The last Icon, turning into an illusion in our times - GIB male, Solapur

[Subhash Shrivastava]

Canon SX60 HS, 1/160, f/5.6, 247 mm, ISO-160. Cropped. Basic PP in GIMP.

Clicked in Nannaj, Solapur on 01-June-15.

In an early summer morning, when all is still draped in warm grey, sitting in the hut looking out with sleepy eyes & nimble mind. Suddenly a large shadow lifts itself from the undulating savannahs and ascends in a low flight toward the crimson eastern sky.
Very few moments may be more beautiful.

Alas the guy is dead, supposedly in an accident in Sep-15.
What a year 2015 was, when ‘Bad times’ have to be redefined again and again.

[Mrudul Godbole]

Lovely sighting of this endangered species. In LRK, we sighted this bird, but it was very far off and by the time our gypsy reached it ran out of sight :(. As it is a crop, if you have more space on the left, you can crop the out of focus tree on the right and add a bit more space at the bottom to include the legs in full.

You are referring to a GIB killed in an accident? How that happened? Thanks for sharing.

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Nice catch subash..agree with mrudul on compo.

"What a year 2015 was, when ‘Bad times’ have to be redefined again and again"

Mrudul : Subhash has all the space on the far left.....his feelings for the far right seem very clear....atleast on the political spectrum :laugh:

TFS
Roopak

[Subhash Shrivastava]

Thanks Mrudul n Roopk, for sharing feedback and views.
I didn’t have any space left in the left, I am referring to the image here :). You will notice the hint of a cement structure at the feet, yes there was a manmade waterhole on the right that I cropped out. I was alone in the hut, GIB came pretty close. It had flown out of grasslands at around 6 AM and came back for feeding n resting at 9:30 AM.
Regarding accident, <http://www.punemirror.in/pune/civic/Handsome-GIB-alpha-dead/articleshow/49037247.cms> . I tried collecting the info through my sources, all looks very muddy.

Roopak sir, I wrote those lines, referring to my professional & personal fronts. Seeing your analysis, I was amazed , I felt a piece of my subconscious have been unraveled, a kind of Freudian slip.
I am too free thinking to subscribe to any extreme political ideology or religion. When I am in doubt, I refer to Kabi Rabi’s poem, ‘Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high…”.

Thanks again.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

The extreme right in the image is dark. :)

I am not able to discern any correlation of love for environment with respect to political leanings. The so called middle which ruled India for ten years till May 2014 was bad. But the impact on environment by the currently ruling party (far right on the spectrum) on environment is really dark. Extreme left have never ruled India, but their impact on environment and wildlife in some of the states they have ruled doesn't inspire confidence either. :(



"What a year 2015 was, when ‘Bad times’ have to be redefined again and again"

Mrudul : Subhash has all the space on the far left.....his feelings for the far right seem very clear....atleast on the political spectrum :laugh:

TFS
Roopak

Subhash,
Sad to hear that this friend of yours got run down by a vehicle. Hope many more people can get such precious experiences as yours which remains as good memories for years. Watching such a majestic bird from close quarters and that too all alone is a dream. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Subhash Shrivastava]

Sabya sir, you brought a paradigm shift, how the dark, dividing fringe at right was so hidden from perspective till you pointed it out ! Also the yearning glance of GIB looking back, oh my ….

I was told that the GIB died colliding with electrical wires, same story whether Nannaj or Kutch, but somehow I am not able to digest it still. You mentioned that it has run down by a vehicle !

In my last two visits I have watched this majestic GIB for hours, mostly alone in the hut. Somehow, I feel guilty remembering it now, it always carried a melancholy air with an alpha male GIB alone in an extensive grassland for years.