Skip to main content

CAMPING IN THE JUNGLE

 CAMPING IN THE JUNGLE

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

18/VI/2022

 

When the weather is good, a little cloud cover and shade of the trees makes it very comfortable to move outdoors. With a camera in hand, there are better chances of clicking some nice pics. With my Ray Bans on, off I move towards the waterfront jungle. What is in store, no one knows.

 

Birds as usual are shy. They may or may not pose for you. Your focus might not be proper, your hand might shake, the branch on which the bird sits might sway, the bird may not be in a conducive direction with respect to the sun. Your presence, or crunch of leaves with your shoes can spook these feathery friends.

 

There are so many ‘ifs and buts’. How hard you try not to make a jerky movement; these birds can catch you. They stay very alert, after all it is their survival at stake. They do not know your intentions are good. The bottom line is that there is always a slip between the cup and the lip. One has to be lucky to get all parameters right.

 

Every time I lifted my camera, birds would fly or run away. They moved to a temporary hiding, till they found the coast was clear.  I was not able to understand, why? Was it the flash? The camera goes on auto-flash mode as soon as it detects low light. It is a major distraction. So shifted the knob to ‘no flash’ mode. Now they were less distracted.

 

Still, they won’t let me get close. It was then that I realised that the strap of the camera was dangling loose. It would sway with every lift and alert the birds. Moment one was about to press the button, with a flutter, birds would bid me bye-bye. My dress could also be an issue. Nevertheless, there was something amiss.

 

My eyes got fixed on an ‘Ashiana’ of a squirrel. It was a gaping hole in the tree. Like people boast about the size of their house, she too was lucky to have such a huge entrance to the house. She went crazy as if I would enter her house. She went up and down the tree and then peeped from behind to watch my moves. Stay away was her message.

 

The peacocks were in a frenzy. The ones I came across were chicks. Could be a year plus. The Peahens were small and the Peacocks did not have long feathers in their tails. One male was the leader. At his call, females would walk towards him. With the rainy season round the bend, I am sure their feathers will grow into full bloom.

 

Cuckoos were cuckooing at the top of their voice. One would call & the other would reply and this exchange of messages went on. Unexpectedly, one came and sat on a tree right infront of me. Sometimes, in excitement the button gets pressed too fast dipping the camera and things go out of focus.  ‘Shist ka kaida’ taught to us in the Weapons Training classes has to be brought into play, besides Holding, Aiming, Trigger Operation, the Breath control has to be perfect.

 

As I moved down the river front, I was expecting to catch Mr Malya the Kingfisher to come out in the open and he did. He was on the far bank and went on with his shikar. Sparrows too were watching me in awe and kept hopping from Kikkar to Kikkar. At one time four of them got together on one branch and I caught them.

 

Then came the turn of the Partridges. Partridge calls can be heard from miles. This extremely shy bird is swift. It flies very rarely unless extremely threatened. It runs and runs fast. The male likes to stand in a dominating position and call away to glory, while the females peck around and scavenge for food close by.

 

It is early morning when partridges are the laziest. It takes time for them to shake out of their slumber. They stay in a pack of five or more as they have safety in numbers. They dig the dust and fill their feathers with sand. Early in the morning, they love to have a community bath.

 

Partridges fight, they peck and jump on each other to show dominance. Had the Alpha male a choice, he would have injured the smaller one. Probably it was male rivalry. I believe males have a big nail jutting out above their claws.

 

All lessons from the past and new lessons of the day play a very important role to frame these birds. Besides luck is a very major factor to take a good shot.

 

I feel like camping in the jungle along the river. Will my wife allow it? I wonder!!!!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND

© NOEL ELLIS





















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FINGER ON YOUR LIPS

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   29/IV/2025   What has happened to Pakistan? While India is doing Fauji Exercises, Pakistan has mobilised for what! I agree that the people of India want revenge. But, from whom? Our PM has only said that “we will not leave the terrorists and their supporters till the end of the Earth”. He has never said he will sort out Pakistan, or has he?   It has been hilarious watching discussions on Paki social media channels. They seem to have already given up. Our RM meets the PM and Pakistan starts shitting bricks. They talk about jazba and gazwa, and start telling us about their nuclear arsenal. 160 I suppose. By the way we will send across one equivalent to your 160 if need be.   There is a saying, ‘Chor ki Dari main tinka” literal meaning is, a straw in a thief’s beard. However, the deep meaning is that a guilty person reveals his guilt through his behaviour, even unintentionally. Clearly, “a guilty conscious needs no accuser”...
18 comments
Read more

IF THERE IS A WAR…...

