It is worthwhile to note that sometimes even if it looks/smells/ swims/quacks like a duck – it may not actually be a duck. Maybe it hid by the river and stared at a duck for a really long time and thought to itself “hell, I could pretend to be one”. Perhaps it went to a duck university. Or ransacked a duck supermarket.
All the duck juice – shockingly, just gone. And now the world is convinced that it belongs to the Anatidae family.
Not shocking whatsoever is my understanding of human behavior that some people hide more than they let out about themselves. Especially, in the digital world.
Their hips may not lie, but their social profiles don’t always speak the truth. They may claim to be passionate about a variety of consumable topics. From subversive art forms, nomadic-styled traveling, social welfare to feminism, animal rights, political dissonance and poor people who suffer outside the borderlines of their cities or countries.
They may even feign some sort of conversational knowledge about it. But the reality may be that they subscribe to communal thinking to be perceived as being intellectual or altruistic. There is a chance that they may be stalking you too. Google is their best friend, teacher and love guru.
It’s why someone who likes the same band, movie, book or social cause that you do might be a sociopath. In rare cases, a lunatic with a soft corner in his / her poorly-ventilated basement for your vital organs. Kidneys aren’t cheap.
Friends have told me about their first-time encounters with people they have only connected with online. It had been going so well until they decided to meet each other in person. And then, the experiences have ranged from awkward and befuddling to frustrating and creepy.
Unfortunately, it can be cumbersome to go through the day without being able to trust those around us. It may not even be worth the tiring effort. But it is imperative to stay cautious. Leave the rest to instincts and common sense.
Ducks can be trusted. Given how noisy they are, it is hard for them to catch us by surprise.
People though can be sneaky. Unless you spend time with them. Get to know who they are, beyond the facade of accumulated knowledge or the facsimile of borrowed wisdom. That way, you won’t put yourself in a position to be affected by such foolery. Or you will at least see it coming a mile away.
However, if you spot a bird that looks like a duck and quacks like one, be rest assured. It is probably a duck.
(Photographs: Ponneri, Pulicat, Vedanthangal, Sholinganallur)
You, sir, deserve the blogging Oscar (Hint: I’m always nice to people online)
LikeLiked by 4 people
Awww shucks too kind you are, sir. oatmeal cookie tomorrow would be unavoidable!
LikeLike
Phew! That was quite some advice! 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
I m sure y’all are aware enough to differentiate, this was more of a “hey remember how some people are”
LikeLike
Yes, but I wzs expecting something one Malabar Squirrels 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree, why squirrels when I recently met ducks themselves
LikeLike
So that is where this comes from!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nah I changed the photos I mean:) I did meet common teals during bird-watching and those experiences are never negative.
This post is just a cautionary note because I’m assuming people are still as screwed up as they were last I thought about them.
LikeLike
The warning has been given!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Beware of the verseherder everyone :p they say he’s the worst of the worst!
LikeLiked by 1 person
excellent!
LikeLiked by 1 person
am going to sit here for a moment or two…first am thinking is he referring to me!!! is that all about me? and now that a moment is over am thinking – hell i make for a better duck then there ever was!!! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hehehe daffys you is far away from such peoples and you knows. But duck eh sure i can see yous as a ruddy shelduck
LikeLike
Love the strength. Vert true and relatable 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
If words could kill, this would have been a massacre
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh how I would love to know the back-story to THIS post! (Or maybe not.) And I’m neither a duck nor a duck-wannabe. Just me. Yawn.
LikeLiked by 1 person
thump
crunch
shrill
growl
pop
snap
cha ching
bling
sting
fling
ding
sits back to observe the chaos, one side of mouth up turned, the other pointing down
lovely
LikeLiked by 1 person
chaos is beautiful when a moth thinks about it. junipers count too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well well.. That was very intriguing! I’m putting my thinking cap on and sitting in a corner with just one thought “have I put up borrowed information anywhere?” 😛
LikeLiked by 1 person
veni vidi vici comrade! tis ain’t about anyone in the blogger world at all, tis wasn’t potshots either. just something that went through my nostrils and came out of my fingers.
LikeLike
Heehaahaa! Then I can get back to being bored by mundane office jobs!! 😛 Shay! You took the fun away!
