NATURE ON JANUARY

For some people the year begins at the hour of midnight.They bid farewell to the old and usher in the new with revelry and song,bursting balloons and swilling champagne.For others it begins when the rim of the sun appears on the eastern horizon.For me its starts some time between the two,when i get up to place a platter of milk for a dozon stray cats waiting impatiently outside my door beside the morning paper which is deliverd to me at 4:30 am i do not feel the day has really and truly begun till i have read the paper,heard the BBC news and drunk a mugful of warm ginseng tea.Then i pull back the curtains of my window,switch off my table lamp and watch the black of the night turn to the grey of the dow.I hear spotted owlets screech in the mulberry tree.I catch glimpses of small bats flitting by.And the down chorus begins with the raucous cawing of crows followed by the shrill chittering of sparrows and the cry of kites.Sometimes when it is still dark i step out onto the lown behind my apartment to gaze at the moon or the brightly shining morning star.I return to my study and switch on the radio to listen to the relay of the morning service from the golden temple.When it comes to Guru Nanaks lines on the semul to emphasize that the size of a tree has no bearing om what it yields,i know the morning service is half over and it is time for me to wake up my wife who likes to lake her morning walk in the lodi gardens at down.I get into my shorts to leave for my morning game of tennis.I have to first wipe the dew off the window panes of my car because often the humidity is above 95 per cent.It is still dark.I switch on my headlights scattering clusters of crows pecking at mangled remains of rats,cats and dogs run over by speeding traffic the night before.
My early morning drive to the gymkhana club and the hour and a half i spend there provide feast dor the eyes and ears.The club grounds are full of all trees.Since the side dividing the gymkhana from the residence of the prime minister has for security resons been closed to traffic,there has been a noticeable increase in the number of birds in the area.My morning game of tennis is played to the accompaniment provided by magpie robins ,golden orioles,barbets,koel,peafowl and papeehas.The bird orchestra varies with the season.Often when i took up to take a lob i miss it because grey hornbills,lapwings or moonsoon birds distract me.

If u are looking for colour in january, go out into the countryside.The mustrad is in bloom,spread out like a sea of canary-gold.Its bitter-sweet odour attracts honey bees.Beside mustrad, there are lentils,mainly arhar,sugarcane with its pampas plumes of pale russet, and young wheat.Skylarks rise from the green fields,suspending themselves in the air and pouring down song till they run out of breath;then plummet like stones and disappear in the verdure.By contrast,delhis parks and gardens are largely flowerless till the latter part of the month expect for marigolds,poinsettias,chrysanthemums and bougainvillaes.

While winters cold freezes the ardour of bird and beast alike,the larger variety of some species like vultures and kites are roused by it.By mid-january pairs of kites and vultures can be seen mating on branches of leafless semul trees and can be heard emitting excruciating screams of pain and pleasure.Big trees like the semul and the maharukh are preferred by these birds both for copulation and nest-building.Smaller birds like crows,pigeons and sparrows begin their search for mates.Cock sparrows squabble among themselves while their hens barely take notice of them.