The pleasure of birds

I bought this when I was in India recently, and what a lot of pleasure it brought me. I was in the foothills of the Himalayas and saw all kinds of birds - golden eagles, booted eagles, black eagles, all sorts of tits, black headed bulbuls, prinias, a yellow bird that we just could not identify - actually, lots that we caught glimpses of and couldn't identity. They tended to flit from tree to tree and the presence of all those eagles probably had a lot to do with that!

I bought this in a bookshop packed to the gunnels with books, stationary, magazines and comics. The man offered me two bird books and while I was trying to chose between them, he disappeared. I chose one and then looked around the shop, absorbed in book titles, then gradually became aware of a chanting that was going on further into the shop. The man was standing with his back to me, his shoes off, and his head bent, while a priest chanted prayers over him. A few minutes later, it was over, the priest left the shop, the man put his shoes on and came over to serve me. My lovely bird book will always be associated with prayers and blessings.