World of the gazer

For editor, author and bibliographer Aasheesh Pittie, birdwatching is a lifelong philosophical pursuit rather than a pastime. His latest book, The living air: The pleasures of birds and birdwatching, is a set of essays on his birding journey, written over 30 years. Excerpts:

- Aasheesh Pittie

BIRDWATCHING IS not an eternal quest for rarity, though no birder denies the thrill of sighting one. It is not about racing all over the landscape and tallying a century of birds before lunch, though no birder will deny the special joy of such a 'ton'. It is not twitching for the greatest number of species seen, though there have been many that have basked in the sunshine of that self-indulgent high life (they truly miss the wood for the trees).

Birdwatching, in its essence, is the fine art of becoming invisible-of merging into the surroundings in such a way that the breath which nature has held back upon your entry into its parlour is joyfully exhaled and normal respiration restored; in such a way that the frozen statues of animate wildlife, interrupted by your brashness, are coaxed into resuming their activities; in such a way that your aural and visual senses are drenched with the buoyancy of life; in such a way that you find a way outside yourself and become a part of the pageant around you.

This does require the cultivation of a patience that slows down your pace to that of the elemental cycles dominating the flow of life in an immaculate world run entirely without human help. It requires the marshalling and realigning of vision and a new focus of hearing so that you absorb every single sound and identify its source and gradually its nuances, its cadenzas. It demands a preoccupation with stillness.

What are the rewards of this exercise? I can think of at least two that will last you a lifetime. One, you will begin to notice things about your surroundings that you never knew existed, bringing you immediate, immeasurable joy. Two, your restless inner dynamo will wind down to such an extent that you discover a quietude, a stillness within you; a fount for a fresh view of your surroundings, a new approach to life based on reenergized sensitivities.