Birth of a Bird watcher

BIRTH OF A BIRD WATCHER

On the eleventh of June, 2007, Hari Sankar and I went for a trip to Thattekkad Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary. It was just another usual nature trek. I didn’t realize that I was nearing a great turning point in my adventurous life.

I was working as Casualty Medical Officer in Kolenchery Medical Mission Hospital and during my free time, I used to go to nearby places for short trips. Hari and Midhun were doing Compulsory rural service in Rajakumari and Rajakkad health centres. That’s how I got to know Dr Jayakumar and the photographer Mohan chettan.

During those times, the proper Thattekkad sanctuary was open for public unlike now. Me and Hari got permission and we walked the entire length of the mud road inside the sanctuary.  We saw nothing except some beautiful butterflies in the deep woods. But we still enjoyed it to the maximum and we wanted to come back and we did it exactly one week after. But this time we took a guide named Sudhish.  He was a very talented and professional naturalist with good experience. He changed our lives.

Your eyes won’t see what your mind doesn’t know. We did not know anything about birds and so we didn’t see anything. Eventhough we were happy, we still were not satisfied and that urge has paid off. We became crazy when Sudhish showed us so many birds on the same way that we walked one week back. The icing on the cake was when Sudhish left us at one place to check for something inside the forest. He came back and called us to come silently. He showed something which was so near to us and we couldn’t see it. The height of camouflage, a pair of Ceylon frogmouth sitting on a low tree branch.  We reached the summit of excitement and watched those nocturnal birds for a long time up close.  Since then we never turned back. We visited the sanctuary several times after that and never without a guide. We were introduced to Dr. Sugathan, who was the director of the Sanctuary. We used to sit with him and were so excited to hear his talks. He never used to get bored in detailing his adventures as well as throwing light towards ornithology and its history.

By this time we learned that our photographic equipments were outdated and we had to upgrade our cameras. The first one that I used was my father’s canon film camera, then I bought canon A610 which I later upgraded to my first Digital SLR Canon D400. For a year I used Fujifilm HS 10 and later came back to Canon 60D along with 18-55 IS lens and a Canon 400 mm 5.6 f prime lens for my ornithophotography.

After I started bird watching, any trip would give me so much of satisfaction. I was so happy even sitting at home watching birds in my backyard. I was seeing birds everywhere.  Subsequently all my later trips were birding oriented.

I used to have frequent visits to Munnar and nearby places for birding with Midhun or Hari. Arippa in Trivandrum was another birding site which we went in February 2008. Our interest in butterflies also arose in this trip. The next three years were relatively dry in my life regarding birding as I joined Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences as Post graduate in Orthopaedics. But opportunities kept on coming, mainly in the form of camps. The sabarimala camp was one of them. I went for 3 yrs in December 2008, January 2010 and January 2011. I was excited and had gone to the interiors of the forest alone as well as the terrace of our building in search of birds. I found around 45 species of birds watching from the roof of our building.   

The next year was a turning point in someone else’s life. Dr. Sabarish, PG in Emergency Medicine was interested and he joined me for the trips inside the forest. His interests became a passion and subsequently craze which is still progressing. He is one of my main bird watching mates now.

Dr.Renjit Kumar, who was my thesis guide, is a true nature lover.  He used to find time between his busy schedules to go for holidays with his family as well as heavy nature treks with other groups.  He invited me to join the Kodai Munnar trek in 2010 December organized by National youth hostels association of India. We were joined by Dr. Dnyanesh and Dr.Renjith.T.C. We did the same trek but in a different route in December 2012, but this time it was my father instead of Dnyanesh and Dr.Renjith T.C who joined us. These trips were feast for the eyes regarding birding and as usual I infected my birding passion to Dr. Renjit Kumar. Am I so contagious?  He bought my same camera and the bird Text book. He is also my present birdwatching mate.  When my ego makes my head turn away from common birds in an urge to see new ones to broaden the list, I feel amazed at the passion he has in watching all birds and the excitement in him when he talks about any bird.

Sabarish, Dr. Renjit and me took part for the Kochi Bird race in Nov 2011 sponsored by HSBC. We came in the 5^th position with 92 birds. We had a get together in Hotel Abad in Nedumbassery Airport and the chief guest was Ex-minister Jose Thettayil.  It was an opportunity to meet so many bird watchers.

Our usual birding sites in Kochi were Kalamassery, Kadamakkudy, Mangalavanam bird sanctuary. We had been to Kandakkadavu, a day Sabarish, Dr. Renjit and I would never forget. We saw a darter hanging helplessly on an acacia tree. I climbed the tree.The unfortunate one’s beak was entangled on a fishing net remnant. We rescued the poor bird and saw it flying to freedom. Though I had few abrasions and some myalgia due to unaccustomed job, we thoroughly enjoyed “Operation Darter Rescue”. In Vypeen we saw thousands and thousands of gulls in a single frame.

 Whenever we got time we used to go to Thattekkad. This time, the sanctuary proper was closed and we used to go to Urulan thanny and our guides were Vinod or Abhilash. We didn’t miss the lectures of Dr. Sugathan also.

