot everyday from October 9th to pray for him and said I would come for 45 days. That got over only on the 22nd of November. Latha felt that I should not break the vow and come to the US before it was completed. 

I had many ill omens and good omens during these 45 days. Once, the pujari gave me an empty coconut shell. Twice I got to see the evening aarti unexpectedly. Once I found Baba’s photograph lying on the table near the entrance. But after 15 days of walking daily, I suddenly developed a painful nerve compression in the right leg which curtailed my original walking distance from Antop Hill to Prabhadevi to the distance from Portuguese Church to the temple. At the Satyanarayana Puja held in our home, the flower that the pujari told me to offer to the lamp, fell directly on the flame and extinguished it. I had thrown it gently, but it was as if some force pulled it forward and dropped it on the flame even though the entire lamp was covered by a glass.

We consoled ourselves that a miracle would happen and he would be cured and that Baba would not forsake us in this hour of need. He had cured so many people of cancer and even brought people back from the dead. Would He not give my brother a lease of at least five more years of life?

Finally I got the call that he was in a critical condition and that I should come! I left on November 24^rd early morning. The previous day I had made 108 modaks and offered it to Ganapati since it was the last day of my mannat. Every day I had offered 9 home made modaks to him as part of the mannat. So I made 44 x 9 x 108 modaks, more than I had ever made in my whole life! Why, oh why didn't Ganapati listen to my fervent prayers? 

I reached on the 24^th at 5 p.m. The whole journey went in a daze. I was in tears most of the time. It was my first trip abroad, my first trip to the U.S., my first visit to see Cheenu. Why did it have to be in this most terrible of circumstances? Why hadn't I gone in more joyous times?

When I met Latha outside his room, she said, “Don’t be shocked. His appearance has changed a lot.” 

Still I wasn't prepared for the sight of my handsome brother ravaged by the cancer. I controlled my reaction and my tears because I didn't want to traumatize him further. I tried to make inane conversation about a book I had read on the flight. Idiot me! I held his hand tight. I applied the vibhuti and the homa ash on his forehead. I stroked his head and arm but he said he didn't want me to touch him. His old allergy to any physical display of affection surfaced even then! “Your presence is strength enough,” he wrote.

He could not speak because of his swollen lips, neck and throat. He could not breathe without the aid of a tracheal tube and he was being fed through another tube in his stomach. His once luxuriant crop of hair had fallen out. I saw him without that bushy moustache after maybe 30 years. The sparkle in his beautiful almond eyes had dimmed. His eyes were swollen and dull. He was so weak that he could not even hold a pen in his hand. He communicated by writing and it was an illegible scribble. He had been writing in a diary for the past 2 weeks because he could not talk. The swelling and the tracheal tube made it impossible. The guy who was used to talking nineteen-to-the-dozen had been silenced. 

“I want to see my sister” he had written on one page. I am heartbroken even now that I didn't go to see him a month before. Now it seemed I had come to watch him die – most cruel, most cruel, the cruellest of all situations – seeing a dear one dying and not being able to do anything about it.

All I have now are memories of him which are more precious than jewels. I will dearly miss his nonstop talking, his jokes and jovial laughter, his love and concern for everyone, his patience and his reluctance to hurt anyone with word or deed. Conversations with him were never ever boring. He had a fund of knowledge and a keen curiosity about all things. Mom remembers him watching the TV show Jeopardy when she had gone to the US to look after baby Arjun, and his getting every answer right!

He got me my first pair of jeans from the US – a Gloria Vanderbilt which fitted perfectly! He got me a music jewellery box which I still have. Even on his last visit (did he know it would be his last?), he got me my favourite peanut M & Ms and Clairol shampoo as well as Banana Nut Crunch cereal. I had taken him to task about not visiting Amma after she had a stroke in September 2010 (the same year Appa was in hospital for a month in May and he had come then). I now wish I hadn’t been so harsh.

When he was here last in August 2012, he used to say, “Jayanthi don’t go home yet. Stay and talk to me.” How I wish I had…How I wish I had remained to hug him! Regrets, regrets and more regrets...how foolish we humans are. 

