Nature Walk #1

This was the first time in 2 years at college that Gates and I went on the nature walk with the regulars - +Amogh Jalihal , +Ameya Jalihal and +Tejas Kinger.

After a boring, tiring, irritating day at college,  anyone would enjoy a good ol' nature walk with a couple of friends. This is exactly what we did! We had earlier decided that we'd go for a walk but I had forgotten all about it in the scorching heat. I got back from college and crashed in my room. I must thank Gates here for waking me up and asking if I was accompanying them for a walk. I hurriedly woke up (cuz we had already kept Ameya waiting a while), brushed, changed into sandals I could wear in the "wilderness" and ran out (quite literally!). Amogh, paavam that fellow, was waiting for us at GNV for half an hour! :P We joined him and then walked out of the campus, ornithologists, nature lovers and bored juveniles, all out on a mission. A mission to have a nice long walk in the wild! :D

As we hit Vallam-Pudur road, I could almost feel the pressure of college life lift off me and I was beginning to loosen up for real. My phone gradually slid into my pocket (from where I took it out only to take pictures then on) cuz I didn't want to reply to any messages. My gait gained a light spring, like the one +Rasika Ts always has, the breeze felt cooler on the road (I was complaining about the heat just minutes back) and I was genuinely enjoying myself! :D Kinger kept us busy with his keen eye for "rare birds" (Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Vertebrata, Class Aves) and Amogh and Ameya kept yapping, about the well from which you could see the sunset, about snakes, about the view of the university from there and so on. (Some people will understand the need to mention the classification taxonomy of the rare birds mentioned above :P)

 

Gates walks past the university

The well!

Another angle of the well, and the lone tree

Anyway, we suddenly took a detour from the main road and started walking through a fallow field strewn with dead crabs, disembodied rats and the like, all prey for the herons, crows and other predatory birds in the area. As we neared the well, we could clearly see the orange disc in the horizon, hiding behind a bunch of thorny bushes. Fun fact about those bushes (courtesy Ameya), they are an alien species to the region. They deplete the water table, shroud the shorter plants in darkness by forming a canopy of leaves above them and cannot be used as fodder as it has thorns. We even spotted a few weird-looking bumblebees among those bushes.

Weird bumblebees

Now the eyes beheld a sight too divine there for us to not take selfies there! :P :P

It isn't what it looks like! :P

As we continued down the road, picking up feathers here and there, we spotted some peafowl running helter skelter (at a distance) and a spider community! Took us a while to believe what we were looking at. It looked like some white rags hanging off the branches of a tree.

That white stuff hanging off the branches was everywhere

This amazing experience ended with a walk through a dried up river bed, collecting exquisite feathers, singing, talking, laughing and generally, just having a lot of fun! :D And oh of course! How could I forget the "climb" up to the road form the level of the river bed? There's a video of me struggling to climb up a small (yet not too small) embankment and injuring Amogh in the process! XD (Sorry Amogh!). We then walked back to the university, singing songs and talking of how we should do this more often!!

Ameya and Kinger

Gates and I

Amogh, Gates and I

And lol, I've said this earlier, but I'll say it again! That was one of THE best evenings I'd had in a very long time! Thank you guys! :D We should do this again, cuz #YOLO B|

I've named this post "Nature Walk #1" in the hope that this won't be the first and the last of such walks! :)