The evenings in our campus here at IIT Jodhpur are extremely peaceful, particularly in monsoon. The luscious green grass that whispers the tales of winds, the breathtaking colors of the sky, the peacocks spreading their feathers to show the unmasked and incomprehensible beauty they withhold, the deers feeding on the shrubs with not a care, grey francolins taking their short spanned flights from one bush to another, the monitor lizard lying low next to the roads, the green bee eaters sitting on the metalled road like old people sitting on parks and discussing their times, and the occasional yet memorable sightings of snakes. It’s all so perfect and just right. For this reason I make it a point to take my 1 year old on his stroller and go for an evening walk.
It was just one such evening today that I happened to stroll around alone with my son on one of these beautiful yet lonely road. As I was showing my son a mother Brahminy starling being accompanied by her 4 chicks, and reminding him of every call of a peahen, the binoculars on the neck of a boy walking slowly ahead of us caught my attention. Being not a regular but still a bird watching enthusiast, I couldn’t help but follow the directions his binoculars would point. I got reminded of my binoculars lying inside in my cupboard since so long, untouched.
As I reached this person, I couldn’t help but make a friendly remark to him that was he into birdwatching. He looked at me smiling respectfully but didn’t utter a word. The next thing that he did was, slipped his hand inside his pocket and pulled out a paper, on which was written “today I am observing complete silence”. I just smiled at him and asked him to continue while I move ahead. In this beautiful evening, with so many peculiar natural things around, his demeanor just fell right in the jigsaw puzzle. It is a bliss to be able to do what you like and certainly on a Saturday.
Aali Pant 