He was so good with machines and gadgets. Our Physics teacher in school used to say, 'Your brother is a master in Physics.' I don’t think Amma ever gave any appliance outside for repair. He was very handy around the house a quality I guess he got from our Dad.

He had a wonderful creative imagination. I remember a school composition in Std.10 in which he had written about the how a beer factory shut down because 'the yeast went on strike'!

He was a wonderful father who wanted to give the best to his two sons, whether it was answering their endless questions, taking them to tennis, swimming and piano lessons and concerts, attending each and every event they participated in at school, taking videos of their performances. He was so proud of both of them and his conversation would be peppered with talk of their achievements.

He adored Latha (it was always Lathu this and Lathu that when he spoke to her) and was always concerned about her reaching office safely. He would call her as soon as he expected her to reach, so that even her colleagues teased her about it! He refused to let anyone else stay with him in the hospital.  He admired her genius in Maths and always said that she was the one who was responsible for their sons being such high achievers.

He called me on New Year’s 2012 to say that Arjun his eldest had got admission in the best university in the world – MIT at Boston.  He couldn’t contain his joy and pride. He would have been so happy to know that Ashwin his younger son has got into Thomas Jefferson High. He had given the entrance test when Cheenu was in hospital.

Cheenu darling, we hope you have found eternal happiness and that your soul has found peace and rest. It is obvious that God loved you so much more than we did because he took you back sooner than we expected. I am so proud and happy that I had you as my brother. I will miss you dearly and will never forget you…

PS We were almost twins – he was born on July 26^th 1958 and I was born exactly one year, one month and one day later on August 27^th 1959.

If Tears Could Build A Stairway

If tears could build a stairway,
and memories a lane.
I would walk right up to Heaven
and bring you back again.

No farewell words were spoken,
No time to say "Goodbye".
You were gone before I knew it,
and only God knows why.

My heart still aches with sadness,
and secret tears still flow.
What it meant to love you -
No one can ever know.

But now I know you want me
to mourn for you no more;
To remember all the happy times
life still has much in store.

Since you'll never be forgotten,
I pledge to you today~
A hallowed place within my heart
is where you'll always stay.

 Author: Unknown

The Other Goa

Goa…golden sands, sapphire blue waters, lazy siestas, river cruises, adventure sports... When I say ‘Goa’, is this the vision that is conjured up in your mind’s eye? I don’t blame you! I had the same impression of Goa, before I signed up for Nature India’s ‘Romance with Birds & Butterflies’ trip to India’s smallest state in the first week of December. Birdwatching? What birds (or butterflies for that matter) could possibly find beaches alluring?

I was amazed when I was handed the list of birds found in Goa. More than 400 species and many of them endemic to the Western Ghats. And surprised that Goa has two major wildlife reserves – the Bhagwan Mahaveer and the Bondla sanctuaries.

We were put up at Nature’s Nest or The Canopy. The resort near the Bhagwan Mahaveer WLS, literally ‘nestles’ in rolling acres of green, with rustic cottages set amidst swaying coconut palms and betel nut trees with pepper vines winding around them. Lots of hibiscus bushes with flowers in every colour ranging from pale pink to deep red provide a touch of flaming colour. And shocking pink ‘powder puff’ flowers abounded, with crimson-backed and purple sunbirds creating a racket among them. It was marvellous to wake up to the ‘plink-plink’ of dew falling on the tin roof and the melodious warbling of the Malabar whistling thrush, instead of the honking of cars and the screeching of brakes. The experience of stepping out of the cottage into a world of swirling white mist is indescribable.

A welcome drink of sweet ‘n’ sour kokum sherbet and an introduction to Pankaj Lad, the young ‘n’ lively owner of the resort and then it was on to our home away from home for the next four days. An odd number of women in the group meant that like in Kutch, I had a cottage to myself (J). Nothing to beat not having to share…!

