Saturday 29 September 2018

Frenzied Catfish at the Basai Wetland


I have seen Catfish that weighed up to eight kilos, huge monsters with long whiskers, and have even caught quite a few, but then that was in Lake Abaya and Lake Chamo in Arbaminch Ethiopia, moreover, I never saw any two of them attacking each other. The Catfish I have been seeing at the Basai Wetland, however, seem to be the smaller but more aggressing versions of the Ethiopian cousins! Though smaller in size, the Magur Catfish that have been imported from Africa seem to be tougher than the Indian fish. Their ability to breathe on land, crawl on land, survive dry seasons and flourish in toxic and contaminated water sets them apart from the indigenous species. 



Just today, when I visited the Basai Wetland, It was to witness an absolutely astounding, nay, stunning sight of thousands of the banned Magur Catfish leaping around each other in a frenzy in the water. They seemed to be fighting each other, wrestling, attacking each other like two different mobs attacking each other. A veritable rout it was a melee that confounded rationality. Yes, there were quite a few carcasses of the catfish in the vicinity, but then today, the fish did not seem to be attacking the carcasses.


The saving grace, however, is that these African Magur Catfish provide a most filling breakfast for the larger birds like the painted storks, Black Kites and Herons. While the local endemic species of fish like the snakehead fish 'saul', (that used to be found in abundance in the Basai Wetland a few years ago) the silverfish, the 'Patra' fish have disappeared, so too have other aquatic species like the freshwater turtles that I have seen a few years back seem to be absent. It doesn't require much insight to realise how these catfish might not only attack larger fish but also devour small fry and eggs of other species.


The availability of a large number of Catfish in the waters of the Basai Wetlands has also acted as a magnet for a large number of Black Kites in the area. The presence of these highly aggressive birds, hunters of the best kind might also affect the migratory flight patterns of birds coming all the way from Siberia and other central Asian countries. It would not be surprising to see fewer and fewer migratory birds coming to the Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary because of the presence of these kites. The unfortunate fact is that the African Magur Catfish were deliberately introduced into the waters of the Basai Wetland by people who wanted to make a quick profit by catching these fish and selling them in the markets close by. Unfortunately, the water of the Basai Wetland has been contaminated by sewage from a sewer canal passing by (he open sewage canal overflows in the rainy season spilling into the adjacent wetland). It is clear, therefore, that the consumption of these fish by unsuspecting people might cause them to fall ill. The Gurgaon administration needs to take proper steps to address these issues before something serious happens. While other states have banned the commercial farming of the African Magur Catfish (because of the threat they pose to endemic species) and their sale in the markets, some people seem to be doing a lucrative business selling large numbers of the fish grown in the Basai Wetland.



Tuesday 18 September 2018

Inspiration - A Poem





I ride the wings of ideas, rise upwards
Thoughts break through walls thick as
Lead, dead  reasoning burst asunder, 
Freed from the slumber of inaction,
Burst through stagnant webs of time.

I am Inspiration, the child of progress,
Chief of discord, Spark of reason; I force
You off the beaten track, make you think
Differently, (even when your master tells
You nought!) so that you leap with joy!

They tell you I am disruption incarnate,
A Phoenix that from ashes emerged, new thought,
A fresh start, with a new perception of the
Universe, of ideas exotic and what lies beyond,
Things deeper than the eyes might see!













Sunday 16 September 2018

A Busy Crow-Pheasant (thought I'd not seen it!) A Poem


I saw a busy Crow Pheasant that peeped
At me from behind a bush! It wanted to
Get a piece of fish from the pond.

It dived and hopped, peeped and skipped,
And thought, I’d not seen it - the busybody
That would get a fish from the pond!



It thought I’d not seen it, and when I turned
To it with my camera, it launched itself into
The air, the busybody that’d get the fish!

I saw a busy Crow-Pheasant that skipped,
Hopped, bounced and peeped at me from behind
A bush as it went for a piece of fish from the pond!



The Crow Pheasant thought it had fooled me,
But I’d seen it all, the busybody that went for
The fish from the pond and thought I’d not seen it!


Flight of the Great Purple Heron - A Poem


Patiently sits a Purple Heron in the weeds,
Slender neck merging with tall stalks of Grass,
Staring into the distance, eyes like beacons - waiting.

Waiting for an opportune moment to feed and
Lift away into the ether, to soar gracefully and
Like a jet thunder into the infinite.