In 2011, March Me and my family had a visit to UAE. When people usually are excited to go for shopping, I was enjoying birding there.

In November 2011, I was joined by Dr. Renjit  Kumar, Dr.Renjith. T.C, Dr.Mohammed Niaz to visit Lakshadweep. Thanks to Dr. Sreejith who was the spine fellow posted as orthopaedic surgeon in Lakshadweep who organized everything.  The subsequent year, I was posted as Ortho Surgeon from August 21^st to December 5^th. I was joined by my wife, Roshin for a month (She was posted as CMO) and my son and my parents for 2 weeks.  I observed more than 40 species of birds from Agatti and neighboring islands including European Night jar, which I believe is the first record south of Mumbai.

I registered for the Asian Waterfowl census that was supposed to be conducted in Thrissur  Kole wetlands on 8/1/2012. Dr.Nameer was the organizer for the same.Kole survey was started by the famous K.K.Neelakandan in 1992 and it was the 20^th survey that I attended.  I went to Mannuthi Agricultural College the day before to attend a lecture regarding bird species identification and conservation. It was very informative. We stayed that night in college hostel.  I got to interact more with birdwatchers all over kerala.

The next day, around 100 birdwatchers were divided into 10 small groups and we were around 10 people who included Dilip, Vishnu and Dr. Prasanth who were part of the Cochin Natural History Society. The trip was so exciting. The icing on the cake was in  the evening. We got all our data and went to Vyloppilli hall in Thrissur for the All Kerala Bird watcher’s meet-“Pakshi nireekshakarude sangamam”. There were many eminent people including M.K. Prasad, C.Sashikumar, Dr.Nameer, Satyan  Meppayur, C.A. Abdul Basheer , Warden of Gavi whom me and Roshin met during our trip.  I met him for the first time in Thekkady duing one of the greatest trips of my life with Hari, Midhun, Sarin and Lakshmanan.There were around 200 people for the birdwatchers meet and I met people like N.A. Naseer over there.

It was 21^st January, 2012 and I turned 32. We were in Trivandrum for Roshin’s conference. I dropped her in Hotel Muscat and went straight to Akkulam in my car with my camera. As I was doing birding, I saw two guys with camera and I went upto them. They were Ramesh and Ajith. I joined them for birding. In between I saw them noting something and when I enquired, to my surprise, they showed me the same Asian Water fowl census form that we used for the Kole survey. I became part of the census unknowingly for the second time in the same month. They were excited to hear my happiness of getting one of the greatest birthday gifts from two strangers. Oh! Really it was a great surprise gift for me. We visited Veli and Perumathura also.

Eventhough  Ernakulam was the main area for bird watching due of my job, I had opportunities to go to places like Punchakkari, Ponmudi in Trivandrum, Chavakkad, Peechi, Chimmini  in Thrissur, Kumarakom, Pathiramanal  and Kallara in Kottayam as well and the list doesn’t end.

Even though I gained so much information from my bird books of Bikram Grewal, Krys Kasmierczak and Dr. Sugathan’s autographed “Birds of Thattekkad”, nothing gives me more pleasure and excitement than going to the forest and listening to the songs of the birds. Field guides are of no use unless you go into the field.

Dr. Salim Ali…., I envy you. I am still a student who is getting more and more confused on listening to those bird calls, more and more ignorant on seeing new species. I am still like a child; the excitement continues to push me further and deeper into the world of birds and their conservation.

Vandine Kando - MY SONG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WVGTR-CBPw

The Black Pearls Presents https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WVGTR-CBPw
Black Mon Returns Vandine Kando
My first Song that is being published.
Surprisingly this is the 35th and latest of my compositions done in 12/12/12

Enjoy and comment....

Story of "The Black Pearls"

Story of The Black Pearls

Music was always my passion right from the beginning. My Parents especially my mother was my first and my main Guru. She introduced me to the world of western parts singing. Both my parents had a guitar each and four of us including my sister had music sessions with instruments on most days before the evening prayer. They even bought me a keyboard.

Sunday School was one of the greatest platforms where I could expose my talents, for several years I was either the secretary or treasurer of the “Balasamajam”. Most often I used to run the show  performing any of the various activities including Singing, Monoact, Mimicry, Elocution, Quizzing, Skit and so on. We used to go out for various competitions and bagged many prizes.

Right from KG school in KMNSS School, Malappuram to primary School in Holy Trinity school, Trivandrum and to High School in Christ Nagar School, Trivandum, I was part of the School Choir. It was in Christ Nagar that my music aptitude became a serious business.  Paramanandan Sir, the music teacher was my official Guru.  In 1991 our School Choir won the 1^st in the All India Radio (AIR) National Singing competition and 20 of us including the present celebrities Vidhu Prathap, Ronnie Raphael with our music teachers went to New Delhi for 2 weeks, stayed in Kerala House and under the guidance of K.P.Udhayabhanu Sir, We learned and sang songs in Sirifort Auditorium.  After that, we had sung songs for the AIR also.

