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The Vaishnodevi Experience 2023

My first trip to Vaishnodevi was unimpressive. Climbing was hard, and it only served to highlight how badly out of shape I was, while my in-laws managed to cope so much better. Further, I hadn’t quite realized that the cave experience wouldn’t be the same as I had imagined, since the original cave was only opened at certain times a year, and that we only entered a newly created tunnel, one far easier to access, and hence more manageable with the crowds that thronged the mountain shrine. The resulting experience at the shrine, for barely a fraction of a second, hardly compared to what I had expected / imagined / heard about. So, for me, Vaishnodevi was like any other temple, nothing to write home about, something that was reflected (though not explicitly mentioned) in the blog post I wrote then.

Birds from my window - Asian Koel



"कुहू कुहू बोले कोयलिया " 
(kuhu kuhu bole koyaliya)
..so go the words of a popular Hindi song. The Koyal or the Cuckoo (Asian Koel) is a popular bird in Indian culture and folklore, highly appreciated for its song. It has sometimes been called 'The Indian Nightingale' for the same reason. 




Since the last few weeks, I can hear this melodious song all day long, but it is only rarely that I get to see these birds. The male is jet black, and is easily mistaken for a crow... distinguished from a distance only by its bright red eye. 



The female on the other hand, is brown, speckled with white, and is so well camouflaged, that she is hard to spot. It is sheer persistence, and of course, luck, which has allowed me to photograph them, from my window at home! 



Mid March to mid August is the breeding season for the Asian Koel, which is why I can hear them so often, as they call out to each other. Once the bird lays its eggs, usually before the onset of the monsoon, the birds go quiet and disappear. 



Asian Koels are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other birds, thus evading the pains of parenting. Interestingly, Wikipedia tells me that in the Vedas, the koel is described as 'Anya-vapa' - that which has been raised by others'. This is considered to be the earliest knowledge of brood parasitism! 



Meanwhile, as the koels search for a suitable host nest, I make the most of their song, as it provides the perfect background score nature can provide! 

I live in Mumbai, in a colony lucky enough to still have plenty of trees and open spaces. The best part of living here are the birds I see from my window, every single day. "Birds from my Window" is a series, where I regularly feature photos of birds I see from my home. To see all the posts in this series, click here

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