A visitor views migratory birds at Santragachhi Jheel. Pictures by Bishwarup Dutta

The weed-choked Santragachhi Railway Jheel displays a brown surface. With two telescopes and several binoculars doing the rounds, however, one discovers these are hundreds of brown Lesser Whistling Duck or Saral on the surface of the waterbody. A second look through the binoculars and it is a pair of Common Teal staring back at you. “This species is rarely seen in Calcutta. This is the first pair we have spotted here,” said Supriyo Samanta of Prakriti Samsad, an association of nature lovers that organised its third annual bird watch on January 27 and 28.

The event drew youngsters eager to partake of the variety of winged visitors to Santragachhi this winter, including the Swinhoe’s Snipe and the Northern Shoveller. Anita Prasad, a history teacher at Modern High School for Girls, who accompanied 90 students from Class VII remarked: “The students were very enthusiastic, even though they had to give up a holiday to come here. The visit is part of their project in environmental studies, a mandatory subject for them. They are eager for a second trip.”

Tanmoy Haldar, a first-year student of botany at Vivekananda College, who had dropped in, said: “Our professor told us about the bird watching session. I was especially impressed by the large numbers of Cotton Pygmy Goose. There were about 30 of them.”

Prakriti Samsad had distributed copies of a checklist of the English and local names of the migratory birds to all the visitors so that they could tick off the species they had spotted. Secretary Kushal Mookherjee explained: “The birds leave to forage for food in the evening and return to the waterbody early in the morning. That’s when they can be seen in large numbers. Birds like the Northern Pintail and the Northern Shoveller come here from North Asia and Europe.”

Yet, all is not well with Santragachhi Jheel. Sudipto Saha, a postgraduate student of zoology at Maulana Azad College, rued: “There is a great variety of birds here. But the lake is in a very sad condition, being partially choked with algae. Despite the presence of waste bins, people throw garbage into the water.”

Mookherjee said: “This is one of the last resorts of bird life near Calcutta. The number of birds this year was 4,797. It is a good site for birds since they return despite local disturbances. But there is an urgent need to save the waterbody from pollutants.”

Romila Saha

Chit Chat

Gem of a course

Jewellery school SinGem has launched the country’s first B.Sc degree course in jewellery design. The three-year programme, recognised by the UGC and administered in collaboration with Punjab Technical University, will be initially offered at the school’s five centres in Calcutta. Later, it will be taken to the other 25 centres across the country. The course commences in June and the application procedure will begin from February 15.

The syllabus comprises 90 per cent practical work, including internship programmes in the final year. About 30 full-time instructors will teach for three hours every day, thrice a week. The course fee is Rs 1.45 lakh, and it is payable on a semester or monthly basis. Students appearing for or having passed Class XII examinations are eligible to apply. The intake will be restricted to 180 students this year.

Romantic tryst

The day after Valentine’s Day, romanticism of a different kind will be the talking point at Jadavpur University, and the names doing the rounds will be Keats and Coleridge, Byron and the Brontes. It is time for the 14th annual seminar of the Centre for Studies in Romantic Literature and the high point of interest for undergrads will be the Know Your Romantics Quiz on February 15. The quiz, known to mix textbook and trivia, is open to two-member teams from colleges.

At the seminar on Wednesday, Micheal O’Neill of University of Durham will be the visiting speaker from the UK. For registration, contact 22902011 or 22876324.

The Diary

How have you been?

How have you been my scarlet girl?
Are you still afraid of the flutes…?
What did you do as the universe slowly died… and left behind ashes and claws…? What did you do when the birds lost their way home… and shed their wings upon the city…?
Did you hear the shriek of the city as the universe disappeared…?
I was there too when it happened… but I was looking at the poem outside my window…
and at the light coming from your room…
I was revolving in my mouth
a thousand prayers for your soft veins…
But you watched it whole, didn’t you?
So tell me, what did you do
when violet babies laughed…
in a sky of jaguars and archangels…?

Inam Hussain Mullick,
English, JU

The cupid’s kit

Life is dreary and slow yet we keep expecting more and more
The path we are to tread is surrounded by mist
And yet we strive to run the race for eternal bliss
Happiness is bleak and I carry a mourning heart learnt to be meek
They say love is a rare treasure to find
Today I know I’ve craved for it ’coz it was always on my mind
Just ’coz I didn’t get it doesn’t mean I don’t want it
Hope still keeps me hoping that someday my prince will come to me carrying the
Cupid’s kit.

Rohini Richard,
2nd yr English (hon), St Xavier’s College