Remix

Nothing's gonna change my love for you!
Touch me not, feel me not,
Yet I just can't live without YOU!!!

10pm, saturday 15th october. I am lying on my bed, going thru images in my camera, and a neighbour plays this song - quite loudly - or was I hallucinating ??

Guyz, had yet another great session amidst the 'grasslands'. I had finished my class, tried meeting up Vishwa - he was stuck in British lib. - then checked up Shantanu - our man majorly giggled & said hez shopping for his in-laws landing the next day - well, well, well. There was no call from Neelam either, so I simply walked & looked around from 14:30 to 16:00. And, met much more interesting characters!

Nothing's gonna change my love for you.
Touch me now, feel me now,
Even though I may not be able to name YOU!

Yes, barring a few of them I am pretty confused of their lineage. Grasshoppers, crickets, locusts they all look alike to me. Even butterfly's & moths confuse me, so do excuse me. We will just meet & have a good look at them.

As I moved along, the first to catch my attention was this yellow butterfly. Moving around restlessly. Reminds me - when we were small the myth was that if U apply the 'tilak' from a butterfly, you will get some money - the butterfly's wings are delicate & as you hold them, a powdery substance gets deposited on ur finger tips, that was our 'tilak' material. We kept a carefull watch for 50 paise, 1 rupee....well, no treasures unearthed!

Nothing's gonna change my love for you,
Touch me not, feel me not
I simply can live without YOU!

As I walked close to the tall grass blades, they were at times taller than me, itz a seemingly thick grassy area. I dread the day when the gardner's would simply swipe that area clean.


Catching my attention next was this grasshopper(??). The colored streaks by its sides attracted me. This was a younger one, compared to the guy below.

He was a bit deep amidst the thick grass forest, thankfully was able to zoom in without much obstructions.


As I leasurely moved around, moving slowly & silently. Came across this fly. He let me snap him up for quite sometime, untill my macro snaps irritated him & he turned around - second snap - and flew away.

Nothing'g gonna change my love for you
Touch me not, feel me not
I just wanna live without YOU!

At this point, as I looked around, I spotted a big bird on top of a tree. This tree is beautiful. No other tree close by. So this guy, stands tall & wide, with a lot of spread & majesty.

Looks like a paraiah kite.

Decided to get close to the tree. Had a round about walk & slowly approached the tree. With hardly any other tree cover, my approach must have been highly visible. The Pariah kept calling - a long note, don't they sound like horses neighing - And, I went to the base of the tree & looked up. Well, no sight of the bird. I could hear its call though. After, checking various angles. I spotted it.

All pariah snaps with digital zoom enabled. I like these snaps for their nice bottom up feel.

This was the tree the Pariah sat on. The bird seemed to keenly watch me. He wasn't happy & took off. Flapping its wings, dived in a bit, and went up and sat on a far off tree.

Nothing's gonna change my love for you
Touch me not, look at me not
I simply want to be without YOU!

An african tulip. That cluster was unfurling in all directions.

I just sat in a shade, and looked around, lots of crickets/grasshoppers were jumping around. Various butterfly's were gliding, inspecting flowers and moving on. Dragon fly's & Damsel fly's.

This pansy with it torn wing majorly attracted me. I went around it, and took hazzar snaps. I was looking for that elusive snap. This one ?? So many snaps, I feeel I will write on them in detail later. Infact, as I was following this butterfly, seemed to develop some personal attachment for this guy. Some more of his clan were flying around, but this chap with his torn wing was easily identifiable and emotional bonds were spontaneously established ;-)

Nothing's gonna change my love for you

Touch me now, feel me now

I just can't live without YOU!

Well, well, look at this dragonfly head. The head looks like it has been partially scraped.

I wonder what this guy was doing. I mean, I don't understand these guyz at all. Most of the time they are flying full speed, not sitting anywhere at all. But, once in a while, you come across one of them glued. relaxing or sleeping or .... I took quite a few shots, and when I got too close, he just flew away. Notice the yellow coloring in the tips of the 2 pair of wings.

This guy, pretty good camoflauge with that granite, sat still. I was fascinated by its eyes. Kept going closer, until I was satisfied, the chap wasn't disturbed.

Mmmm. Golden abdomen ants. Not a well focussed shot. But the glitter of itz golden back stands out. This guy kept going up & down that grass plant. I suppose, he must be collecting some food/nectar from the flowers in them.

This is a better shot. Its fun to watch an ant going 'bout its job.

This is how I spend those 90 minutes, watching myriad life forms. You need to slow down, wait, and just look. Lots of wonderful guyz moving around. The play of the light, the time of the day, your dress, walking style, companions with you, all these matter. As an orthodox cricket coach would say 'bout test match batting 'Give the first hour to the bowler, then the rest of the match is yours'. Give some time for them to take you in, don't shuffle too much, your footwork should be soft. And, your eyes should be sharp. IISc main building seen from those grasslands.

Nothing's gonna change my love for you

Touch me now, feel me now

I just can't live without YOU!