The Bird and the Cyclone

What a contradiction! The similarities they have are: 1. Name, 2. Eye. Cyclone has an eye, so do birds and the name is Hudhud.

Hudhud the cyclone appalled as well as perplexed everyone with havoc and its name. Why Hudhud? Is it the hood of the snake or a gaberdine? Sounded eerie. I searched the net. To my surprise I found that it is a harmless, tiny bird. Named by Oman, the cyclone was no way near the birdie, which is also the national bird of Israel. I also learnt that the cyclones are already named and the Asian countries take turn to name the successive cyclones in this region.

                                                              The Bird
                                 

List of the names of Cyclones in the past, present and future

Monsoon Delayed!

                                                               I hear the cry,
                                                               In mornings dry,
                                                               Near my kitchen,
                                                               Piercing into my ears,
                                                               I care not to listen,
                                                               As I've to hasten,

A Hornbill at our backyard

                                                                  Till one day,
                                                                  It rattled my home,
                                                                  I step out to probe,
                                                                  Nestled on a tree,
                                                                  The hornbill wails,
                                                                  Rain, where art thou?

Two days back I spotted the grey Indian hornbill at my back yard. As a child I had heard of stories and songs about this bird waiting for rain as it cannot drink water. They open their mouth to the rain and quench thirst. I lived in a very beautiful village in Kerala before coming to the city after marriage. All those years I never spotted a hornbill at my childhood home. It was a pleasure seeing this bird at the backyard where the migratory birds and other varieties flock. I did a research on this bird and found out that it never drinks water. Here, the monsoon is delayed and along with the hornbill we too are waiting desperately for rain.


                             

A Forest In a Game Box

Two weeks of hectic workshop. I had to let go my trip to Kerala; the saddest part of all. But the classes were quite interesting and the outcome was advantageous. Here is a diorama of a forest made as a teaching aid.

All the materials used for this are junk. The trees are made from old calender sheets. The cloud background is a page from an old travel magazine. The picture had a person in parachute. To cover that, two birds from old desktop calender was pasted with a piece of paper underneath it to create 3d effect. 

A brook was made with blue chart paper. Stones made of glass pebbles.  The animals that you see are all taken from magazines. Can you spot an elephant drinking from the brook?

 You can also spot a lioness, turtle and a frog apart from the birds and animals in the model.