Well, the beginning of today (er, it just became yesterday) was a little negative, knowing I had missed the TV broadcast of my concert, and the ending was a little negative, over my efforts to speak Kannada…but in between lay a really fantastic day, traipsing all over Nandi Hills in the strong, cold monsoon breeze, looking at birds and trees and millipedes and macaques…

Today, to me, was really the first day of the monsoon, excepting the first few heavy showers that heralded its arrival some time ago. From the top of Nandi Hills, we watched the clouds gather force, and saw the rain sleeting down on the plains…such an awesome sight. The strong winds pushed at us and chilled our hands and faces; the soughing of the monsoon breeze in the huge, majestic trees was both music and a long-awaited benison for the parched earth; and the dustless green everywhere was so cooling to the eyes and the soul…

Once again, my camera battery gave up the ghost halfway through the day, and made much better use of my CF card thereafer, filling it up with images of several birds and raptors...so I will post more pics after he returns the card to me. But he has got some incredible shots on his own card as well...it was great to watch and see how he manages to "catch" those crucial moments of flight, or prey capture, or other interesting behaviour!

The uncomplicated companionship of others whose only agenda is to enjoy Nature was a really enjoyable thing, too, as was the ribbing about my less-than-superb camera skills…

A day of physical activity, mental relaxation, and general satisfaction, spent in beautiful surroundings…what more can one want!