The flight of the lammergeier
Sundar
Singh was astonished,
He had
thought us
Ignorant
city-dwellers
To be
the usual tourists
Unaware
of the beauty of birds.
He
asked us if we knew any
Denizens
from wherever we came
The long
list of my response
Astonished
him,
As was
he impressed
How do
you know so much?
Didn’t you
say you were an engineer?
I
smiled, Indeed
But a
curious one at that
Mesmerised
even by an ant
He took
us on a different route
Not for
the usual Delhites
Blasting
music from jukeboxes.
But alas,
mid-day was never good
For bird-spotting
Despite
our route,
We
spotted just a few common ones
Not the
treasures of Binsar and beyond,
But
Sundar Singh was annoyed
At his
failure
He
peered in the afternoon sun
On
treetops, in undergrowth
But
none came up
Our
birding guide was crestfallen
His own
backyard failing him
Until
towards the end of our walk
He
screamed in delight
There,
a staggering Lammergeier
Gliding
on the convections
Of the
winds above
How
majestic it looked
The bearded
vulture
Arcing in
the skies
That
too, at a moment
Of our
exit
Scavenger's eyes
Gracefully navigating the skies
There is no raptor's pride
But power thrums in every whisper
In the lammergeier's flight
Perhaps majesty
That could only be surpassed
By the heights of Nanda Devi
And her kin
Rest, we mortals look up quiet
Our guide was content
That he could show us a tinge of power, beyond beauty
When it
was time to leave
I assured
him it was a great walk
Even
without the Lammergeier
But he
shook his head
Not
just him,
The mountains
had to give back
To
whose who really cared
Who
walked the extra mile
Why
else would pilgrims come this far?
‘So that
the Gods decide’, I assured
‘If the
pilgrimage was good enough’
The guide
smiled, the engineer left,
The
lammergeier floated back to the gods of the lands…
17th
June 2026
Inspired
by real events - you can still find Sundar Singh enthusiastically talking of
birds at the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary
Cover image: Pexels.com
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