On Crows, Cuckoos and Naihar
Hmmm.... Not sure whether I should begin by writing about crows and cuckoos or about Babul Mora. The emotions, they arouse in me, are all mixed up.
The Indian Crow is a peculiar bird. I find observing them very entertaining. R. K. Lakshman considers it as his favourite pastime and has sketched them innumerable times. Mark Twain in his utterly readable essay writes...
He has been reincarnated more times than Shiva; and he has kept a sample of each incarnation, and fused it into his constitution. In the course of his evolutionary promotions, his sublime march toward ultimate perfection, he has been a gambler, a low comedian, a dissolute priest, a fussy woman, a blackguard, a scoffer, a liar, a thief, a spy, an informer, a trading politician, a swindler, a professional hypocrite, a patriot for cash, a reformer, a lecturer, a lawyer, a conspirator, a rebel, a royalist, a democrat, a practicer and propagator of irreverence, a meddler, an intruder, a busybody, an infidel, and a wallower in sin for the mere love if it.
Crows find mention in our music too. There are so many songs on crows. उड जा काले कावाँ, कावाँ कावाँ, भोर होते कागा, and such. There is a doha by Sant Kabir :
कागा सब तन खाईयो, मेरा चुन चुन खाईयो मांस.
दो नैना मत खाईयो, मोहे पिया मिलन कि आस.
As with the crow, same with the cuckoo. A quintessentially Indian bird. At least for me. Why? Because he finds abundant mention in our music, our poetry, our literature. And of all the songs that have been written on cuckoo, the one which immediately comes to my mind is a classical song कोयलिया बोले अंबुआ की डाल पर. रितु बसंत का देत संदेसवा. What a wonderful song!
Just hearing a cuckoo sing, brings back so many memories. Summer vacations, bright mornings, raw mangoes... ah! God's in his heaven :)
And here I am in this foreign country with all its high rise buildings, sparkling clean roads, all things artificial, completely devoid of chaai-tapris, trying to make sense. But then I hear a cuckoo sing and I realise that this place is, after all, not as intolerable as it seems. When I'll go back, I'll tell people that amidst all the modern life that surrounded me, I used to hear a cuckoo sing and that it reminded me of the रितु बसंत back home.
For now, I can only take refuge in Wajid Ali Shahs words ...
बाबुल मोरा नैहर छुटो जाये
मोरा अपना बेगाना छुटो जाये
Oh and by the way, Happy Gudi Padwa/Ugadi. Happy New Year! :)
I take your leave with this image...
PS: A Cuckoo which cuckoos is male of the species. Hence the use of masculine pronoun - he.
The Indian Crow is a peculiar bird. I find observing them very entertaining. R. K. Lakshman considers it as his favourite pastime and has sketched them innumerable times. Mark Twain in his utterly readable essay writes...
He has been reincarnated more times than Shiva; and he has kept a sample of each incarnation, and fused it into his constitution. In the course of his evolutionary promotions, his sublime march toward ultimate perfection, he has been a gambler, a low comedian, a dissolute priest, a fussy woman, a blackguard, a scoffer, a liar, a thief, a spy, an informer, a trading politician, a swindler, a professional hypocrite, a patriot for cash, a reformer, a lecturer, a lawyer, a conspirator, a rebel, a royalist, a democrat, a practicer and propagator of irreverence, a meddler, an intruder, a busybody, an infidel, and a wallower in sin for the mere love if it.
Crows find mention in our music too. There are so many songs on crows. उड जा काले कावाँ, कावाँ कावाँ, भोर होते कागा, and such. There is a doha by Sant Kabir :
कागा सब तन खाईयो, मेरा चुन चुन खाईयो मांस.
दो नैना मत खाईयो, मोहे पिया मिलन कि आस.
As with the crow, same with the cuckoo. A quintessentially Indian bird. At least for me. Why? Because he finds abundant mention in our music, our poetry, our literature. And of all the songs that have been written on cuckoo, the one which immediately comes to my mind is a classical song कोयलिया बोले अंबुआ की डाल पर. रितु बसंत का देत संदेसवा. What a wonderful song!
Just hearing a cuckoo sing, brings back so many memories. Summer vacations, bright mornings, raw mangoes... ah! God's in his heaven :)
And here I am in this foreign country with all its high rise buildings, sparkling clean roads, all things artificial, completely devoid of chaai-tapris, trying to make sense. But then I hear a cuckoo sing and I realise that this place is, after all, not as intolerable as it seems. When I'll go back, I'll tell people that amidst all the modern life that surrounded me, I used to hear a cuckoo sing and that it reminded me of the रितु बसंत back home.
For now, I can only take refuge in Wajid Ali Shahs words ...
बाबुल मोरा नैहर छुटो जाये
मोरा अपना बेगाना छुटो जाये
Oh and by the way, Happy Gudi Padwa/Ugadi. Happy New Year! :)
I take your leave with this image...
PS: A Cuckoo which cuckoos is male of the species. Hence the use of masculine pronoun - he.
posted by tmww on March 21, 2007
2 Comments:
At 2:53 PM,
Jani said…
A post very high in emotional content should have 'E' certificate. So that people prone to tears can postpone reading it until getting back to the secure place called bedroom.
At 10:39 PM,
nku said…
Loved it. I am not as much a cuckoo admirer as I am a crow lover. For sheer reason that I may have heard a cuckoo sing for, what, 5 times in my life? But crow and us shared a bond, wherein we used to hit sixes and make the branches they nested tremble and they used to fly with a certain rage at us and poke our heads with their beaks and talons. :-) Ah, summer!
But spring? No, sir, not for me. It was all exam season and it simply meant no tv, no cricket, no outing.
On unrelated note, have you heard a song called मन उधाण वा~याचे from movie अगं बाई अरेच्या sung beautifully by शंकर महादेवन? Awesome song. Don't miss it.
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