How did it all start?
In 2006 when I finally fulfilled the 25-year-old dream of owing
a car, life took a turn for good. I was madly deeply and passionately in love
with my car and did everything to spend more and more time behind the wheels.
That is how the DRIVING thing started. Moreover, my first job was into field-sales
and that was another reason which catalyzed my passion for driving. Before I knew,
I was already making those long driving trips across the various states of
India.
In 2010, another life altering incident happened. I got
married! Call it luck or call it destiny, both of us were interested in nature and all our vacations started happening around nature-oriented
locations. We did love wildlife and maybe that was the reason why we went to
Jim-Corbett National Park in 2012 but we were definitely not birders then.
In 2013, we decided to take a vacation which was a
combination of both wildlife and a long drive. We decided to go to Gir National
Forest, Gujarat and planned to drive all the way up from Hyderabad. It
was the month of April, and in some way that worked to our advantage. The
forest was all dry and naked and one could see right through the dense foliage
without any problem. We stayed in Taj Gateway for 5 night and took safari
drives for both Morning and evening, everyday. Incidentally, we spotted the pride
of the Lions, right at the beginning of our trip. Now we still had 4 more days to
go and numerous safari drives at our disposal. Luckily, we were staying in Taj
and their naturalists are one of the best you could find in India. Since we already
spotted the Lion, so now the naturalist started showing us the BIRDS. Here
comes the life-altering role of a naturalist. They keep telling us about
various things, plants, trees, birds, mammals, reptiles, insects, etc. We may
or may not be interested in everything they say, but some of those things might
catch the attention and curiosity of people like us and it might turn us into
what we are today. We can never be grateful enough to the Taj Gir naturalists to
convert us into the hard-core birders that we are today. It was that trip of
Gir that converted us from nature-lovers to bird-lovers and we were officially baptized
as BIRDERS.
So, now coming to the biggest question of all? Do I consider
myself a birder or a bird photographer. Apparently, there is a huge distinction,
many a times people who are core photographers end up making a mistake of
identifying themselves as birders. There cannot be a bigger crime than that. It
is sometimes hard to tell the difference, and I also agree that a third person
might not always be correct to guess it. But a person’s own conscience can
always correctly guess the difference between the two of them.
A photographer will be the one who would love to have a great capture no matter what. They spend time improving their shots and sometimes spend hours for getting a good shot of the most common bird, just to capture it in a beautifully creative way. They prefer quality over quantity. To be honest, I have seen very few photographers who are truly creative, most of them take sharp photos, but not all of them are creatively inclined. But that’s a different story, what I mean to say is that a photographer will care about the quality of the photo, would run after the likes that they get on social media, would love to share the pics with others and sometimes may even prefer to sell the images for monetary compensation.
The Birder, on the other hand, is a completely different
species. A Birder would notice and hear a bird call even if it is coming from
miles away and even when they are not consciously birding. A birder would
derive immense happiness just to notice a bird, its behavior, its features, its
call, wherever they are, and how so ever common that bird is. A Birder would
consciously try to go on new vacations that might give them birding
opportunities too. That factor would always play a major role even if they are
not going for specific birding trips. Most of their vacations would be around some
birding location. They prefer to see as many number of bird species as possible
and sometimes they just try to spend time looking at a bird for hours. The satisfaction
that they derive from being in close proximity of birds, is beyond comprehension.
And now, to make it even more complicated, there is a
third category. A Hybrid one. Yes, that is correct, Hybrid is no longer just
limited to cars these days. First there was ICE then there was EV and now we
have Hybrids, don’t even go into the type of hybrids, PHEV, Mild, Strong and
what not. Same is the case in birding too. This Hybrid category is essentially
a birder who carries good photography gear because he/she values the moments
and would like to capture them to remember them. Disposable income has
increased for people over the years. Now you don’t need to sell your kidneys to
buy a prime lens or a flagship camera. They are expensive no doubt, but within
reach. These days, good gears are not just restricted to professionals who are
making money from their photographs. A lot of hobbyists are carrying expensive
gears just because they can afford it.