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   28/IV/2025   I remember the 1971 war as a small child. We were in Kapurthala Punjab, very close to the Pakistan border. It was an evening in December, I do not remember the exact date. While returning from a friends house, the declaration of war was done as I skipped along the ‘Thandi Sarak’ of Kapurthala.   The gist was that a vehicle with loud speakers was telling people to head home as an "emergency" had been declared and war had started. I ran as fast as I could, shivering with fear and my heart beating unusually fast. Though I was a lap baby when the 1965 war had taken place, it appeared serious business now.   Overnight, Dad and other Uncles started digging trenches infront of our homes. Carbon paper was no dearth in a teachers house, so mom got into an overdrive to stick them to the glass windows. Though the glass had been painted during the 1965 war, some broken panes had been replaced. Mom told ...
6 comments
Read more

A PERFECT GARDENER

    Most of us are parents and grandparents now. All of us have brought up our children and now are looking after Gen Z. We gave our children and their children the best of best.   With that as an opening remark, let me shift focus to gardening. I am no expert on parenting or gardening. We went with the tide of highs and lows. The churns and turmoil. Even if we consider ourselves as perfect parents, can we be perfect gardeners?   The answer in both cases would be a big NO. When you look back, there is something more which could have been done. Things could have been done differently. There is no perfect template which can fit all.   One saw the kid take baby steps, then their growth stage and then they matured and ready to bear their own children. What is in store in the future? No one knows.   Having said that, let me return to the topic of Gardening. This would interest gardening enthusiasts. Are you a perfect gardener?   My p...
4 comments
Read more

A BREAK FROM BLOGGING

    Christmas week is a busy week and spills over to the New Year. Friends and family get together, rejoice, make merry and strengthen bonds. It is cold and wintry, the reason to indulge in relishing plum and rum cakes and pakwans, dry fruits and puddings and be at peace.   However, too much rest to my ‘finger tips’ was catching with me both with the laptop keys and the ‘click button’ of the camera. Sometimes, it is good to take a break or if one can call it a ‘fast’ of a different sort. It is a good time to sit down, chill, run down and reflect on things which are now memories in the year coming to an end. How time flies!   We had a dinner planned for my chaddi-buddies and their families last evening. We were looking forward to having fun and lots of laughter. However, in all this milieu, some little things had to be done like feeding the fish on the roof, lest I miss out.   As I opened the roof door, my eyes lit up when I saw a white breasted k...
8 comments
Read more

TAKE A PAUSE

  One thing I have realized that spending time with nature brings so much of mental peace. A small bird can just cheer you up. Her tweet can lift your mood. The sheer joy one derives from watching then come and play in your garden, feed, and bathe is just elevating. All those who do it know what I say and a request to those who haven’t must try it.   Morning time is the most hectic for the birds. They all know that their feed will be there. Their tweets and chirps are indicators of the happiness they enjoy. I am sure in between their tweets they chirp to thank us too.   Evenings are another kind of high. These days their feeders go empty by evening. The water bowls too are nearly at bottom levels, not because of their thirst but now they bathe in the bowl more often. The water sprinkled while they shake their bodies flies off emptying the bowl.   In the evening, when I go to the rooftop there is a different kind of hustle. A few sparrows, a pair of dove...
14 comments
Read more

