So many little pieces of action as one walks, cycles, drives past. A cow ruminatively eating a poster as the billposter moves on to sticking up the next one. A cart laden with carpets backing down the slope into the hapless front bumper of a Maruti 800 (one speeds past this before the action actually starts.) A little girl shushing your “hi” on the stairs of your apartment as she hides from her friends; the “tag” girl’s mouth opening in surprise as she streaks “home” free. A lady looking on patiently as two men (one obviously the “owner” and the other one the “driver”) look, somewhat puzzled, into the guts of their car. A youth running for a bus…which he misses..you see him slowing down after giving up the chase.Two ladies haggling at a fruit pushcart.

I have entered my fifties, and belong, firmly, to the generation of parents of twenty-somethings…but I am able to empathise so much with the younger generation as they express viewpoints that others of my age are not able to see. As my daughter and her friends grew up, I felt that I was making a fresh group of friends,as they became adults in their own right. I learnt to call them my friends instead of my daughter’s.

Felt somewhat emotional today as I went to see off . Didn't get to spend as much time as I wanted to over the visit, as we were travelling a lot and when we were in town, he wasn't....sigh, =hope I get to spend more time at least with another "daughter's-friend-turned-into-friend" who is just beginning HIS month-long visit...another classmate of who has brought so many great people into my life!

Watched two events on TV…one, the annual “geetaanjali” (worship through music) to the Saint-Composer, Thyaagaraajaa. The other, the Republic Day Parade at Delhi.

The process of getting to participate in the tiger census seemed so disorganized that we were actually wondering, having missed 2 days of it, whether we should go or not. But then we decided we would,after I was able to speak to the Asst Conservator of Forests, and it has been a very rewarding experience indeed. I do feel that the process of recruiting volunteers seems very haphazard to me…but there were 75 volunteers at Kabini in spite of their having got just a day’s notice! If you are to be a volunteer, please invest in a good pair of shoes, and be prepared to walk a lot,know that you will pay Rs.50 per day, and be happy with all that you see instead of pining all the time for a big cat sighting. (There is the “day-before-day-after” rule that applies very much to me…people who see big cats the day before I arrive and the day after I leave…it was true this time too!)