Friday, October 4, 2013

A Beautiful Chaos


My FB and blog friend Nandan Tavanandi posts the most amazing pictures of birds. Here is one such which he calls "Beautiful Chaos" , clicked at the mudflats of Sewri, on Mumbai's eastern seaboard. This area is a stopover for the thousands of migrating flamingoes , thanks to the mangroves. 

This Avian Brownian Motion , as it were, with thousands of birds participating and desperately trying to do their own thing and get ahead, reminded me of the scene that gets played out every morning at the Churchgate Terminus as the Mumbai suburban trains chug in, disgorging thousands of passengers, rushing to exit and  make way to their offices. 

It's possible that the birds have been observing the bipeds....  





कोणाच्या पायात कोणाचे पाय ,
कोणा बड्याच्या पंखाखाली
किती असह्य डोकी ,
झटकून टाकलेले
पाण्यात बुडलेले हात ,

शेजार्याला मागे ढकलून
धक्का देउन पुढे जायची धडपड ,
डोळे वटारून
चोच पुट्पुटत केलेलं उड्डाण ,
आणि बाहेर पडताच
दिशाहीन हरवणं .

शिवडी म्हणजे पक्ष्यांचे चर्चगेट का हो ?
Feet amidst entangled feet,
traumatized faces 

under
winged armpits,
thirsty dripping thoughts
desperately shrugged off
with massive unconcern,

the urge
to bang and hit
while rushing to leave,
and then,
a deflating loss of direction,
on exiting
after glaring
and beaking an angry curse...

Is Sewri the Churchgate for Birds ?



1 comment:

  1. I loved the simile and I have been a part of the exodus That takes place at Churchgate every few minutes. These happenings at Sewree Mudflats are very rhythmic, pleasing and 'no stepping on each others toes'. In fact you would remember a river.

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