Dances with the Cranes celebrate, the magic and mystery of death and rebirth. These are poems of reincarnation that trace the rites of passage of the soul in the flight of the majestic Black Necked Cranes. Each year, from September to November these birds migrate from Tibet and colder regions of China to Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh. The Black Necked Cranes is the national bird of Bhutan. It is called Thrug-Thrug-Kam by the Druktas. It is deemed to be a good omen. It is a symbol of good fortune, fidelity and hope. Its hypnotic dance is a metaphor for the trans-migration of the soul. If we can understand the cadence of its dance, we can solve for ourselves the riddles of our death and rebirth. Today, unfortunately these magnificent birds are facing extinction. In the years to come will these regal Cranes dies all together? Will they vanish without a trace? Will our children see them dance? Do the symbols of our hope and resurrection deserve to die? Today we desperately need to save these birds. In saving them we will save ourselves and our good earth.
Brigadier GD Bakshi, SM, VSM is a serving officer in the Indian Army. He holds a Masters Degree in Defence Science and an M. Phil in Strategic Studies from the University of Madras. He has served in many prestigious posts and was decorated twice for operations in J&K. He has taught at the Indian Military Academy and the Defence Services Staff College Wellington for three years each. He has authored nine books and over 50 papers in prestigious journals.
Poets like Brigadier Bakshi appear once in an age. He is a great sage and saint and truly spiritual in his sweep. His poetry is not just a poetry for the nonce, few verses to delight masses, few poems to be read and cast off, but they must be read and read again and again to reach the TRUTH he has treasured in each verse. Dances With The Cranes - as the poet himself writes, celebrates the magic and mystery of Rebirth that these birds personify in their migration and passage. Standing on the top of a lonely mountain, the poet shrieks:
"Who am I?
Who was I?
Why do I remember the past?"
He shivers. The majestic Black cranes seem to be the very incarnation of Death and the mystery of our Rebirth.
Each year these magnificent cranes descend on the slopes of Bhutan. They sail like ghostly apparitions and fill the air with their shrieks. Then they are gone again on their migration to distant lands and tranquil marshes.
The poet once climbed a mountain and after descending came to a monastry. Its strange mysterious perfume made him giddy and faint. Later, the poet's Tibetan Teacher told him that he had lived many lives and in one he was a Buddhist monk.
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