Adesh said that we would see six species of kingfishers in Goa and sure enough, during our late afternoon bird walk after a cup of piping hot ginger chai, we saw the blue-eared kingfisher! The striking crimson-fronted barbet was another bonus. Not to be confused with the crimson-breasted or coppersmith barbet, the cfb has a complete vermillion halo around its face and its call is not the loud, metallic ‘thunk, thunk, thunk’ of the csb but a softer, more continuous ‘thunk’.

The night walk proved to be amazing. After trudging through waist-high dried grass and stumbling over rocks, we entered a kind of open plateau, where NI said we would spot the Jerdon’s nightjar and the Indian grey nightjar. As we plonked down to wait, the sharp beam of the flashlight soon picked out the glinting eyes of a grey nightjar sitting motionless on a stump. Yessss!! What a fantastic view through the spotting scope – one could see the streaking clearly. The bird was completely frozen in place giving the shutterbugs (oh, why are there always so many of them??) a golden chance to get some close-ups.

Then back for a good night’s sleep in time to rise early for our visit to the Bondla Sanctuary. A lovely, lovely time was had, especially stopping in the woods for a hearty feast of omelette-pav/kande pohe, bananas and hot tea! Could one ask for more than breakfast with birds and butterflies? Wished I could do this everyday of my life J. Sighhhh! L

On the way to the reserve, NI (and Pankaj) kept searching for the Malabar trogon. They said they heard the call but of the bird there was no sign. We did see other birds including the white-cheeked barbet (another endemic of the WG), a bounty of bulbuls including the crimson-throated bulbul (the state bird of Goa), the white-browed bulbul and the yellow-browed bulbul (not forgetting those ‘common’ red-vented and the yellow-vented bulbuls!). The Indian grey hornbill and the Malabar pied hornbill, the hoopoe, shrikes…

Behind the forest restaurant where we had lunch, was a pipe spewing waste water – no, don’t wrinkle your nose – it was a happy hunting ground for gaggles of jungle babblers and believe it or not, the orange-headed ground thrush! There was a mongoose which had its lair nearby and a crimson-backed sunbird had built its tiny nest on a shrub just below the window of the restaurant. Then! What should we see but…the Malabar trogon!! First the female and then the ‘more beautiful’ male (quote Adesh!). Wow! We just couldn’t take our eyes off and I was transported back to Eaglenest where we saw Ward’s trogon. Then, too, we were all falling over each other for a glimpse!

We also saw the vernal hanging parrot having an upside-down meal of flowers and berries and the pied flycatcher shrike.

The trogon was the high point of the day. We were too tired to go on a night trail, but Adesh showed us three little tailorbirds sleeping on a twig overhung by a banana leaf! Snug as a bug in a rug! They had their eyes tight shut and looked like balls of fluff. He also showed us a sleeping brown shrike…it seems birds lock their talons around the branch to avoid falling off.

The next day, it was off to another sanctuary, the Bhagwan Mahaveer WLS. On the way, we stopped off to see – the Sri Lanka frogmouth. Yesss…NI had discovered a pair in roosting in the thick grass of the scrubland we had visited earlier for the nightjars. We went one by one very quietly and there they were – the larger brown female and the slightly smaller grey male! They gazed back at us with unblinking, great yellow eyes. The wide mouth was edged with bristles. A rare sighting because at this time of the year, frogmouths are not very vocal. Thumbs up to NI, tick bites notwithstanding, for taking the trouble to discover the spot and show us the birds.

The Mahaveer WLS was a revelation because one doesn’t realise that a substantial part of the Western Ghats, which as NI frequently emphasised, is a biodiversity hotspot (one among 25 all over the world), lies in southern Goa, contiguous with Karnataka. Known earlier as the Mollem Game Reserve, it was declared a sanctuary in 1969. Spread over 240 sq km, the sanctuary is home to a number of bird and animal species. We saw the greater racket-tailed drongo, peacocks, the white-breasted swamphen, the Indian pitta, the pompadour green pigeon and the Asian paradise flycatcher, in all his white-tailed glory.

