Locale: Central Bangalore. Urban surroundings. A park. 
News: A lot of new exotic birds have been spotted over the past few months.

Locale: Nagarhole National Park. Also known as Rajiv Gandhi National Park and situated about 50 kms away from Mysore in Karnataka. Home to a number of wild animals like the elephants, tigers, bisons with a rich forest cover, streams, valleys and waterfalls. 
News: A wild fire engulfs the park and spreads widely causing extensive damage. Large scale destruction, ground nesting birds perish, no news about the larger mammals.
Shocking news: This fire seems to have been the job of some disgruntled lower level staff who did this on purpose. The fire seems to have been set simultaneously in other reserves in the area as well.

How has it affected me? I have never been to Nagarhole or any of the other reserves. I have never seen the birds that perished. I have not even a clue of what varieties of species existed there or did not.

But having seen so many new varieties this year, I am sure there were many I would have loved to see. I rue my ignorance, but I am sure they touched my life in a way I did not directly see or perceive. I am sure they were related to my new birdie friends in some way or the other. I cannot even start to imagine the beauty that I have missed seeing.

I have been wondering how so many new birds arrived at my doorstep this year? Were they driven out of their natural habitats? Am really happy that the park outside has given them a safe haven - until some greedy souls decide that the space or the wood could be used up for other purposes.

I am deeply saddened by the utterly callous, inhuman souls who so thoughtlessly and cold-bloodedly murdered so much of green cover, flora and fauna for their petty grouses. (While I could in human terms understand their grouses, nothing but nothing can ever condone or justify their way of airing them).

I do not have it in my heart at this moment to say "God forgive them, for they know not what they do".