A crow and a kite.

Earlier today around noon, I saw two crows soaring over the upper-Manali valley, matching the heights of the mountains. A hot but windy day and they were on a steady glide, once even circling as eagles and kites do.

While I was watching them with my head bent backwards, I was not only admiring them flying so high, two black bodies against the blue sky, but also trying to confirm if they were indeed crows. I was trying to zoom in on them with squinted eyes, waiting desperately for them to do something crow-like. But the pair disappeared behind the houses, leaving me baffled, perhaps for life.

As I’m not very sure that they were crows, as they were so brilliant at pretending to be kites, I’ll call them mini-kites for now — until I see them again, which I hope I do. And when I see them again, I’ll fly with them so they cannot disappear. I’ll pretend to be a crow with two crows who like to pretend to be kites.

Date

15 March 2022

Up next

Spring is here. Over the snowy mountains, the white star blazes golden light from a corner of the blue sky. Against the blue sky, a black body in flight. A crow

Previously

Half moon, half river. The half moon over the western peaks, straight before me from Vashisht. Straight but not exactly — for nothing is exactly straight in the Himalaya