A glimpse of the jungle owlet (almost a Pandharpuri sighting!), the grey wagtail and the large pied wagtail, and the Blyth’s reed warbler.

There were so many large and small streams and patches of water all over that it was possible to sight warblers, thrushes, tits and kingfishers as well as waders like redshanks and sandpipers almost everywhere.

The third day, early in the morning, we saw the Siberian stonechat, the thick-billed flowerpecker, the rufous treepie (Adesh chided me for not recognising it despite ‘it being my 13^th trip with Nature India’!), the hanging parrot once more, the Malabar starling, and ashy woodswallows a-plenty. Neha, on her first such trip, remarked that there were so many ‘Malabar this’ and ‘Malabar that’ she expected to land on ‘Malabar hill’ pretty soon J.

The last day drew near (as all good things must come to an end). We were to go on the Zuari river cruise and then later to Maina lake for a festival of waders. Because of the sudden spring tide, the boat could not carry all of us at one go. and we got split into two groups (below 50 in one and above 50 in the other!!). So the group I was in visited Maina lake first and the Zuari cruise came later. On the way to the lake with Adesh, we stopped to see black drongos, the Indian roller, the grey heron, scarlet minivet (spotted by our driver Brian), white eyed buzzard, streak throated munias and small green bee-eaters. At the lake awaited huge flocks of lesser whistling teals, marsh sandpipers, green and redshanks, cotton pygmy geese, ringed plovers, grey heron, purple heron and purple moorhens. The lake was covered with water lilies. What a serene setting near a church… Terns, lapwings and whimbrels…wherever one turned, there was a wader engaged in a busy quest for food, or just standing and staring!

The sojourn on the river Zuari was breathtaking to say the least. Miles and miles of clear, pellucid green water, with lush mangroves on the either shore…not only did we see six species of kingfisher as Nature India had promised, we saw some amazing night herons, the osprey, brahminy kites, and the white-bellied sea eagle. First, the not-so-common common kingfisher, then the very common white-breasted kingfisher, the stork-billed…then the black-capped kingfisher with its ink-blue feathers, and best of all, the collared kingfisher, which Mr.Kamath our guide said was elusive, but which we sighted out in the open! The only kingfisher we didn’t see was the oriental dwarf.

As we neared the shore, a flying fish leaped up to add to the list of the other ‘winged’ creatures we had seen so far – the ornate flying snake and the flying lizard!

So ended a cruise which I wished would go on forever…a fitting finale to a fantastic experience of a Goa I never knew existed…the other Goa of verdant green forests and beautiful birds and oh, I completely forgot… the butterflies! Cheers, anyway, for Nature India and for the wonderful group that I was part of – the Georges, the Sarvaiyas, Neha, Sucharita, Dr. Sumukh Deodhar and Dr.Rajeev Joshi, Subbu, Santosh of the absolutely amazing voice (he put up a mini-concert of old songs for us one night), Sandeep, Shobha, Nilima, Pankaj, Ramesh the snake-man, Brian and of course our inimitable duo of Adesh and Mandar with whom I have discovered so much of the wonder that is wild India in a short span of three years!

Best of all I am going to kick off 2012 with what I am sure will be another amazing NI trip – to the Great Rann of Kutch…

A Great Trip to the little Rann (January 2011)

Every trip that I take with Nature India surpasses the last. The previous one was to Kaas, the plateau of flowers in Satara. I never imagined that flowers as tiny as the nail on my little finger could engross me so much! The vistas of flower carpets in every imaginable colour so enthralled me that I think the accumulated stress of months of urban living just flowed out to be replaced by a calming quietude that remained with me for days afterwards. It made what followed bearable – my mother’s stroke and hospitalisation because of which I could not write about the wonder that was Kaas. In fact, I had even thought of the title: A Khaas Experience!

