Sewri Stars

My blog and FB friend Anuradha Shankar clicked this amazing photograph on a trip to watch flamingos at the Sewri mud-flats on Mumbai's eastern seaboard, a few days ago..

Anuradha blogs at  A Wandering Mind ...

It almost looks like they are practicing some typical Bollywood film dance steps.

Naturally a few of our fussy heroines came to mind. 

Shooting on location
for
"The Disappearing Mangroves"
Katrina Kaif,
Kareena Kapoor,
and Priyanka Chopra,
who have just flown in
from the west
only for this schedule,
practicing
their item number steps.....

And that is Kareena
doing
her stubborn
stick in the mud act,
because
her costume
has lesser streaks of pink.....

What you don't see
is a cast of
a thousand extras,
fluttering around ,
pecking their way amidst
the dirt,
studded with
plastics,
metal,
and industrial sludge.

The producers provide
a watery landscape for the stars,
not because
that's how
the land  should be,
but this way,
the three can check their make-up
in the reflections,
every now and then....

Geriatric musings

A great capture of the Indian Reef Heron by my blogfriend Magiceye, clicked at the Sewri Mudflats on Mumbai's eastern seaboard. Posted by him as part of the Camera Critters series in his blog, Mumbai Daily: Camera critters.

The Sewri Coastline , earlier densely populated with mangroves, has suffered through the perils of industrialization and construction in the name of progress.

Today,  it is a protected bird area .  I hope the birds continue to think so too, in the years to come.

(photo by Deepak Amembal Magiceye)

Tough days for old folks,
in Mumbai.

In earlier times,
I've swooped down amidst the waves
to tangle with fish;
and
when the waves receded
my friends and I
pecked around
the mud
searching for dessert.

Thanks to
the biped's proclivity
for pouring waste into the ocean,
my plumage is prematurely grey,
and arthritis hurts,
as I tread gingerly
amidst the flats
riddled with
chemical scar tissue.

No wonder
our youngsters fly off,
depleting a nest
that is itself no more
and
the firangi flamingoes
prefer
Kokan beaches
further south...

Like I said,
its a bad time for old folks in Mumbai...

Should the Flamingoes fast ?

Friend of a friend, and now my friend, Sanjeev Hirudayaraj of London, posted this terribly expressive picture of the flamingoes. He has an entire wonderful set of these photographs posted here.

Given the current political scenario in India, where leaders of Civil Society are taking positions on issues of national importance,   the unfortunate decision of the Mumbai Authorities to build a bridge (for the benefit of 4-wheeler types; ever see a pedestrian on the SeaLink ?) going rough shod through the mangroves at Sewri on Mumbai's eastern seaboard , and the fact that so many flamingoes come and nest and breed in season every year in this mangrove swamp area, this visual simply sowed a seed of an idea  in my mind.

The Bombay Natural History Society view.

Note : Heights based on perception and not feet and inches. Hmm.

(photograph by Sanjeev Hirudayaraj)

Team Anna
at the Sewri mudflats,
protesting,
the Mumbai
Mainland-Nhava Shiva bridge,
that
threatens to trash
the mangroves.

Anna,
central and supreme
in the
time of Maun Vrat***;
Kiran Bedi
to the left,
adjusting her
jacket
mobilising to argue,
and
Arvind Kejriwal,
loudly and firmly
declaring
the strength
of the
nation's
flamingoes and pelicans
as they gather around,
supporting him.

Feet in water,
thanks to dredgers
destroying the swamp.

***Maun Vrat = Vow of silence , in protest.

Tree and Empathy.....

The Sewri Mudflats on Mumbai's eastern seaboard. Normally home to thousands of flamingoes, who migrate every year from somewhere and arrive to enhance their population, eggs safely warm and hatchable in the damp mangrove soil.  In some other season, egrets visit, to check the place out....

 Blogger friend Magiceye  just posted this photograph as part of the "ABC Wednesday -L" series, calling it "Lonesome at the Sewri Mudflats".

Besides  suggesting some words,which I have added to the wonderful photo , it also gave me some other ideas , just so that the egret shouldn't feel it is alone....

Trying something new :-)

The Fate of the Flamingoes.....

The Sewri mud flats and swamps on Mumbai's eastern seaboard, are home to pink flamingoes migrating from the west every year. The dirty, swampy, ignored flats are a natural gestation place, and the flamingoes lay eggs there, because it is safe.

The government in its usual "wisdom" plans to build a bridge there up to Nhava Shiva across the bay, despite environmentalists warning against spoiling the natural ecosystem.

My friend Runcil Rebello went on a trip there, and took some wonderful photos. Have a look at the other photos here.

Before the bridge happens, and the flamingoes depart.

(photo by Runcil Rebello)

The flamingo ladies
traipse daintily
towards
the meeting venue ;
they must stop
the wild Nhava bridge
that threatens
to tear
thru their swamp.




She's been flying in
every year
eastwards from Gujarat,
in the pink of health.

Its her maika***,
be it
dirty,
marshy,
algae-ly green,
foot sinking trash.

And so,
its the safest place
to lay her eggs,
away
from the
predators
and natural jackals
of the city.
She too is safe,
from hunters
of the meat;
her slender wiry frame
doesn't appeal
to the Carnivores of Mumbai.

What she doesn't know,
is that the same
jackals and crooks
eye her maika,
with gleaming eyes.

The project
will take a toll
of her life,
but will earn
infinite
toll income
for the crooks....


***maika :maternal home
.
.