Saturday, November 9, 2013

A Visit to the Neighbors

S convinced me we needed to stare down our fears by taking a walk next-door to the zoo.  The lions have grown so large in my imagination I expected some to jump out at me, but I was pleasantly surprised to find lots of docile birds, behind bars anyone is docile I suppose, and some other peaceful animals chillin' in the morning breeze.  Then we got to "Carnivore Corner" and my imagination proved to be pretty accurate.  We have confirmed that the lions are the main sources of the growls we hear so clearly, but there were other cats there as well who were doing some vocal exercises. While I was looking at some short deer, I heard some young female voices close behind me laughing softly and saying, "You, you say 'Hello, ma'am'."  So I turned around and took the offensive with a bright "Hello!"  Suddenly about 20 high school girls eagerly crowded around me and hung on my every word.  It was my rock star moment, and it was fun.  They were from Calicut, where I spent the week last week, so when I told them I loved their countryside (truth) and their biryani was even better than Trivandrum's, they all exclaimed, cooed, and clapped hands.  I asked if I could take their picture and they were ecstatic. When I asked if I could get in on the action, they almost knocked me over in their effort to be next to me in the shot.  They were very impressed to meet someone from the U.S., and I did my public diplomacy for the day in the most pleasurable way possible.
Here is the FLICKR link to the zoo pics.




3 comments:

  1. You are a rock star! Everyone looks happy. How fun.. Good thing Steve talked you into going.. Great moment

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  2. Agreed, very rock star! Such happy faces. And your pictures are very crisp & colorful!

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