So now I’m coming back to my conscience. Well… I do fall in that third category, and I consider myself a Hybrid. The joy and satisfaction that I get after watching a bird is immense, but I don’t want to let go off that moment and I would like to remember it all my life. And that can only happen when I click a photograph of that bird species. I can always go back to that photo and relive the moment when I saw it for the first time. I can cherish the memory, and the features of that bird, only if I’m myself able to get a good shot through my camera. The whole process of watching it and then freezing that moment of happiness, lets me re-live and re-experience that happiness over-and-over, whenever I see that photo again. So photography is definitely a huge part of me being a birder. A note of caution though – I don’t consider myself a photographer essentially because I’m not that creative when it comes to photography. Photography for me is just a medium to record my sightings, and in the process if I can manage to get a good shot of a beautiful bird, with clean bokeh, tack sharp feathers, then I’m truly content. I don't have any social media accounts (like facebook, insta, snapchat, linkedin too). I don't prefer to share my pics anywhere. I only maintain this blog which is a public blog, but I maintain it for my own requirement and purpose. It is kind of a personal diary for me where-in I keep a track of the things that interest me, particularly my hobbies. And I regularly use this blog as a means to refer to my old pics and sightings whenever there is a confusion in IDing a bird. Even though I don't consider myself a photographer, but gear plays a very significant role in birding. I am grateful to destiny that I can afford good camera and lens gear, that I can afford to go to new birding locations. I am also grateful to my destiny that it is giving me the opportunity and time to do birding. This was not the case 7 years ago when I was in my corporate career.
When I was in my corporate job, all I used to crave was
to get at least one week-long vacation in a year, so that I could do some
birding. No boss would give you leaves or day-offs to let you go and watch
birds. Not in the Indian corporate culture. So in 2018 when I got the opportunity
to start my own company, I did everything possible to do it in a way that I
could get some personal time for myself. Before 2018, my life list of birds was
stuck at 350. I started birding in 2012 and from 2012 to 2018, in those 6 years
I could barely manage to click 350 species and those birds were the most common
ones that one can find around. Finally in 2018, when I became an entrepreneur,
life gave me a chance to do things as per my liking. I decided I won’t run
after minting money, like most entrepreneurs. I would rather prefer to make
less money but have more time for myself so that I could go on core birding
specific locations in the Himalayas and try increasing that life list of mine. I
crossed the 800 species milestone in 2022, adding almost 500 birds to my list
in a matter of 4 years. And these 500 were not the easy ones. My company was
running steadily, I wasn’t so concerned about making money for my livelihood
and I finally got some personal time to spend doing birding without taking
anybody’s approval.
Now, the most dreaded question of all. Where do I see
myself in my birding / driving future? How long and how sustainable are these
hobbies?
Driving on India roads, is not an easy task at all. After
all the unforeseen challenges and hardships that one faces on the road, if one
can maintain this passion for so long, as in my case 20 years now, I would say
I really love driving. Otherwise, the deterrents are more than enough for
anyone to give up on this hobby. I’m thankful to destiny that I could buy a
good car like an Audi, which helps me live this passion a little easier. But I’m
not getting any younger and roads in India are not getting any safer, so I’m
not sure how long can I continue this hobby of mine. I might have to start
thinking in the lines to settle somewhere abroad, where I can continue this hobby.
As far as birding is concerned, I guess I will be content if I’m able to photograph 5000 bird species before I die. Why 5000? How did I even arrive at this number. Well… somebody many years ago told me that goals should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound). There are about 10 to 11 thousand species of birds in this world. So, keeping things at 5000 made this goal a SMART goal. I don’t know how far I will go in this pursuit. If luck rides with me, I might even surpass that number. If life starts playing strange games with me, I might not even go anywhere close to that number. But that is all subjective. I know that I have a dream to capture 5000 species in my camera and I will be content if I’m able to do that. I might even reach the top pyramid of Maslow’s need hierarchy (Self-actualization) once I achieve that feat.
What a great way for SOUL-SEARCHING isn’t it?
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