Thanks to Boney M and Abba , from whose songs I developed more interest in Western music.  I still remember writing few poems  during my childhood days.

The turning point towards making of a band was when I joined Medical College Trivandrum in 1998. I did my first western performance on the fresher’s day. The song was Milky way by MLTR and Dr.Vivek Krishnan was on the keyboard. The primitive band expanded on subsequent programs with Dr. Daniel Johnson on guitar and I remember playing Someday by MLTR.

It was when the junior batch came that I had serious interest in making a rock music band. Anish Lawrence was a great talented guitarist and luckily my neighbor also. Many days we sat together and sang lots of songs. It was the time when Vivek Krishnan became the Arts Club secretary and opportunities were flowing. Both of us performed for the evening dinner in most of the conferences(CME) held in our college. Most often the song was “ Alliyambal Kadavil”. Anish was rocking in the lead guitar. We were getting opportunities for competitions outside and expansion was necessary. Sarin joined us as the accompanying vocalist cum violinist. He is proficient in Karnatic music which I have not learned officially. Anoop Rajan is a talented guitarist and we got him as our rhythm guitarist. Initially for some shows we hired Shibu from outside and later we got Lakshmanan who was a professional  Mridangam player as our drummer.  It was the genesis of The Black Pearls.  One hidden reason behind the name was that most of us in the band were dark.  All the band mates were one year junior to me.  We bought a second hand Base guitar and I took over the base also.

The first Black Pearl team with Jibu and Shaji. Standing from Left- Vivek, Jibu, Me, Lakshmanan, Shaji.    Sitting from Left- Anish, Sarin, Anoop.

Meanwhile I am proud to have performed with the famous guitarist Baiju of Mother Jane in our annual day celebrations of my Kalagramam music school in VJT hall, Trivandrum. My teacher Biju Sir was my Keyboardist, my old drums sir, Murugan who came with us to AIR Delhi, in Drums. I sang Winds of Change, Words and Someday. Baiju’s performance was rocking

Back to Black Pearls. Inconveniences for some guys forced me to search for replacements. I was in 2002 when we got the greatest chance of performing for the Mathrubhumi Kalolsavam western music competition. We got Renjith on additional backing vocals and Gautham on keyboard. We won the second prize and was selected to perform for the finals in Kochi. We still had to change our team and we got some friends from BDS batch for the keyboard and rhythm guitar. We got Jobin who was 3 yrs junior to me as our drummer.  Those few days were unforgettable. Eventhough we did not get prize, the whole program was like a festival and Shan’s live performance in the Indoor stadium was charismatic.

The Black Pearls went on and it was in 2003 that we had a chance to go for the intermedicals in calicut with Sarin, Lakshmanan and Jobin’s classmates including Abraham and Belvin as backing vocals, Aswin on keyboard and Vijay in lead guitar. We won the 3^rd prize for the intermedicals. The same team won the first for the intercollegiate contest held in Karyavattom, Trivandrum later.

Standing from left- Vijay, Sarin, Me, Lakshmanan and Abraham.                                                               

 Sitting from left- Belvin and Aswin

Photo Courtesy – Vijay’ s facebook Album

The Black Pearls was almost dead for a long 10 years till it was rejuvenated with all new members in the team. Well, it is for now no more a rock band but a group of enthusiastic people interested in creating music albums.

Sitting from left- Renjith, Me, Rajesh, Narasimha, Sarath, Subeshnan and Shaji

All these years, I am the only common factor in the team The Black Pearls. I am confident and I hope The Black Pearls will achieve newer heights in the days to come. But thanks to everyone who has come and gone and were a part of The Black Pearls. Without you all, there would not have been a team called, The Black Pearls.

I am sure I might have missed someone who has helped in the making of The Black Pearls but I must admit that it is not on purpose.

Compositions

Out of the 35 music compositions, the last one was made into an album
Black man returns- vandine kando
a mallu techno
did music, vocals, camera, photography, choreography, production and direction 

            Thanks to Rajesh Babu whose constant pestering has made all this into a reality, otherwise like all the other compositions, this would also have become dormant in my mobile phone and laptop.

As part of my usual showing off, I was having a discussion with Rajesh in the Orthopaedic theatre. He heard my compositions and now I am proud to bring Rajesh into a new world of music. Of course he had a lot of ideas, mostly romantic. 

As days passed, his proficiency as lyricist was getting sharpened. 
The first composition That I did was in 2002. Till 2006 I did 20 of them. I had a long gap of 6 years and Rajesh revived my creative skill in music composing and in 6 months, I composed around 11 of his songs and 4 by my own.

I composed the song Vandine Kando in 12/12/12
My song would have been like an emaciated child without Dr.Narasimha's background sequencing in the fruity loops. The friendship that started from the Lakshadweep posting is reaching new heights
We all sat down, discussed and with the help of Renjith.TG, Sarath Bin, Shaji.K.D, Subeshnan and many others, We the Black Pearls have come with our first song  " Black mon returns- Vandine Kando"
Inspiring from the mallu Black man stories, the song is a thriller with an element of humour