Alexandra-Hyderabad

21 may 2006, Sunday 8am

Another NSS outing. Yippee! I certainly went on it with no expectations.... afterall, I had studied for 2 years opposite the spot where almost 30 of us met - at the junction of Alexandra-Hyderabad junction. The start was propitous though... Si Gium directed us inside the old dental institute, where we saw, perched on its partly 'botak' branches, 2 bulbuls, a collared kingfisher and an olive-backed sunbird.... This was a harbinger of things to come, as we discovered a few sitting on each tree we strained our eyes on. There was one where I spotted FOUR pink-neck green pigeons! Another shady area yielded another kingfisher, straw-headed bulbuls and for the (my) first time, starlings... would have thought they were juvenile crows if someone had not pointed out to me the 'evil' red ring around the eyes....

On the way, SG commentated on the flora too.... which of course, all sounded Greek or Latin to me....but there was this National Geographic Tembusu tree (you can see it on the back of our $5 note), stripped bare of its luscious crown of glory, but still standing resolutely in spite of the lightning strikes it suffered and the termites boring through its core. What's striking is that the branches suddenly turn 90 degrees skyward... as if seeking some divine intervention into its fate.....