These birds have flown

The thing about war cries is that they are often raised without any thought of the consequences

The other day I went to the Okhla Bird Sanctuary. It’s not far from my home in Delhi, but I had never got around to visiting the place. I read that more than 320 bird species had been recorded there, including nearly 70 migratory ones. The very names of the birds on the sanctuary’s website conjured up visions of beauty and colour — White Throated Kingfisher, Redwattled Lapwig, Greylag Goose, Common Teal… I was looking forward to making my bones as a bird watcher.

But when I went there, the birds seemed to have decamped. I walked down the forest path