The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their...
We first caught a brief glimpse of the bird at the Aghanjar Mahadev Temple. The temple had been disappointing, but the stream behind had more than made up for it. We were walking back to the car, when a harsh call and a flash of blue alerted us that there was a bird nearby. A big one. Gone were thoughts of getting back to the car and to our next destination. Samhith and I were completely focused on identifying the elusive bird. It took us a while to spot it properly, and when we did, I recognized it as the Yellow Billed Blue Magpie!
The photo above was the best I managed to capture, as the bird remained hidden within the thick foliage, giving us only a brief glimpse now and then. Eventually, spurred by our driver's impatience, we moved on to our next destination - The Norbulingka Institute. By now, Samhith was tired and hungry, and we headed straight to the cafeteria to have lunch before setting out to explore the institute. And there it was again - the Yellow Billed Blue Magpie!!
It was so much closer now, and least bothered by visitors. There were lots around, so we were told by the staff!
And that was how we had lunch, with such a beautiful bird for company. At first, I went on clicking, trying to get the perfect shot. After a while, however, I decided to give up, and simply enjoy the experience.....
This post is part of my series on my #summertrip 2015, and I hope to take you along with me as I recount stories from my month long trip, which took me across the country. To get an idea of all the places I visited, and what you can hope to read about, click here.
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During Uttarakhand tour specially in Devprayag I have seen many Yellow Billed Blue Magpie. Thanks for rewinding memory.
ReplyDeleteI love discovering so many birds that are new to me via your posts. Thanks for introducing me to this Magpie! :)
ReplyDeleteOhhh its awesome watching yellow billed blue magpie is an great experience, but its my bad that i missed this opportunity well hoping for next time. Well the clicks shared here inspire me a lot thanks for sharing such a lovely clicks.
ReplyDeletei live between bhagsu and dharamkot villages..and last three years i was here for whole year round...in winter as all other birds flew away to lower altitudes but this magpie dared to stay here only.even i did not see any other bird in very cold days and they were in good numbers.
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