“What thoughts do fill your mind – dread visions
Or sweet dreams - lost lakes and shrinking ponds
Or abundant lush wetlands with friends so many!”



Eyes like beacons flash, waiting for something
To happen? If only - if we’d read the warning
Of things that were and things that are to be!

But then, perhaps, tis just the pensive thought of
One drunken with air so fresh, so much green, of
Sight of Great Heron waiting to feed!



Late,r the purple Heron does find a fish one size
too big and swallows it whole! Disgusted, I turn
Away but then we all need to feed, don’t we?

Satiated with its morning feast, the Heron lifts
Into the blue sky, great ponderous wings
Claw into the air like a thundering Jet’s wings.




Thursday 6 September 2018

The Spider eats it all!



OK, so it was on a trip to a place in the Kandakhal Valley, Uttarakhand that I saw this spider spin a web to catch an insect and then the next moment as soon as beetle got entangled in its web, the spider jumped on to the poor creature and then literally trussed it up, nay engulfed it with a thick coat of a silken stuff. In no time the beetle was encased in a web so tight that it looked like a mummy.






If you look closely at the rear of the spider you might get to see the spinneret from which the spider extrudes its silk. You will also see something that looks like a thick stream of white stuff pouring out! The speed with which the spider worked was simply amazing! The spider had in not time consumed the beetle that it had trussed up. When I went to check for the spider and its web, there was nothing! It was as if the spider had never existed!











Teachers Day, what it means for us



We have come a long way since the days when Teachers Day was celebrated with great solemnity as a one-day occasion and importance to a time when it has become more of a two-day celebration, one within the school with students and the other as a Teachers' Day out. While we tend to forget the reason why we celebrate Teachers Day on the fifth of September rather than the fifth of October, (Dr.S.Radahkrishnan's Birthday) issues like protests against the kind of treatment meted out to teachers today, and the issues related to the security in schools have all diluted the essence of celebrating the thankless jobs of out Nation Builders. My father, who happened to study for his graduation and Bachelor of Education at the Jamia Millia Islamia University in the early sixties told me about how Teachers Day was celebrated as Ek Din Ka Madarsa in the University. What it meant was that students took over the mantles of teachers and they ran the entire school. 


Later when I taught in a Govt. Aided School in Roop Nagar, Delhi, Teachers Day was an event for which preparations began a day earlier with a careful selection of student, mostly from grade twelve and grade eleven. Students would select their favourite teacher and then take his timetable for the next day. In many cases, this roleplay would provide the teacher with a chance to look at himself through the student playing his role. 


The day the event was celebrated, teachers would take their regular places during assembly, and then the students would be introduced and then they would take over the assembly itself. The best part of the day would be when the student-teachers and their teachers came together at the end of the day and the students then shared their experiences for the day. Most of them would exclaim how difficult it was to handle the students! It is moments like these when students get to appreciate the role of teachers in an age where parents find handling even a single child sensibly so difficult!






















Today we might be able to celebrate Teachers Day on two different occasions, one with the students and another with the staff and management. While this might seem perhaps a bit overboard, the idea of having time with other coleagues other than with students where one might not be able to behave like "authentic children" might perhaps tip the balance in favour of having two celebrations! Howso it might be, it is the little gestures of gratitude from the students that bring a smile to the teacher. 


A mugshot of me (Great, where did they get this from!) greeted me when I entered the hall where the students had prepared a cultural event for all the teachers. Stretched across a long string that ran the length of the auditorium were posters such as the one above for each teacher in the senior programme. The greatest thing was that we were told at the end of the programme, that we could take these with us! The students celebrated Teachers Day on the 28th of August because of their first term exams that took place from the fourth of September. All the photographs are a glimpse into how we celebrated Teachers' Day in school with our students and ourselves.




Monday 3 September 2018

Antics of a Crow Pheasant at the Basai Wetland


Nothing can be funnier than the antics of a Crow Pheasant trying to slip by you in order to get to where that tasty morsel can be found. I was fascinated by this particular Crow Pheasant that hid behind some bushes thinking I could not see it! I stood quietly where I was having spotted and was rewarded with some really funny antics! I have pasted below the sequence of the Crow Pheasant slipping past me.




In the above snap, you can see that the Crow Pheasant has finally managed to get itself a bit of fish in its beak, probably to feed its chicks in a nest nearby. It went away only to return, this time with a leap, a bound and a flight!





I was able to photograph this Crow Pheasant or Greater Coucal at the Basai Wetland which I visited recently.