LikeLiked by 1 person
well, partypooper is my middle name. you have a good day, comrade!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fakes are always in season. They never migrate 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
yeah sushi, like house crows. no wait, they have wings. like, dust bunnies? no bunnies are cute. ermm moss isn’t seasonal and feels kinda. Dammit, help me out here, they are like?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Out of the world 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
yaaay!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Quack fucking quack.
LikeLiked by 1 person
and a bleaaaaaaaaaat too
LikeLike
I’m compulsively nice to everyone I meet online (and offline too)…and now I’m wondering if I really AM nice or if I just think that I should be nice.
Niceness is a personality trait that is so vague and yet at such a high premium. Can you be a duck impersonator and not know it?
Anyway, existential crises aside, this is really good advice…and it reads like poetry too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Can you be a duck impersonator and not know it?” – nailed it. This is pretty much one of the reasons why I wrote this post. Thank you muchos for insightful comment and compliments.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comrade something seems very fishy 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
nothing fishy mate. this is just right in-between my paranoia and love for andy kaufman.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh wow. (Also feeling a little bit alarmed) Would it be okay to say all the opinions I publish are truly my own? 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Of course. but why alarmed, though?
LikeLike
I tried to imagine how many thought me a quack. 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Giggles. You hear onions getting caramelised, you should do just fine.
LikeLiked by 1 person
‘A vegan birder bug-and-garden chick.’ Are there others who would go through all the trouble to mimic? That just seems like a whole lot of trouble…which makes me wonder, come to think of it, why I even do it. For real AND on-line.
I’m like most people. LOTS of opinions. On-line, however, I mostly keep them to myself. Mostly…but not always. 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hehe splendid. You sound as real as the red cardinal in your backyard Shannon. Couldn’t be loud enough for me. This was more of a cautionary note to the disenfranchised I suppose.
LikeLike
Beautiful pictures
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s a pleasure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There are plenty of untrustworthy people online, Christy, and it’s always wise to be careful but I have to say that I’ve met and had problems with more weirdos offline (before I ever had internet) than since. Oh, and some ducks aren’t particularly trustworthy either… read up on Mallards!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Certainly, there are some wonderful people have come in the virtual world. So many too through this blog. But this post wasn’t about them at all. It’s solely about the other side (smile). I have been catfished before too hehehe and Mallards – those spectacular fiends!
LikeLiked by 1 person
ஒயிலாய் ஒழுகும் மொழியா
தீண்டாமல் தூண்டும் மதியா
மனதின் மறையில்லா மௌனமா
திணறாமல் திரியும் எண்ணங்களா
ஈர்ப்பதெது யானறியேன்!
didn’t feel like translating… didn’t want the flow flawed!! Thanks for dropping by my blog Christy… it came as a feathery reminder that my last blog is 3 months old!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for the excerpt, Mridula ❤ inescapable timing too (smile)
Twas’a pleasure haunting your space yesterday, you write so fluidly and your photographs are gorgeous.
Please birth more!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for those words Christy…hope this will inspire … for I am kinda stuck …to be precise stuck nowhere!
And as for those words in தமிழ் .. it’s not a part…it’s the whole… 🙂 penned as my thoughts flowed in…it’s all about your blog (not sure about future, but for now this is all ….all I could pen!) … (your metaphors or similes or imageries whatever u call them…it drags me into a world I love to wander in)…. and as for translation… I wasn’t sure whether you could read Tamil so for a second my mind wondered about translating but decided against!! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I feel humbled, and very grateful. Gosh, so kind are your words. It’s overwhelming in the nicest way possible!
Don’t fight being stuck, M. It’s like a python’s grip, it’ll get tighter. Just let go, and accept the nothingness of it all. You’re a good writer, the words will come out eventually (big smile)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much… I am saying this with a big sigh… of relief … 🙂 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cassock-inte Ithihasam. Preacher.The virtual world shows our sepia world vision, the real world our chipped malodorous yellow toothed selves.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Chipped malodorous yellow-toothed selves” – now there’s a description! I didn’t know what one of those words meant, now I do (smile).
Here’s to rose-tinted glasses, my friend!
LikeLiked by 1 person