Me, my wife & our son are out exploring the neighborhood on my wife's TVS-Scooty. This is a weekly 'ritual' that we indulge in and something the 3 of us love doing. We spend an hour or so visiting some new place in the neighborhood that we have never been to before. Once there,
we walk around taking in the sights or just sit on the banks of the river watching it flow by. Sometimes, we drop in at a tea-shop in the neighborhood to have a cup of hot tea.
Today, we decided to try out a different road than the one we've been exploring for the past months. The road in front of my home forks into two near the church. One leads to the bridge across the river and is the road that we have been taking for the past months now. The other road runs along the side of the church & after meandering through a populated neighborhood, comes to a place where all around you have only acres of green fields. And ofcourse the river flows by with the road running along it.
When I was young & studying in Kerala, I used to come to this place very often with a friend. There was a small tea-shop near the river, run by a couple whose home was also in the same plot. I just loved the hot 'n soft Bonda (a sweet delicacy in the shape and size of a cricket ball - different from what is known as a Bonda in Tamilnadu) that they made & sold in the evenings. And to top it, the Bonda went really well with tea.
While this was my motivation for visiting the place, my friend was only too eager to join me because he was then seeing the elder daughter of the couple that ran the shop. So we would
cycle down there, and while I would have my fill of Bonda & tea, he would try to snatch some conversation with the girl when her parents were not around.
Anyway, I was now retracing the steps of my childhood. I could see that the shop no longer exists, though the couple still stay there. I remember my friend telling me that the house &
land is up for sale and asked whether I am interested. For all the charm of having a house by
the river, I would still think it better to build a house of my liking on the river-side land we already own, instead of buying a readymade home.
Anyway, we cross the house and reach the place where the road now runs along the river.
All of a sudden we see rush-hour traffic coming our way & blocking the small road. We park
the Scooty and watch this spectacle open-eyed. Especially my son for whom this is like the
8th wonder of the world.
Its a huge crowd of ducklings that are being led to the river for some fun in the river. I guess
this must be a once-daily kind of occurence. There are so many of them that we fail at even
guessing an approximate number. So we ask the guy who is leading them to the river and he
says they number around 4000 !!!
They cross the road and slowly enter the river, slowly wading out into the river. It is such an
unbelievable spectacle to see them all in the river. Meantime another couple on their bike
have also parked their bike and joined us in watching this awesome scene. While I click away
on my Sony cam, the guy takes pictures with his phone-cam.
They spread out into the wide river, having fun swimming around.
Suddenly we see a group of the ducklings moving away from the crowd and going with the
flow of the river. When the ducklings were taken to the river, I had wondered how the guy
would be able to keep his flock from straying and now I was about to see how he would bring
these strayers back to the flock.
He just jumps into a small 1-man canoe (called 'Kodhumbu vallam' in local parlance) & rows
over to the straying group, circles around them and coaxes them to join the group. He uses verbal cues - some sounds he makes that the ducklings seem to understand and slowly he
has them rejoin the group.
While some are swimming in the river, most of the ducklings are using this opportunity to
groom themselves while staying near the shore - kind of similar to us taking a shower.
This one does not take too kindly to our presence. She seems to be implying, "Can't a lady
even groom herself in peace without prying eyes watching ?"
In a matter of few minutes, the guy has rounded the strayers back to the group.
Look cute, don't they ?
We wait and watch to see the guy use verbal cues to make them leave the river and walk back
to their enclosure which is some 50 metres from the river. Like obedient school-children, they
trudge back home.
Everyday is a new experience here. All that is needed to chance upon them is to have the will
to go out into the midst of nature. It is at these times that I regret staying in a city and start
thinking of options that would allow me to move to my hometown. One day, for sure ...
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