Salunki

Daily I watch the salunki
Foraging, sharp-eyed, yellow-beaked,
Flash of white on the wing,
From tree to wire to ground,
Hopping around, ground, fence, tree,
Hole-in-the-wall nest above me

I watch because I can: they never skulk.
They live their lives before my eyes,
And after all there’s little enough to see.
It should be boring but it’s not, to me.

Why? They set me wondering:
How resourceful they are, finding
Food in all seasons: heat, cold, rain.
They are at it all day.
On torpid summer afternoons
When all of nature snoozes in the shade
They are hopping, flitting, fighting.

Often fighting: they are disputatious.
They fight with other birds: drongos, crows
Noisy satbais, other pairs of their
Own race, even with their mates
From time to time.
But best of all they take on predators:
Snakes, cats, bharadwaj and then
They’re at their best: brave, tenacious,
Matter-of-fact determined: this is just
Survival as everyday life,

I watch salunki thinking,
“They are fellow creatures of this place,
At home in this dry dusty heat,
The thorny bush, hardscrabble soil,
The sheltering trees, the ring
Of gold-black hills.” I think,
“They are birds and I a human of this place.”
It gives me quiet joy.