The Rann of Kutch was on my wishlist (and that one’s a pretty long list!), so I jumped on board the minute I got the email! The drive to Bandra Terminus through those awful roads didn’t dampen my enthusiasm a bit. I reached almost an hour and a half early. I read a little of Stieg Larson’s second book in the over-hyped Millennium Trilogy waiting for 5.30 to arrive. Finally, when I phoned Adesh to ask if he had come, he gave me a nasty little jolt by saying, “What are you doing at the station today? The trip starts tomorrow!!” When I reacted with shock, he said, “I was just joking!” Hmmmm….Adesh and his teasing!

The train arrived and left for Viramgam. We were a group of 14 including Adesh and of course, his Sancho Panza Mandar! There were at least four IT professionals - a couple from Pune, Abhaya and Ameet, young Vaishali and Alok and one engineer in the making, Sahila. Alok I knew from before and I was happy to meet Captain Haridasan and Ritesh again. The bubbly, effervescent flavour was provided by Rakhi and Kavita and of course, good sport Nikhil. We had a cartoonist in our midst, too – Keith Francis – who gifted Captain, who was his room mate, with a lovely caricature drawn on a paper napkin in two minutes flat!

From Viramgam station to the Royal Safari Resorts in Bajana. What a beautiful resort it was! Done up in traditional Kutchi style with an ornate doorway, and individual circular cottages made of red brick and with thatched roofs. The rustic feel was only for the outside. The inside was, surprise, surprise, airconditioned, with fancy taps in the bathroom and a double bed with the softest mattress and pillows imaginable! Even the rajai was so comfy…it was hard to get up in the morning. And the curtains were works of art – embellished with mirrors and embroidery! Great décor all round.

The entire place was magical – with a water lily pond, swimming pool, vast spaces of green grass (few trees though) and even a mini lake which we noticed on our way out of the resort three days later!

After a good breakfast we were off to the Bajana Wetlands. The jeeps were open, the breeze was cool, the company was awesome and the birding was terrific…what more could one ask for? I cannot remember exactly where we saw what, but here’s a general idea of the birdlife.

In one of the wetlands, a feast of flamingoes – more numbers of the lesser and fewer of the greater – but both in fair numbers. What a beautiful rhapsody in every shade of pink! One can just keep on looking at them forever and never tire…There were ducks (pintails, shovellers, godwits, brahminy), teals, coots, greylag geese, grey herons, common cranes, and best of all, the mightly Sarus crane. We saw an endearing family of three (mom, dad and kid) in a field quite by chance. Never-to-be-forgotten sight…

On the way, in a stream choked with rubbish, a veritable armada of painted storks, and when they started walking ponderously, they looked like a bunch of gentlemen in their flashy coat tails out for a stroll! There were egrets keeping them company, too…

On another day, it was a safari on the Rann where we saw the rare desert warbler – trust Adesh’s sharp eyes to spot it even though it was well-camouflaged! The wild asses were, well wild! Just a mere movement in their direction was enough to set them cantering off in the opposite direction. We managed to observe a small herd for quite a while. One of the more timid asses got kicked out and left behind by the others. He stood in solitary silence for a few minutes, till he was joined by a friend and trotted happily away! Mere man ki ass hai tu…and all that (pun supplied by Mohan V!)

On the last day, we were led to an area to see something special. In a tree, who do we spot but a pair of pallid scops owls! Absolutely marvellous camouflage, till they moved their heads and opened their great yellow eyes! In the Rann, another species of owl, the short-eared. We chased it around the Rann, but it kept flying off and sitting at a distance. Finally, we did get a good look through the trusty spotting scope…what would we have done without this fantastic invention?! And glory of glories, we did see Macqueen’s Bustard or the hoobara bustard! It was in Pandharpur (or Alandi, as Adesh wryly remarked), but spotting scope ki jai ho, we saw the pair of them fairly clearly.

