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Book Review: On Philosophising, Philosophers, Philosophy and New Vistas in Applied Philosophy, by Dr. Sharmila Jayant Virkar

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
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A New Visitor to my Backyard - Long Tailed Shrike

I have been getting a bit bored of the bird photos I have been posting.... I have loads of them, but they are of the birds I see every day.. and I am losing my enthusiasm for them. I was just sitting at my desk looking at my bird photos and wondering which one to post today, when I heard a sound. Now, I have often run to the window at the slightest sound, wondering if it was a bird, but I have often been wrong, or just got a glimpse of a bird as it flew away before I could identify it. I was therefore not too excited or hopeful. However, there it was, perched on a tree on the other side of the jogging park. I could barely get a glimpse of the bird, but it seemed busy calling out, so I took out my camera and got clicking. This is what I saw...



I kept clicking till the bird finally tired of calling out, and flew away. It was then time to go unearth my bird books and try to identify it.


It turned out to be a Long Tailed Shrike, or Rufous Backed Shrike.


From what I could understand from the books and Wikipedia, the bird appears to be quite common all over the Indian Subcontinent, and prefers scrub and open habitats. I wonder what it was doing in the middle of the concrete jungle!! 


In any case, I clicked so many photographs, and am so thrilled to see a different bird for a change, that I am posting more of the photos.... as it warbled away ... perhaps searching for its mate? Trying to find its way back?






As I finish this post, I am still wondering what the bird was doing so far from its normal habitat, and hoping it finds its way back to where it came from. There is one thing I am thankful for, though.... it brightened up my day, and gave me something to write about!!
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Location: Chedda Nagar, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Comments

  1. MridulaOctober 4, 2012 at 1:05 PM

    I know that feeling when we want to see different birds rather than the usual ones :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarOctober 4, 2012 at 9:13 PM

      i guess you do :D and you get to see so many more than me!!!

      Delete
  2. IndraniOctober 4, 2012 at 8:14 PM

    Probably in a migrating mode.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarOctober 4, 2012 at 9:13 PM

      hmm.. thats quite possible, Indrani! never thought of that!

      Delete
  3. IndraniOctober 4, 2012 at 8:14 PM

    Probably in a migrating mode.

    ReplyDelete
  4. chitraOctober 4, 2012 at 8:45 PM

    Nice poses you gt Anu..

    ReplyDelete

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