The winter months in Delhi have a surreal feeling; a blend of romanticism and ruggedness.  It is the time when winged visitors from far flung lands come to the areas around Delhi. For a wildlife lover there couldn’t be a better time.

Those days Dwarka, in Delhi, where I used to stay, was still a semi wilderness and had some urban forest cover still intact. Those scattered forest patches, surprisingly, was habitat to some wildlife like Neel Gai (Great Indian Antelope), wild cat, monitor lizard, Jackal and many species of birds. I along with my brother used to explore these areas.

One day he called me to inform that he got a new Camera and wants to try out wildlife photography. We wandered through the jungles looking for some wildlife to shoot. Though we managed to spot few Neel Gai we could not get any good pictures. The problems here were multifold; the lens was a small one with limited reach and we didn’t have any knowledge of wildlife photography. We continued our exploration for many weeks. But the results were some really low-quality pictures, which at best can be described as trash. One day, while sauntering through this area, we came across a big pond like waterbody. On a closer inspection we learned that it was a building site where the builder dug up the land and later abandoned the work, because of some trouble. During the previous rainy season, the pit filled with rain water and had taken a shape of a large pond. When we got closer to the place, we were surprised to notice many waterbirds in the pond. Most of them were the migratory ones. We had previously travelled to faraway places like Bharatpur to see these migratory birds and here they were right next to where we live! 

That was the beginning of the real wildlife photography for me. During that winter I also bought a basic DSLR with a kit lens. We visited this place many times to photograph these birds. Slowly I learned the nuances of wildlife photography, the limitation of my knowledge of the species and the limitation of my equipment. That realization was the beginning of a new learning, a birth of a humble wildlife photographer! I have immersed myself into learning the basics of photography, equipment, identification and behaviors of birds and other animals. As my learning progressed the winter slowly gave way to the spring and the birds migrated back to wherever they came from, leaving behind the spark they ignited in me.  

I decided to be better prepared for their return next year and continued the learning process. Over a period of time, with practice, I became a wildlife photographer who could take some nice pictures! Whenever I had some free time, I continued to visit the pond. I was disheartened to watch the pond shrinking with the approach of summer. One day all there left was a dry bed. During that time Dwarka was reeling with the shortage of water and there was a mafia who used to dig borewells illegally to extract underground water and sell it in tankers to the residents. Unfortunately, those greedy people dug borewells close to our little pond and started the water extraction. They even threatened us for wandering around with camera, fearing that they might get exposed. With great pain we realized that it was all done with the support of few corrupt government officials who were hand in glove with this mafia. They were extracting so much water that the water table dropped so low the pond could no longer retain water during the next rainy season.Without water those birds never returned. Today, sadly, those urban jungle areas, where we used to frequent to see and photograph wildlife, is all been converted into concrete jungle.

I am greatly thankful to those beautiful birds who visited my place once and inspired me to become a wildlife photographer.