RUNNING TO TOWN

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   24/IV/2024   As they say, “Jab geedar ki ‘maut’ ati hai woh Shahar ki taraf bhagta hai”. (When a jackal wants to die, it runs towards the town). It simply implies that when someone is in ‘deep trouble’, he takes certain wrong steps and gets into agony himself. It also means that if correct actions are not taken timely, then chances are things go wrong.   Another implication of this idiom is that when someone wants to ‘avoid trouble’, he choses a wrong path or when one faces difficult times, he goes looking for advice and solutions from wrong people and places, jeopardising his own existence.   Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this straight away applies to our troublesome neighbour Pakistan and specifically to the thought process and mindset of their Army Chief General Asim Munir, who revealed it in the lecture he gave to the overseas Pakistanis recently.   I say this in the context of the ‘massacre’ and ‘savagery’ these dastards did in Pahal...
8 comments
Read more

TALE OF A CERTIFICATE

It was way back in 1979 that I became a ‘matriculate’ with a ‘first division’. One required 60% marks for it and I got 60.14%, one mark over the threshold. This I came to realize only yesterday when I had to produce that certificate after almost 46 years.   Those days, first division meant you were the cream. No one talked about percentages or marks. All that mattered was I, II or III Div.   The first time I realised that how important this certificate was when as a young Captain in the Indian Army with three years service, I got a notice from the Army Headquarters to “show cause” why my services should not be terminated as they did not find my matric certificate attached with the mandatory documents required to be submitted to UPSC.   Earth moved under my feet. I was from a Sainik School where all documentation was sent by the school administration. How could they have missed out? Why me, was the question?   Panic and fear struck together as I had ...
6 comments
Read more

A SPEECH

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   19/IV/2025   Imagine when your “sir ka jhoomar becomes gale ki haddi”, then what happens. That was one Jumla I picked up from the Pak Army Chief’s speech which he delivered in Islamabad to Overseas Pakistanis. They are dual citizenship holders. Their ticket it appears had been paid by the state of Pakistan, I reckon.   An Army Chief addressing a gathering of people who at the very first instance decided to “Pakistan se Zinda Bhag” is uncalled for. If I read correctly between the lines, it was not to impress his countrymen but somehow convince the audience to remit dollars to ensure he and his ilk get their salaries, a plot of land on retirement and an assured pension. Rest of the countrymen can scavenge for all he cares.   Above all, the PM of Pakistan and his cabinet were in attendance. The Chief’s political ambitions were clear and his speech was a subtle message to them that the Army is ‘THE Mai Baap’, as he flexed the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

MYSTERY OF THE MISSING FISH

  Stray cats are on the prowl in our lane. Residents feed them a variety of food. From Roti to bread and milk is their diet. The way they are bloating is an indicator of their health.   They have been also feeding on the roti we spread for the birds. They eat roti only in case of an emergency. It is birds the cats are after. We haven’t seen them catching one but knowing cat behaviour, they would not miss a chance.   What I do not appreciate is that they jump into the grain bowl. It is a shallow earthen pot hung with wires on a protrusion of a dried branch. Even if there are ten birds feeding on the feeder, it doesn’t shake. Imagine, when a big chubby cat jumps onto it. They have dropped that pot several times and broken it.   We do not mind cats basking on our veranda chairs, but how does one tell the cats not to leave the birds alone. Like the birds are looking for a meal, so are the cats. Nothing like a juicy sparrow or a bulbul or a fat dove.   These cats wer...
6 comments
Read more

ARMY CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR

ARMY CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR   LT COL NOEL ELLIS   16/I/2026   I was watching the excerpts of the ‘Army Day Parade’ held in Jaipur. The show put up by the Army was exemplary. It reminded me of the Chinese Military parade, ours was far better. I wish I could have witnessed it in person.   What impressed me was the showcasing of the ‘Bhairav troops’ in their ‘combat regalia’. Especially the Sikh troops. Camo painted faces, Khaki pagris and the call of Bole-so-Nihal could shake up the enemy in his grave.   What caught my attention was their boots. Keeping their tasks and deployment in mind in various sectors, those boots would be wind proof, water proof, light weight, comfortable, flexible, durable with enhanced grip and ankle support.   The contingent was not in ‘Tez chal’ but ‘daur ke kadam taal mode’. Which implies, they do not walk but are always on the run to annihilate the enemy. Their boots had to support their operational requirem...
4 comments
Read more