I should also mention the educative session we had with Adesh on one safari. He put all the ‘non-photographers’ (and there were only five including me who had these primitive cameras and were not so click happy!) in one jeep and came with us on two occasions. He was wearing his ‘lucky hat’ by the way (see pictures). In one stream under a bridge by the roadside, we saw almost all the common waders and were able to compare them! The marsh sandpiper, the common sandpiper, the wood sandpiper, redshank, greenshank, Temnick’s stint, stilts, ruffs…you name it and it was there, rooting in the sludgy water. We took out the book and had a rocking time looking at the picture and then the bird. What better way to learn! And I must say that Adesh is patience on a monument. I have been on ‘n’ trips with him but I still fumble when it comes to identifying birds which I may have seen any number of times, especially waders and raptors!

And how can I end without mentioning the delicious food? Yummy paneer dishes, tamatar sev ki bhaji, noodles, fried rice, soups, gulab jamuns, icecream, gajar ka halwa…well, you can bet your life that yours truly, truly tucked in! And stole extra dessert helpings as well!! Rakhi will be witness to that!!! Then back to dusty, crowded, dirty, noisy Mumbai…sigh!

Would that I had a little round house on the Rann, with the cool breeze blowing over the vastness, silence my only companion, and the blazing stars to shine down on me at night….

Hand-me-down Pet

       

Three days after he disappeared, my brother said he saw Shippie with a gang of stray dogs, and when he called out to him, Shippie looked at him askance and then trotted away quickly behind his new-found friends without a backward glance.

It had all begun with a bath. Shippie hated baths, as I suspect do most dogs. He would go roll in the mud immediately to rub out the scent of the dog shampoo we so lovingly used on his shaggy coat. We had to literally drag him to the backyard for the Sunday ritual. That morning, he planted his legs a tad too firmly on the ground. He squirmed his head this way and that, and before we knew it, he somehow managed to slip his head out of the collar and away he went in a flash. He didn’t come home that day, or the next. We scoured the colony for him for two whole days, yelling out his name hopefully. It seemed he had fallen off the face of the earth.

After nearly a week on the lam, Shippie came home wearing his battle scars like valour badges, a devil-may-care expression painted on his face. His ears were dripping with blood-gorged ticks and when I finished cleaning him up, he looked like he had fallen into a vat of mercurochrome. I later suspected that he was the father of the pups in the litter delivered by a stray living in the colony club. Two of them had his brown patches and his distinctive pink nose.

When he came to us from a family that was leaving and couldn’t take him along, Shippie was seven – already middle-aged in dog years. We never thought to ask why he had such a weird name or what his breed was. The fact that he wasn’t a cuddly puppy or that we didn’t know his antecedents didn’t matter to us. We were over the moon because we’d always wanted a dog. Which child would mind waking up to a loving lickover every morning, or a sudden nuzzle of a cold nose? Or not look forward to an ecstatic welcome home after school?

My grandmother and grandaunt were irked by the presence of this ‘loathsome’ animal which had the run of the house and the huge garden. The kitchen was out of bounds to Shippie, but sometimes he would streak across it into the yard if the back door was open. He would glint wickedly at my aunt as he sped past. She would gesture at him with a stick. Not that he was very bothered. Punctually at breakfast, lunch and dinnertime, he would peek into the kitchen, his brown eyes melting with hope. When it came to food, ‘hangdog’ was a word made just for him!

Shippie hated us leaving him alone while we visited the city every weekend. He would follow the car, barking wildly and would only give up when we drove out of the colony onto the busy highway. When we returned, his entire body did a Beyonce-like shake and he ran all the way to the garage, lit up redly by the tail-lights.

One time, he decided to make a statement about being left home alone. He clawed the drawing room curtains to angry shreds, though how he managed such a thorough job from the outside we couldn’t fathom. Another time, we nearly jumped out of our collective skins when a white bundle leaped into the car. We were at a petrol pump near the colony gate on our way back home. Shippie had obviously stood vigil at the entrance.

And woe betide if we ever tied him up. The one night we did that, he brought the house down with his long, mournful howls.

Shippie ensured that we built some childhood memories. My mother would have ‘golu’ or the display of dolls every Navaratri and would invite the ladies over for ‘haldi-kumkum’. One year, one of our guests made the mistake of bringing over her dog. There was pandemonium as Shippie went for his throat in the middle of the living room. The women panicked and Mom feared for the fate of the fragile dolls as both dogs circled each other, growling menacingly and barking fit to wake the dead. Finally, Dad doused them with water and leashed Shippie before any damage was done.

