Even as rainy season is on, song of birds never ceases in Amritapuri. Like the nature poet John Keats said, ‘Poetry of the earth is never dead.’

Robins and bulbuls feel gloomy to sing as much as they did last month, but can’t stop singing altogether, you see. Especially in the morning hours. That’s after the archana. How can the birds not do their archana?

But the curious woodpeckers or flame backs screech in joy as they fly from one tree bark to another. Kingfishers still trill their shrill tunes. Tree pies crackle as they fly from one tree to another searching for bird eggs to steal. The otherwise putruck-ing barbets continue to noiselessly fly from tree to nearby tree, just for the fun of it. Tailor birds tweet and sunbirds chirp to their hearts’ content. Coucals gook, as they fly up from the ground into the trees.

And the brahmani kites soar up in the sky and, over and into the deep ocean, God knows what for.
Koels calling ‘kuhoo kuhoo! kuhoo kuhoo!’ remind us of Atmavichara: Who who are you ?

When the birds are not doing this, they are –guess what- invariably preening.

This is the story ‘This Side.’

On ‘That Side’: By ‘That Side’ i mean the kayal side. Coconuts can no more take pride in housing egrets and herons. Herons have built dozens of nests on other tree-tops including the fragrant elanjyi tree by the swimming pool. The cormorants have rejected coconut trees and yes, they too have built nests, laid eggs and are bringing up their young ones. And, that too on leafy trees.

Cormorants are quite an exotic race i must say. They have shapes that can be at the same time termed as artistic and ugly. About six years ago when i first noticed them in Amma’s yard, they were only one kind, the jet black ones, and just about a score of them. Now we have three distinct species: jet black ones, black ones with metallic shine on wings, and ones with white mantle. On close observation, which they allow as they perch so close to the A building ramp, we can see that some of them have red and some have black web-feet. Sometimes they even scratch their necks with their web foot! To perch on trees with web-feet must be an uncomfortable exercise. But here they perch not only on straight ribbed coconut frond but also with equal ease on the swaying thin twigs of other trees.

Not just perching; now they have made nests in such trees! However the nests are really inaccessible for the human eye.

As if unaware of these water birds, the mynas in the peepal just in front of Sugunachan’s house squeak and squeak till they fall asleep and start to squeak again just as it is dawn.
But the quiet pigeons, taking shelter in the buildings, keep to their routine irrespective of things around. The grain eating pigeons don’t need to go into trees and bushes you see, for insects or worms! Just as we, in times of Amma’s long tours, move about doing things, minding our routine and seva activities.

Except when we have Devibhava webcasts: we all come alive to a new reality, rather the REALITY that is AMMA.

– Sandhya