Photography connects him back to Nature

A darter showing what's in the lake!!!

The ten days long Dasara festive season keeps every body in a holiday mood while the businessmen work an extra hour to make the best of the day. But for people in certain service sector it wouldn’t make any difference. A tailor world over becomes busy during the festive season. But in Karnataka with all its hordes of festivals, this one puts even the mechanics and electrician to over work time. On one of the day when they revere the implement or tool that gives them life every piece of machinery is overhauled. Thoroughly polished and decked up for the day with flowers and adornments of every sort; from a cobbler’s needle to a huge rice mill, a tea kettle to a steal boiler. Well after the D’day of the festival every body enjoys the stand still of their machines which they are connected to 24/7. They share sweets, invite each other for lunch and run around in new attires meeting people.

Our friend Ramesh had come home from Shimoga. He had worked with the Education team of Mysore Amateur Naturalists (MAN) for about ten years. His job in the law department had kept him in the distant northern towns of Karnataka. To meet this special guest, Prabhu another old friend of MAN arrived. He stays right in Mysore but doesn’t have the time surface in the Nature related activities.

Mr. Prabhu M

Prabhu was a regular on most our Bird watching outings. His first appearance was as a response to our call for volunteers on the occasion of Waterfowl count in 1991. We had requested all enthusiasts to assemble at the Mysore Bus station to go for the lakes of Bannur sector. He waited for us at the Bannur bus station at the time we were to leave the Mysore bus station! It was no joke about his enthusiasm; he had set off on his 35 cc mini moped.

During college, his father had invested on a floor mill and Prabhu had to assist him in his job. The family matters ensnared his brilliance and innovative mind on to the rattling huller mill right from his teens. Exit college he had to continue the business. The machines had to run non-stop all through the year. His father felt the colony needed it and considered bad to put any body on wait. ‘People can’t go without food man, you shouldn’t deprive them’ he used to yell. We felt that we missed out a naturalist. Commitment to work and humble nature won the heart of customers. People started coming to his floor mill from far and wide.  He had to slog still harder to keep up his repute. Like many other ‘professionals’ he was not able to manage to keep his Sundays for his passion.

Purple Moorehen - in perfect home

I still remember those days of the nineties when his shop used to be a hub for all like minded people. Young poets to painters, civil contractors to soft ware engineers gathered each evening as the noisy machines came to the day’s rest. Birds and photography used to be a common topic. There was absolutely nothing to bar any topic from discussion. The discussion about the digital photography taking over the roll films is still fresh in my mind. Some of us had heavily invested on SLR roll cameras. Literature of all leading camera companies slyly kept the debate on not making it clear whether analog cameras would go obsolete. They kept analog cameras along with the digital version in the market.  Discussions about what is best would turn into heated debate calling for the stern intervention of Prabhu’s Father. When senses prevailed we got homebound to attend hunger pangs.

My kind of nesting material!

I was meeting him nearly a decade later, he has changed very little. The naughty smile never seems to be any aged. His parents were gone, and the brothers separated into their families. His only daughter has entered high school and is nurtured with activities related to nature through his descriptive narratives. He used to be such a good story teller and had the ability to bring back to life the entire natural history of the outing. This time he had a digital note book in his hand. He was shy about showing his recent works of the long kept hobby of photography. I was spell-bound looking at the hundreds of pictures of birds and animals narrating many things a naturalist would appreciate. Here are some of the pictures I could pinch from him.

The Pelican's scoop...

A spoon bill