What's app Selections 3

Bird Meditations, bird thoughts, bird loves, bird conversations and bird beings...

17.11.17-8,30 a.m.

It is such a pleasure watching birds. I mean, it is not even as though i plan to watch them.

I was just getting ready to start correcting a batch of those 130 grammar papers, when their movement on the tree branches sailed into my peripheral vision.

Who says birds don't chase each other? This was a case of two shalik birds, nimbly following each other from the lower to the higher branches. Fast, lithe, ballerina tapering legs.

No worry, no cares. Just living. One has to learn from birds and animals.

English Romantic poetry celebrates the bird as the highest symbol of freedom.

In  To a Skylark Shelley writes, 'higher still and higher/ the blue deep thou wingest' 'Thou' because the bird is holy. Holy. Holy. In the Kathamrita Thakur speaks of the Homa bird, which lives high up in the Heavens. When the young are born they start descending towards the earth. But half way through they realize that the earth is full of pain and corruption, and they go right back to where their mother is in the upper skies...

Indian adage says that Sadhu and Panchi (bird) don't hoard...:)  

18.11.17-5,15 p.m.

Thank God for bird sounds in the city. On Southern Avenue, on the way back from the park one hears them. Chorus of bird voices. Restful, beautiful. Interrupting and providing such a restful and soothing counterpoint to city sounds. Great Mother Nature! May we always be blessed with your presence. No wonder the Bengali character is poetical. Surrounded by so much beauty, how can one not respond? The poet Jibanananda Das said in one of his Rupashi Bangla (রুপসী বাঙলা) poems, "Banglar mukh ami dekhiyachi/ tai prithibir mukh dekhite chahi na aar" ('বাংলার মুখ আমি দেখিয়াছি/ তাই পৃথিবীর মুখ দেখিতে চাহি না আর').

Kobitaar sphuron aaj je aar shesh hoi na. Ekta gaan achhe, 'ami kaan pete roi'. Robi Thakur er gaan. Rabindranath to Baul bhab e bishwas korten. Je bhab achhe oi gaanta teo: 'dekhechhi roop sagore moner manush kancha shona'. Oi 'moner manush' hochhen Atman. Baul ra believe kore je nijer moddhye khunjle Ishwar ke pawa jai. Rabindranath ei eky bhab prokash korechhen ei gaantai; 'amar praaner manush achhe praane'.

(কবিতার sphuron আজ যে আর শেষ হয় না।  একটা গান আছে, 'আমি কান পেতে রই'. রবি ঠাকুরের গান। রবীন্দ্রনাথ তো বাউল ভাব-এ বিশ্বাস করতেন। যে ভাব আছে ওই গানটাতেও: 'দেখেছি রূপ সাগরে মনের মানুষ কাঁচা সোনা'। ওই 'মনের মানুষ' বলেছেন আত্মা কে। বাউলরা বিশ্বাস করে যে নিজের মধ্যে খুঁজলে ঈশ্বর কে পাওয়া যায়। রবীন্দ্রনাথ এই একই ভাব প্রকাশ করেছেন এই গানটায়, 'আমার প্রাণের মানুষ আছে প্রাণে'। )

Tai bochi 'ami kaan pete roi'. Prakritir choron dhwani r jannya 'kaan pete' thakte hoi. (তাই বলছি 'আমি কান পেতে রই'। প্রকৃতির চরণ ধ্বনির জন্য 'কান পেতে' থাকতে হয়।) Hopefully the more receptive and open one becomes, one hears the natural symphonies and orchestras better.