Then for the second time in his life, Shippie had a change of owner. Dad was transferred to Mumbai and said we couldn’t keep him in a flat. My brother and I wept buckets of tears but to no avail. Shippie went to the maid who had worked with the previous owner. We got regular updates from our former neighbours about him. We even visited him once. He was nearly blind and had become fat and lazy. He slapped his tail feebly when we hugged him. A year later, we heard he had passed on, at the ripe old age of 14.

Thank you, Shippie, for giving us your heart, albeit briefly, and showing us why a dog is a man’s best friend…

The Sound of Letters Falling

It’s a sound I really miss these days. In the quiet of mid-morning and mid-afternoon, the ‘shrrshh…shrrsshh’ of the postman pushing letters through the slot in the door and the soft whisper of them falling on to the mat. I remember rushing eagerly to gather them up, riffling through the envelopes and inland letters, searching especially for the blue ‘par avion’ label. I had four pen-friends when I was twelve – from Norway, England, France and Germany. I also wrote regularly to a wacky cousin of mine who was married and settled in a back-of-beyond mining town called Ghatsila in Bihar. She was bored out of her mind and would write long letters full of absurd advice crackling with humour. Then there were letters written by friends from whom I had parted wrenchingly when we moved from Pune to Mumbai. It was my only link to the world I had left behind and thought of with longing.

For my European pals, it was a chance to improve their English – not one of them except of course, Catherine from England, could write fluently. Marion from Germany wrote her spider scrawl completely in German and Nadine from France communicated in a strange patois of English and French. Hanne-Marie from Norway was very correct and exact, right from her choice of words (I often suspected she had a dictionary beside her when she wrote!) to her neat printing. Hanne’s penfriendship lasted a full six years. The reason? I was spending so much on aerogrammes at one point, that my parents forbade me to keep more than one penpal and since Hanne was the one who always replied immediately, I chose her over the others.

Gifts winged their way, in both directions, across the ocean. One time it was a beautiful sealskin purse,another time a silver snowflake brooch and filigreed earrings. Once she taped a handkerchief with Christmas motifs inside the card! I received such lovely cards and postcards from her, that I still have them, over 30 years later, shown to my daughters, handled lovingly and read again and again. I sometimes wonder where my long-legged friend Hanne-Marie - who sent me a photograph of herself in shorts and sleeveless blouse sitting casually on pristine snow - is now. Did she treasure my letters and gifts (a leather purse, a kurta sent agonisingly by seamail, a sandalwood thingamajig) as much as I did hers?

My stories of my penpals inspired my daughters to look for their own when they were eleven. Of course, it was all done online – no laborious filling up of a form by hand with your age, hobbies and whether you wanted a boy or a girl! They selected the snail mail option because, they too, wanted the magic of letters delivered by the postman and the thrill of tearing open an envelope. To exclaim over the letter paper and the lives of teens like them in lands far away. One penpal sent candy, another sent stickers, and a third sent a novel she had written and printed all on her own.

Oh, of course, it is an expensive hobby, letter-writing. People regard it as an old-fashioned quirk, in an age when email, texting and instant messaging have taken over our lives. Aerogrammes used to cost three rupees when I was young, now they cost five times as much. Yesterday, I stepped into a near-deserted post-office to buy aerogrammes for my mother who wanted to write to my daughter who  lives abroad. She is uncomfortable with computers and the keyboard is beyond her comprehension. The lady behind the counter looked astonished, as if I had asked for the moon. The aerogrammes were yellowing and musty like they were relics of a bygone age.

Would my grandchildren ever know the indescribable adrenaline rush of unfolding sheets of paper and vicariously experiencing another’s faraway life through the magic of ink? No lols, rotfls, btws or silly smileys to mar the flow. The silent swoosh of a letter falling on the mat.

I guess not…