Not more than five hundred

[Samrat Sarkar]

There is a sketch of a couple of this bird in the book of Sir Hume as well. A male bird is sitting somewhere and a female bird with its shoulder stooped downwards closing in towards the male bird. It looks quiet an intimate moment for the couple. At present the number of this bird survivings merely 300. All of them may vanish at any time. A large scale flood or a serious pandemic is sufficient to obliterate this species from the face of earth. There may come some morning when a florican will perform its last flight to the sky and will then fall asleep in the grassland of the Terrai forever the same way as the Pink Headed Ducks got lost. We all are now enjoying their sudden flights from the ground not knowing whether this flight will be its last one or not. And if one day one such flight becomes that last flight we will forget everything and will engage ourselves in various social controversies in front of the television sets, will again stand in queues to cast our votes to make a new and prosperous India.

Originally written in Bengali – Samrat Sarkar
Translation into English – Bishwajit Debnath
Photographs and sketches with wood pencil – Samrat Sarkar