my nature mystification

I cannot quite understand why nature attracts me so. I never liked dogs and cats though the Americans cannot exist without them and leave them huge fortunes in their wills!

Pets at home

My earliest experiences of pet birds and fish at home were prompted by parents according to my whims I suppose. Or maybe they tricked me into loving pets and nature! I would never know. The instructive value of pets is great though. Managing cages and aquariums, feeding, cleaning- it is all tough work really in addition to attending school and keeping up to date with homework besides sundry school activities.

Lovebirds, bulbuls, parrots besides fighters, gouramis and goldfish were my perennial favorites. Breeding brought a special high though I did not think then in economic terms. Strangely enough, many died and the family grieved for them no end. My mother cleaned out the gourami fish tank in my absence without knowing that thousands of spawn crawled through it.

The parrot and the bulbul still arouse dainty memories. The parrot pouted before its mirror image to entertain the family each evening. The bulbul roamed free until he disappeared one day. I still wonder where he went and what sort of fate he met up with.

Television channels

Long after pet adventures came high tech nature television channels. Dramatic chases ending in sad killings regularly featured in them. The vivid colors of flora and fauna besides the strangest things like the mother fish protecting babies in the mouth further mystified me. The polar bear marching across the snow with cubs following in its wake remains riveted to my memory.

Humming birds sipping nectar and otters gamboling in the river are some sweet images that spring to mind. The big cats may be everybody’s favorite but they are too bloody in their habits, I thought. I wished to side with gentle nature.

I sometimes wondered what the secret of my fascination was. Was it some strange sort of perverse addiction? But then the hosts in the nature channels were nature freaks too. The biology teachers in schools were mad about life forms. Look at the pet shops in the town. Dog and cat lovers are everywhere.

I roamed several extensive zoos and encountered several wonders. The white tigers, the variety of monkeys, squirrels and rodents besides snakes enthralled my senses. I have not given up wondering why!

Nature in the raw!

Pets and home, television and zoos are all somewhat artificial I felt compared to my real life experiences in the Himalayas. Jim Corbett’s books seemed to be coming to life when I heard the cry of the wolf across the hill in the darkening skies one evening. Here was live nature at its wildest. Hornbills regularly flapped through the town center. A 20 feet python slithered through the crossroad in broad daylight as I froze with feelings I cannot describe.

The variety of snakes- black, brown, green, colorless, small and big! I still shudder at the distant memory! I encountered them everywhere- on the path, in the bathroom, on the signboard in the town and in the field.

I was gradually learning to live at touching distance with nature. The live show was a million times more dramatic than the pictures in books and television screens. My passionate intensity was growing to mighty dimensions. I now understood why the western world is so crazy about pets!

I realize a little change in me, mine and myself though. Maybe I should desist from cages and aquariums that are veritable prisons for God’s creatures. The wild plants are better off too compared to the potted ones. Zoos should close down though they are educationally important. Let the world be free.