My job then was to build a nest as soon as possible. I cannot climb large trees. So I built a nest on the branches of a China rose plant at about one and half metre above ground and carefully placed the chick on the nest. As I did that I had some doubt whether they would accept the nest or not.

Just about one minute passed by. Both the parents started inspecting the nest very meticulously and performed some final works on the nest. Then all my anxiety came to an end. Both the parents started feeding the chick. As I saw the scene my eyes moistened and forgot to click my shutter. I did not want to click my shutter either at that moment of time. I discovered that some interesting jobs and passionate works also cannot always go beyond some boundary lines. At that moment watching them became more rewarding to me than photographing them.…. I moved towards the field in search of Barred Button-quail.

That day I was very much favoured by ‘Barred Button-quail’. I observed some incidence which helped me to make some headway with my works. The alter-ego sitting inside me was enraptured and was happy with my achievements that day. I cannot express with words how well I felt that day. There was no anxiety nor any tension in my mind for anything. As I was about to return home I almost forgot about the chick of the Oriental White-eye. That place will come along my way towards my home at the end of the field. I saw the branches of the papaya tree where the bird was sitting. I went close to the place where I built the nest for the chick and where its parents were feeding it. I was very anxious as to what happened to it.

As I was taking out my camera from my shoulder I could see the China rose plant but the nest was not there anymore! Only thin dry blade of grass was hanging from three slender branches. There was no trace of any remaining part of the nest. There was only a small gap of two hours in between my visits there. I could neither find the nest nor the chick. The housewife came hurriedly towards me and told me that a few minutes after I left the place the chick could not be seen in the nest. She claimed that a cat has ate it up. That was why she has thrown the nest away.

A heavy gloom engrossed all my mind. That alter-ego sitting inside me became very remorseful then. Some simple question cropped in my mind at that moment. Should I have remained guard for the birds? Then how could I guard them during the night? Did I make any mistake by building the nest for them, was the arrangement made by the housewife with the cane basket more appropriate for the chick in that situation? …. The basket would have been lifted from time to time and the chick fed at those intervals? The chick then would have survived? All these questions remained unanswered to me. A feeling of melancholy oozed out of my work of passion. The feeling of joy out of the work of my passion weighed down heavily by a feeling of sadness at that moment. I looked upwards and saw the pair of parent birds in between the mango and jack-fruit leaves, still then collecting insects from here and there…Not eating those insects. Frequently coming down to the China rose plant and not finding their chick there again going back … All the time calling their offspring in a high pitched voice.

Written in Bengali by Samrat Sarkar
English translation - Bishwajit Debnath
Shot with Canon EOS 7D + Canon 500mm f4 + Monopod