It’s one of those rare mornings when my little one is still asleep even though it’s already 7 am. He’s an early riser unlike me. I woke up to pacify him when he was talking something out loud from his dreams. Taking in the pitch dark surrounding, I thought it was sometime in the middle of the night. A glance at the time showed that it was 6 35 am!

Did I tell you that Singapore starts getting its first rays of light only at around 6 45? And now that the sunny, sweaty weather of Singapore is back, the evenings start bidding adieu to the sunlight only after 7?

I lay in bed listening to the songs of the koel, the koel which seems to have inhabited the rain tree outside my living room window. What initially started off as the singing of the koel in the evenings has now become a full-time presence. It’s a beautiful, black Asian Male Koel.

Even as I recollected how its female counterpart looks like, my mind had to immediately go back to my erstwhile workplace, since that beautiful campus was where my love for observing birds and flowers grew further.

There was a time when all my old friends had left the company or the city and watching some wagtails and bulbuls was how I spent my time during the breaks.

Today, as I hear the koel sing in its beautiful voice, I fondly remember the good, old days and I feel grateful that I have such wonderful memories to reminisce about.