One fine evening, my good friend Balak called me. "Would you come to Bhigwan for the weekend?", he asked .

Without even asking him what was the plan, I said " ok, I will come" . I didn't know then what was in store for me.

We started around 6 pm from Mumbai ( me, Balak and Vishwesh) on a Friday evening. Our vehicle for this trip was the mighty muscular TUV 300, driven by Vishwesh. We were moving at a snails pace till around Kharghar, maybe it was the weekend traffic for Pune causing the holdup.. We had dinner at Sadanand Regency at Wakad, Pune. After dinner, we made our overnight halt at our friend Animishs home at Kothrud. After a round of the famous Mastani , we decided to call it a day. I asked Balak " what time do we get up? " . He said "3.30 am ". The clock was showing 1.30 am, already.

With just a cup of Tea, we started our journey to Bhigwan at 4 am. I had had hardly any sleep the night before too, so I dozed off for a while in the TUV. " Just look out on the right" , someone screamed in excitement. I sprung awake . The sky was painted in hues of pink, red, orange and blue. God was painting his canvas.

We reached our Guide's home near Bhigwan around 6.30 am. We freshened up pretty quick, as the guide was saying we were already late. " Late, how could 7 am be late " , I thought to myself. My friends changed into their camouflaged nature prints and took out their birding camera gear. While they had their Nikons and Canons with massive lenses, I got into the TUV with my only photography gear. My tiny Iphone XS.

Our guide took us to on the vast open grasslands near Karjat Village, some 40-50 kms from Bhigwan. That's when the magic began to unfold. Vishwesh manouvered the TUV on the tough retain wherever the guide directed us to go. He would spot a 'Common Kestrel' , tell us to follow a track . My friends would choose a vantage point near the 'Raptor' , switch off the engine , take out their massive cameras and start shooting ,not literally.

We spent the entire Saturday and Sunday morning bird watching like this. Nature put out its best show for us. I, personally, learnt a lot. How raptors migrate, how the prey try to fend off the predators, when and where they nest, what are the birds calls and when is the best time to sight those birds. I realised how vast the bird universe is. Till now, I was only aware of some common birds like crows, pigeons, parrots and common sparrow. I learnt how everyday is a struggle , how everyday life begins its day at sunrise and ends at sunset for these birds. I realised , yet again, that this earth belongs to so many species other than Humans . And how, there's everything for everyone.

I realised how there are Humans who have a different set of rules for enjoyment. They are not interested in visiting waterfalls or amusement parks. They are not interested in boozing till one drops or dancing the night away in a discotheque. These nature photographers are interested in capturing those ' Fifty Shades of Grey'

P.S . The list of birds that we spotted over the weekend

  1. Kestrel
  2. Montegue Harrier
  3. Scaly breasted Muniya/ Strawberry Finch
  4. Rock Bush Quail
  5. Southern Grey Shreik
  6. Common Koot ( वारकरी)
  7. Crested Lark
  8. Indian Corser ( Dhavik)
  9. Black Drongo (Kotwal) mimicry artist
  10. Bonelli's
  11. Red Neck Falcon
  12. European Roller
  13. Indian Eagle Owl
  14. Babbler ( सात बाई)
  15. Cuckoo ( Jacobin)
  16. Bee Eater ( Yeda Raaghu)
  17. Baya Weaver ( Sugran)
  18. Yellow eyed Babbler
  19. Blue Face Malkova
  20. Spot billed Duck
  21. Short toed snake eagle
  22. Chameleon
  23. Kingfisher
  24. Monitor Lizard (ghorpad)Chinkara
  25. Fox
  26. Painted Sand Grousel
  27. Montegue Harrier
  28. Grey Frankolin
  29. Spotted Owlet ( पींगळा )
  30. Eagle Owl
  31. Marsh Harrier
  32. Dove
  33. Bharadwaj
  34. Cormorant (पान कावळा)
  35. Little Grebe ( पानडुबी)
  36. Siberian Stone Chat ( गप्पी दास)
  37. Pheasant Tailed Jakana ( कमळ पक्षी)
  38. Stilt ( शेकाटी)
  39. Blue cheek Bee Eater
  40. Long tail Shreik ( खाटीक)
  41. Woolly neck Stork
  42. Pied Bush Chat