Tuesday 23 February 2010

Upupa Epops

My brother and I are directing our school play, an adaptation of Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. And Haroun’s steed in the Land of Kahani, as you will know if you have read the book, was a mechanical hoopoe. Ever since we decided upon the story, hoopoes seem to have become a recurring feature of my life.

Last month, we went to school to discuss the script with our teacher-in-charge of extracurricular activities, and we noticed that the bird on the January page of her calendar was a hoopoe. And yesterday, after conducting rehearsals at school, I went to college for some work. Just as I had entered our campus, I spotted – of all things – a hoopoe!

Avian life on our campus is fairly diverse, but the last thing I had expected to see was a real live hoopoe.

Actually the last thing I had expected to see was a pterodactyl; nevertheless the hoopoe came as quite a surprise.

3 comments:

The Reluctant Rebel said...

The last thing you will expect to see at NUJS is a real lawyer.

Shrabasti Banerjee said...

Oh did you finally include the hoopoe in your script then? I was wondering why you hadn't!

Sroyon said...

@Saha: Come my friend, you are being unjust. They sometimes come here to give speeches and to preside over functions.

@Shrabasti: No, the hoopoe has still not found place in our script. Dashed difficult to represent it on stage.