How Manipal boosted My Hobby: Bird Watching…

When I say my hobbies are bird watching and bird photography people make funny blank faces, like I have said pornography or something,  their eyes pop out they start giving me unwanted smiles, to me that’s because I feel I always come across humans with satyriasis and nymphomaniasis. For people who don’t know what I meant; Bird watching = watching boys/girls, in local language i.e Desi Hindi what is called as “Taapna”.  It made me so awkward that now I hardly use Bird Watching for describing my passion when my genuine intention is watching avian beauty, but now I mostly put it as “birding” some understand some ask for more detail and I can explain them.

Manipal has always been my dream because of the status of the university and because of the location, the lovely coasts of Karnataka. I landed in Manipal about a year back from now. Like most of the Indian students I dislike my profession. Being a normal human being, not satisfied with what you have has always bothered me and has been major cause of unhappiness. But being an Indian girl from a middle class family it is important to listen to what your parents say. I am not saying my parents are wrong, I have the most wonderful parents, but still due to some unknown reasons  I couldn’t tell them how much I loved birds and couldn’t go against their wish of seeing me as one practising the noble medical profession. I continued studying medical and reading books on birds when I got time. Today my parents stand tall in the society saying our daughter is into one of finest universities and into the noble “medical profession”.

Aaah..  Joke! All professions are noble if you ask me.

Manipal, the university town and a hill station is situated at the gorgeous Malabar coasts with Western Ghats range at the east and the beautiful Arabian Sea to the west. It also has a lot of water bodies, wet lands and paddy fields thus making it a paradise for birds.

Around 190 species of birds have been reported and there are still many more to come. Bird watching is such a hobby that involves you more and more as you start knowing more about birds. It’s amazing to watch and be with something other than humans and computers. Humans are a part of nature so spending time with nature gives immense pleasure and is also a great stress buster. In our day-to-day life a nature walk/bird walk can be a wonderful alternative to watching movies, television and other hangouts. 😀 Bird walks costs you nothing but gives you an opportunity to know the beautiful colourful world that exists around you thus creating awareness and stressing the need to save the environment.