Fishing!!!

Have always been fascinated the way, the fishermen throws the net in the water to catch a bounty. The view of them throwing either standing a little away from the shoreline or from the boats / catamarans in the early hours of the day is mesmerizing for me. Always used to think of how easy it is make that throw and grab the fishes, till the moment I myself grabbed one recently.

 I happened to be at one of the inner connecting road between OMR (Old Mahabalipuram Road) and ECR (East coast Road) where there are lots of migratory birds. I had taken my camera to shoot these lovely colourful birds. That is when my wife and I met Prasanna. A driver by profession but a fisherman to fill his spare time and make some extra money.

He said that he has been catching fishes for the last 3 years and found it exciting. When we met him, he had already done one round of throwing his net and getting the first catch of six good sized fishes. We got excited and asked him, if we could try our hand at it. He was spirited and said why not... Little did we know then, that he was having fun at our expense...

Well, though it seemed fun but he was a good teacher... he taught us how to wrap the net around our fingers and then the arm. Once that was done, he spread the lower open end of the net around the left arm and a good part of the lower end in right hand. My wife tried and then she very eagerly asked me to try.. I was glad to repeat the process. As I was doing that, I asked my Guru Prasanna,

Me - What is the weight of this simple looking net?? I am feeling a small pain in my left arm..
Guru - Sir, not much, just 4 Kgs.
Me - What!!!, I feel like I am holding 10 Kgs or more...
Guru - No worries sir, you will get used to it...
Me - Yeah, so true... given the burden we carry every day back from office!!!

Anyway, my freaking ego that I could do this simple thing was burning too hard to douse. More so, my wife was enjoying the whole show standing behind (Cursed male ego!!)

Once having tied the net around my arm, I slowly stepped into the cold cold water. I could well feel the muddy slippery base of the water bed... Thanks to National Geography (magazine & TV), I was thinking about the world of worms and germs that would be seeping in through my feet into my biological system and what all would happen. Damn!! those momentary few second, I also imagined myself in the hospital bed... I snapped out as my Guru told me to release the net. After steadying my feet,I threw the net as hard and as far I could.. Splash!!! wow, i could throw if 2ft away a 4 kg net. My Guru then said, Sir!! You should have released the wire too.. oh!! goodness, I forgot the complete release..

Anyway, two tries later, I said to him politely, "Boss, you are the guru, please carry on". My hands were aching by then and I got behind the camera to get back to the business that I was used to.. But, I loved the new experience that I got!!! It was kwel...

Realized, what may look easy only comes after lots of practice... Those fishermen on Catamarans must have got their skills too well grooved, one to balance and second to make that throw on their shaky platforms!!!

Well at the end, I did what I always do the best, ate the fish that my Guru had caught. Yummmm...

Peace and Grandee

Mother Nature has so many treasures and one of the most beautiful creations is “The Avian” life... As much fascinating they are to watch, they seem to be equally difficult to capture their movements. Recently, I did my annual ritual of going to Vedanthangal.. One of the best bird sanctuary in Chennai. All you need to do is to plan to spend your day there with these beautiful creatures.

This place is close to 75 kms from Chennai on the GST road. Though the main road is a very good drive, but the inner road of last 14 Kms could be better. I felt that last stretch gives you the feel that you are getting into a reserve area.

It is stated that the local people actually care for the birds and protect them too. I get awed with not only by their majesty, but by their flamboyant colours and sizes. They do really come in various sizes and they are BEAUTIFUUUUULLL!!!

This time when we planned for the travel the idea was to shoot the birds and capture their moves. I wanted to experiment with my camera. Happen to reach their by 11 am and set my equipment to start shooting. One thing for sure that shooting birds teach you Patience and patience and patience... and then there are times when I am so much awed by the beauty of the birds that I tend to forget the intent of being there. You could find “Grey Pelican, painted stork, vsnake bird, Open-billed stork, large egret and many more…

Some of these large birds, one would wonder, how can they fly so swiftly? They are so so huge, and then their wings are very strong to enable them for the cross continent movement. Though when they try to get onto the water, they do not land, the large ones crash land and then they glide too on the water. The proverb stands so true, “Duck looks so calm on outside but keeps flipping its webbed feet hard underneath”. The elegance and grandeur personified.

The beauty and vibrant spread makes me wonder could we humans ever bring that out. One could simply be awed.

Co-existence is something that we humans should really learn from Mother Nature. There happen to be this one particular shrub, which is right in across a “Bird watch platform” that had a lot of these Grey Pelicans which stay. If my observation is right, that place is marked out for these large birds year on year. At the first sight one would think that it is a monopoly of these large birds but when you keenly observation, one could see hoards of bats hanging underneath their nests. It
was amazing to see the co-existence. Neither of them is troubled by it. You could think, “Live and Let live” staring right into you. We humans have so much to learn from Mother Nature. Some part of us does try to live in that co-existence. The villagers protect these birds because they find the birds to be very helpful. During the late monsoon season that Chennai has, the water bridges between the sanctuary and the farm lands are closed so that the place could be filled up with water for the Birds to come and stay. The birds fly in and stay between November till Feb. Once the birds have moved out as the temperature gets more warmer, the water is released to the nearby farm lands. This water is supposed to be filled with a lot of manure and helps the fields with a good yield. One would not need any more of these artificial chemicals to make the fields yield better… Support to the ecosystem is balanced.
We were there till 3.30 pm, if not for the thought to drive back home. But, as I drove back I had taken with me not only the movements but also lot of memories and refreshed..

The place is well cut off from all the hustle and business. What they say, that time slows down is very true at that place. The sound of the birds, the shade of the trees and the cool cool breeze, just helps you unwind and puts your mind at peace. All so so SO beautiful. For me this is a heavenly place which, I intend to visit every year…