A little bit of context before you begin reading this book review. I have recently enrolled for an MA in Philosophy at the University of Mumbai. Philosophy is something I have been getting interested in, over the past few years, as those of you who have been reading my blogs and Instagram posts would know. During the pandemic, I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do next, and this is what I eventually came up with. It has been a challenge, getting back into academics as a student at this age, especially in a subject I have no academic background in. However, it has also been very exciting, especially thanks to my wonderful classmates (who, surprisingly, are of all age-groups, including some quite near my own) and my teachers, who have been very supportive and understanding. How well I will do is something that remains to be seen, but so far, I am enjoying this new journey and look forward to where it leads. Now that you know the background , you probably get an idea of how
As we walked back towards the car, we saw a number of swifts flying to and fro, and paused to take a closer look. We had seen plenty of swifts from the moment we arrived in the mountains, but they were too fast for me to even get a good look at them! Having plenty of time on our hands, we decided to linger and take a closer look. While I tried to capture one swift sitting on a shelf inside a shop, Samhith was a bit more curious, and went inside a small tea shop and started looking around. When I called him out, he refused, and instead asked me to come in and see something!
The ‘something’ turned out to be a swift sitting on a nest over a bulb-holder! I was too thrilled for words and began clicking immediately……
I was so thrilled by the sight of the swift sitting on the nest, but soon it left again, and imagine my surprise when I saw swiftlets inside, opening their mouths wide in anticipation of the food their mother would bring when she returned!
By this time Samhith had wandered off, and he again called out to me excitedly, for he had seen another nest – in fact, the whole place was full of swifts nests! And on one of them sat a swift comfortably, not even frightened off by excited and curious people like us! Samhith too was surprised that the bird did not fly away like the others, and I explained to him that she was probably sitting on her eggs, waiting for them to hatch!
We were so engrossed in the swifts that we did not even realize that the road was no longer blocked! One of the villagers called out to us, saying that our vehicle was moving, and we abandoned the swifts and returned to the car!
When the car had stopped, we had been irritated at the unexpected delay, and bored. Never did we expect that it would bring us such a wonderful experience! Time did fly ‘swiftly’ indeed!
so sweet... esp the swiftlets taking food :)
ReplyDeleteJust a beautiful post Anu, what an amazing experience. The nest looks so cute over the bulb and the chicks the ultimate prize for a photographer!
ReplyDeleteOh,
ReplyDeleteReally its a very interesting post.
I like your post very much.
Thanks
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Awesome Post,
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what a lovely post..this is one of a kind experience
ReplyDeleteawesome! lovely pics and what an experience!
ReplyDeletethe delay on the road came as a blessing to all . We too got an opportunity to see all the cute Swifties.
ReplyDeleteAw what a sweet post... I love that the little swifts brought you so much joy. Birds do that for me too. These ones sure are cute! They're inventive little critters... making a camera into a nest-holder!
ReplyDeleteYes, I have always felt tap water tastes better than bottled!
@Shilpa: you should have seen them! it was such a wonderful experience!
ReplyDelete@Mridula: thanks... and it was such a great surprise.....
@Dino: thanks a lot....
@San Anotonio hotel thanks a lot..... it was indeed a one of a kind experience...
@Usha: thanks...thats why i missed talking to you... there were so many things to tell u...
@Lydia: thanks so much!
@Chitra: absolutely!
@lovelable_homebody: thanks a lot.....