Step it up!

My classmates from Pondy Univ will laugh their heads off if I told them I could name a few birds. Ornithology and any ecological study to do with birds was something I kept away from in those days. I felt strongly about insulting our fair feathered friends by calling them a wrong name, spotting them and figuring out who they exactly were was (is) such a challenge for me, I'd rather be happily immersed in all the garbage projects.  

Years later a son comes along and for whatever reason (can even be peer pressure) wanted to know if the bird he spotted was the bird he thought it was. He'd flip through my bird book and show me something and tell me why he thought what he spotted was that particular bird. Now, I tried "I'm a biologist but don't know EVERYTHING let me check and get back to you" line many times, but then the fear that his wrong assumptions being worse than no assumptions prodded me into learning a few names to begin with. I realised if I had to keep up with him I had to step it up and singing "....he'll know much more than I'll ever know..." won't do! So this October when we went to my parents place, bird watching was our main activity. With a little help from the great SAs bird book, my siblings and Dr M B Krishna, I managed to identify and show Nishanth a whole new bird world. And the good part is we had a Karan walking behind us asking if it was a pum-headed-pakeet or a dongo and the older sibling would take pains and pride in explaining to him what bird. 

Sometimes you just have to step outside your comfort zone if that difference has to be made ..... I am still trying ....