Made a tiring but enjoyable birdwatching trip to Kokkre Belur on Saturday. The village is known for its spot billed pelicans and painted storks, which take residence in and around this village. This is the nesting season, and as soon as you enter KB, you are treated to the shrill cries of these birds and wonderful sights of storks and pelicans flying high in the sky above you. And what a sight it was!

A naturalist association from Mysore is working to conserve these birds in their natural habitat and helping villagers coexist with them – a task that is becoming progressively more difficult because of the increase in the village population. A gentleman called Manu, who was an ornithologist himself (and an engineer prior) has been working with the village people for nearly a decade now and he gave us a little background on the work he has been doing. I will post the pictures and a report of the trip later. But if you are a wildlife enthusiast (which I have slowly turned into after discovering so much of nature after moving here!), then do make a visit to this place.

Related links:
– An article on KB
– Birding in Karnataka

An equally hectic Sunday followed, by the end of which, I got hit by a bad eye infection. It turned out to be more serious than I thought initially (something getting into my eyes). According to the doc, long hours of wearing contact lens has injured my cornea slightly. I have been wearing lenses for about 10 years now, so I guess it has been a long time.

So, today I spent most of the day trying to rest the eyes and wear an eye patch – not a pretty sight as you can see! Kit Kit looked most unimpressed.

The verdict from the doc: no lenses or glasses for a couple of days till the swelling comes down. Then I need a new pair of glasses. I’m thinking Sania Mirza style (if I can’t have her talent, at least I can have her frames :). I did actually wear them for many long years before I got a little tired. Looks like it’s time to rediscover glasses again.

^^^^

I stumbled upon this article today in Telegraph India and was pleasantly surprised.

Two people mailed me saying this blog has been mentioned in the April issue of Dataquest, but I haven’t been able to get hold of a copy as yet.

(This blog made with the eye patch, which is quite an achievement. Possibly, the first blog entry made with an eye patch, I am thinking. Anyway…, I think I need some shut eye now. Without the darned eye patch!).