Yours animatedly

One of my favorite videos to watch online is a 1942 Looney Toons episode called The Squawkin’ Hawk. It features Foghorn Leghorn – a wisecracking rooster and Henery Hawk – a bird of prey with Napoleon complex and a foul temper.

Often I am in denial about how much I enjoy cartoons. They were once an important part of my life. Nowadays, I either pretend that I don’t have the time or that I uninterested. The truth is, I am not sure. At some point, I must have assumed it was a part of growing up.

Like finding a job, getting married or making babies – it is just something that most adults do.

I am a sucker for birds that are animated in the way they behave around me, too. For instance, Grey-Headed Canary Flycatchers are Henery Hawks without the carnivorous appetite. They always appear to be in a foul mood. Given how tiny and cute they were, it is a comical sight. The way they whir about in a state of panic, stopping to do the Beatles head-shake. With their graying square-shaped crests and banana skins for trousers.

At first glance, one may not associate the Watercock with the Roadrunner. It is shorter and stubbier. I have spotted this bird only once before. But I am sure it is incapable of running any faster than a pug. Still, it reminds me of Wile E Coyote’s nemesis because of its short bursts of sheepish scurrying.

I was a “beep beep” away from falling in love.

The Purple Heron, a little after the summer, looks a lot like the alien bird from Marvin the Martian. They stand in the middle of shallow lakes, with crest feathers trying to somersault in the wind. With a neck so elastic that it may bend with the cross-wind force of its own movement.

A week ago, I got lucky and photographed a fella striking a particularly suave pose.

I feel fuzzy that some birds remind me of fragments of my childhood. And even though nobody is stopping me from watching cartoons, I doubt if I will set aside any more time for them than I already do. Being an adult involves doing a lot of things that makes no sense. Especially, in these confusing times, when How-To-Survive-A-Zombie-Apocalypse guidebooks are suger-coated as life hacks and sold to unsuspecting masses.

I wonder how many of you have legitimate answers for why you don’t watch cartoons anymore. I presume that a large percentage may cite time constraints as being the issue. In case you aren’t sure either, do start with a beautiful 1937 Disney short called The Old Mill. If that doesn’t hit the sweet spot, try a few minutes of Tom & Jerry’s Mouse In Manhattan.

If you feel nothing, get your pulse checked – you cold-hearted monster.

She’s a peach
more than she is a promise;
a pickle jar of a person,
a pretty postcard to old wounds.
A blueberry in search of the wind
more than a ballerina waiting for a tune

(Photographs: Kodaikanal, Megamalai, Nellore, Chennai) 

(Images: Wikipedia / 4Vector)