It is called the elusive bird, and spotting it is supposed to bring good fortune. Not sure whether this fame influenced my being captured by it the first time I saw it. That's the beauty about birds. You don't necessarily need manicured grass and well-trimmed trees to harbour them in. Rather, more messy it is, more easily it invites these travellers. So no wonder, the places that I have spotted this bird are quite nondescript.

First time I saw it, it was on a college campus in the busy Mumbai suburbs. I am always surprised by the nature of this city. Bang in the middle of the residential area, close to the highway, was nestled this cosy campus with lovely trees. Smaller than a university and less posh than the supposed state-of-the-art infrastructure that schools and colleges nowadays boast of; this place had an old worldly charm about it. We had dropped our son at a football training session taking place at the campus ground and decided to take a walk in the nearby shade.

And just like that without any warning, we saw it seated in the bushy shrubs. I searched for its name in my head. I knew it was special. People spotting it generally share its picture proudly over their social media groups. And then it emerged as if I had blown the dust off the cover of an old book to reveal its name. Bharadwaj it was. I reached out to my better half seeking the English name; he is the more knowledgeable one between the two of us regarding the animal kingdom. He said it in a matter-of-fact manner - crow pheasant of course. Its golden plumage captured me and we stayed where we were lest we disturbed him.

It didn't immediately fly away, as if it was in a trance like the famous sage with whom it shared its Indian name. We soon realized that he was a regular visitor to this spot. The trees, bushes, and a stream of not-so-clean water. It had all the elements to attract this majestic bird. So we continued to spot it every now and then when we visited this place for football sessions. Football sessions stopped soon and so did our regular rendezvous.

But thankfully the tryst with this golden bird was again in store for us. Again, the place no one would really imagine. MTDC has this hidden gem near Lonavla around two and a half hours from Mumbai. If you are looking for a plush and fancy place, then this is not the one. But if you want peace of mind and find pleasure in simplicity, this place is made just for you. Non-stop working hours had drained us and we needed a mini break. It was one of the only hotels available at the last minute and easy on the budget. During our last visit, we were surprised by it and still hold some pleasant memories of it. So we decided to try our luck hoping the place would have remained the same.

It was winter noon by the time we reached there. But the sun felt good with the slight chill in the air. As we entered the place, we relaxed as we saw the similar surroundings almost as if no time had passed. Small campus with trees and bushes felt peaceful to the eyes. But what was most heartening was the sound or rather the lack of it. With no man-made sounds that occupy our day-to-day lives, the only sounds that we heard were the rustling of leaves in the wind and the intermittent chirping of birds.

Dumping the bags into the rooms we kicked off to explore the area. With cottages on either side of the road, the middle of the road was a path lined with trees, their shade covering almost the entire road. Again, this place was not a typical resort so the grass and shrubs were left free to grow, slightly trimmed, but not straight out of the travel catalogue.

We walked unhurriedly as if we had all the time in the world. And frankly, for that one day, it really did feel like that. Time just moved slowly. We had barely walked for ten minutes when we saw the golden feathers spread across the red mud path. I whispered and clutched my husband's hand, "See over there". I didn't have to say anything further. He looked at me and smiled. It felt like those football matches when your team scores a goal in the starting few minutes of the match raising your hopes for a win.

We continued to observe it from a distance, waiting leisurely until it walked away into the bushes. We walked a little further towards the Indrayani River to see if there was sufficient water. Being a rain-fed river, we weren't sure whether there was water still now that it was almost the end of January. Path to the river had quite some tall trees. I was looking up towards hoping to catch a glimpse of any other bird that we don't generally see in the city. But what caught me by surprise was seeing the golden plumage perched in the branches. Was it the same one? That one had walked in a different direction. We hadn't seen this one fly over and seat itself in the branches. We traced back our steps as we were on a mission to solve the mystery. And yes as we reached back the path, we saw our friend walking slightly away from where it had last disappeared.

Wow, two in a day. It's not uncommon to have two crow pheasants live together, we googled later. But during that earlier moment of ignorance, we felt as if we had witnessed a miracle. It had happened so unexpectedly, that we didn't even have our phones ready to capture the unique experience. But I don't think the picture would have anyway done justice to what we saw and our emotions around it.

We tried our luck for the remainder of our visit. But the beginner's luck ran out. We went over the same patch of bushes and We did catch sight of other birds not commonly observed in the city like paradise flycatcher in flight and kingfisher literally 50 steps away from us on the river banks. But that is of course another story. 

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